The Seattle Kraken cruised to a 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL’s 2024 Winter Classic, all on the back of netmidner Joey Daccord.
Daccord stopped all 35 shots Vegas fired at him for the first shutout in Winter Classic history.
There have been four shutouts in outdoor games in NHL history, but in the 16-year (14-game) history of the Winter Classic, there had never been a shutout before.
For the Kraken as a whole, they set a franchise record with the win, securing at least one point in the standings nine games in a row.
For Daccord, it was the latest in a string of solid performances for the 27 year old goaltender. Prior to yesterday’s game, Daccord had allowed 2 goals or less in four of his last five games, and held a .915 save percentage and 2.46 goals against average in 22 games.
These weren’t some standard, vanilla shots either. Daccord made big time saves over and over, including shutting the door twice on Vegas’ Jack Eichel. His second save against Eichel included a flash of the leather to absolutely rob Jack.
The Seattle-based crowd at T-Mobile Park (home of MLB’s Seattle Mariners) broke out into “Jo-ey Jo-ey” chants several times throughout the game.
Daccord enjoyed some support on the other end as well. The Kraken struck early on the scoreboard, when Eeli Tolvanen deflected a shot from the blue line by Vince Dunn. The deflection beat Golden Knights netminder Logan Thompson, who stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced on the day.
The Kraken scored again in the second period, when defenseman Will Borgen fired a knuckle puck slap shot that beat Thompson, and Yanni Gourde tacked on one more in the third, stealing the puck and beating Thompson on the second chance of a breakaway to make it a 3-0 game.
With the run he has been on, it’s hard to believe that Daccord did not begin the year as the starter. He began the season as the backup to Philipp Grubauer, but was thrown into the starter’s role after Grubauer went down with injury.
Daccord had only 19 games of NHL experience under his belt before taking over for Seattle. A former seventh round pick by the Ottawa Senators, Daccord was selected by the Kraken from Ottawa in the Expansion Draft. Daccord had been with the Kraken organization ever since, but only played in a handful of games for the NHL club since his selection.
He played 5 games for the Kraken on a call-up basis in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, but the best he could do was an even .900 save percentage and a 3.14 goals against average.
Now, he is thriving in this new role with the Kraken, who have erased all talk of their season being over. After suffering an eight game losing streak a few weeks ago, Seattle is now 7-0-2 in their last nine games, propelling themselves all the way to a single point out of playoff position in the Western Conference.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
Leave a comment