Golden Knights take another step toward clinching Pacific Division with 2-1 win over Kraken

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights and Vegas took another step toward clinching the Pacific Division with a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.

The Golden Knights would have secured the division, but Los Angeles remained alive with a 6-1 win over Anaheim. Vegas has a six-point lead with three games remaining; the Kings have four games left. A regulation victory by the Golden Knights or regulation loss by the Kings over that span will give Vegas the division and home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Against Seattle, Adin Hill made 24 saves.

The Kraken scored on a wacky sequence when Jordan Eberle hit the left post and chased after his rebound. As he slid into the net, teammate Jared McCann knocked in the puck while standing at the right post. Joey Daccord had 23 saves.

Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl played his first game since suffering an upper-body injury March 23 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He didn't have any shots.

Vegas is 9-2-1 in its past 12 games.

Kraken: Seattle failed to take advantage of opportunities, not capitalizing on 10 high-danger chances over the first two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Kraken had none in the third.

Golden Knights: Hill continued his strong play by making several crucial saves. He's 12-3-1 in his past 16 starts.

Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb kept the puck out of the net with 17 seconds left while the Kraken were on a 6-on-5 to prevent Seattle from tying. Hill didn't quickly get over to that side of the net.

The Golden Knights are 18-4-1 against Pacific opponents and their final three games are in the division.

The Kraken host St. Louis on Saturday and the Golden Knights play their regular-season home finale that night against Nashville.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Seattle Kraken center Michael Eyssimont (21) attempts to skate around Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak (6) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Seattle Kraken center Ryan Winterton (26) sttempts to sopt a pass by Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak (6) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord (35) stops a shot by Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden (21) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson, left, celebrates after scoring against the Seattle Kraken during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”

Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”

Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.

The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”

Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”

Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.

Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.

AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)