It was closer than it needed to be, but Philipp Grubauer put the Kraken on his back and ended their five-game road trip with a 4-3 shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday.
Grubauer stopped 15 shots early and helped Seattle build a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
He had the Kraken up 3-2 with time winding down and the Canadiens net empty. Then it happened. Adam Larsson attempted to knock away a puck from the Seattle net. He swung his stick and deflected it past Grubauer for a game-tying own goal at 17:48 to send the game into overtime.
“Shit happens, you know, it’s hockey,” Jared McCann said. “Sorry about my language. But, it’s just the way it goes, [Larsson] tried to make a play and everybody saw that so we were there for him. He’s done a lot of great things for us this year, so we just stuck with him. It was great to get the win for him.”
Seattle leaned on its goalie for four more saves in overtime, including a big-time glove save from in close.
“Reaction save for sure,” Grubauer said. “Not the ideal situation in, in overtime, to give that shot up but I made the save and we won the face off and went up the other way.”
Neither team scored in overtime and Grubauer would be tasked with shutting down seven shootout attempts before finally Marcus Johansson won it by lifting a backhand over Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault for the win.
“I wasn’t even watching on JoJo’s goal,” Grubauer said. “I had my head down… So, I don’t even know what he did. But he scored so I guess it was a nice move.”
Grubauer ended the night with 30 saves to send the Kraken (18-37-6) home on a happy note with a 1-3-1 record on the trip. Johansson had two assists to surpass 400 career points.
Montembeault stopped 32 shots and Alexander Romanov had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (15-35-8), who failed to make up ground on the Kraken and pull out of the league’s basement.
“It was a pretty even hockey game and there was a lot of pace to it,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “At the end of the day there was pretty good goaltending at both ends of the rink, good opportunities at both ends of the rink, and it’s a good way for us to finish out the road trip. It’s tough to give up the lead but I didn’t dislike the way we played in the third. They played well and they had a good push. But, you know, I didn’t feel like we had any panic to our game at all.”
Kraken build lead early
Gourde put the Kraken on the board with a shorthanded goal at 9:26 of the first period to make it 1-0. The Canadiens mishandled the puck coming out from behind their net and Gourde tapped in a loose puck for his 13th of the year.
Moments later, on the same penalty kill, Mason Appleton snapped a shot for another shorthanded goal, but the play was challenged and the goal was disallowed as Appleton was offside. It’s the second straight game Appleton has lost a goal to an offside challenge.
Montreal evened the score 1-1 at 14:50 in the first period after a scramble in the Seattle end put the puck on Michael Pezzetta’s stick in the slot. He fired and scored.
Ryan Donato gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead at 16:42 in the first when he scored after Johansson’s initial shot rebounded hard off the boards. It was the second straight game scoring for Donato.
Seattle extended its lead to 3-1 at 15:05 of the second period on a Jared McCann power-play goal. Johansson drove the puck behind the Montreal net and flung a perfect pass to McCann in the high slot where he would bury his team leading 23rd of the season and second in two games.
With the tally, McCann equaled his career high in points with 35 and power-play goals in a season with eight.
Romanov cut the lead to 3-2 at 1:04 of the third period with a point shot after another big rebound off the end boards.
Special teams big for Kraken
At the start of the road trip, Seattle’s special teams were a struggle. The power play was not converting, and they gave up a host of power play goals against. At one point they had allowed seven out of 11 on the penalty kill.
The Kraken took too many penalties Saturday, giving the Canadiens six looks, but Seattle killed them all off and scored a shorthanded goal.
“Guys were good on the PK and they got their looks and believe me that’s where you know your best PKer has to be the guy in the pipes and Grubi did a really good job there,” Hakstol said. “We found a way to get a shorty. That another big point of the hockey game.”
Tentacle Tales
+ Joonas Donskoi and Alex Wennberg missed the game due to injury. Donskoi had been placed on the injured reserve list Friday with an upper body injury.
+ Kole Lind was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League. He started on the second line, but ultimately played just over 11 minutes in this special teams heavy game.
+ Morgan Geekie had an assist Saturday giving him one in each of the past two games.
+ The Kraken will return to Climate Pledge Arena for a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the Kraken are buried in the standings, otherwise the point they earned Thursday in Ottawa would have loomed huge in a playoff race.
After playing flat for two periods, Seattle trailed 3-0 heading into the third but would roar back to score three goals and force overtime. Ottawa’s Josh Norris scored on a power-play goal at 2:34 of the extra period and the Senators would hold off the Kraken with a 4-3 win at Canadian Tire Centre.
“The first two periods were inexcusable, I think we knew that,” Ryan Donato said. “The momentum was dead. We needed something, Jared [McCann] got a big goal and once we got that feeling of ‘we’re back in this,’ I think a lot of guys felt a lot better about the situation. I thought we put in a hell of an effort in the third period and unfortunately it ended the way it did. But testament to our character.”
The results weren’t what Seattle wanted, but the comeback was impressive as the Kraken continue to show resiliency no matter the circumstances.
“It’s important to be able to go out there and play hard for one another and fight, compete right till the very end, whether we got one or not,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s real important, but, to be able to execute and build on that momentum and have that period where everybody fed off each other is important but doesn’t lessen the disappointment in terms of the loss in overtime. We’re not looking for feel good points, we’re looking for wins and it’s tough to tie that game up and come back and then lose it in overtime.”
About five minutes into the third period, Chris Driedger got his body in front of a shot from Artem Zub. It was a shot that looked like it would flip the score to 4-0 and end the night for the Kraken. Driedger kept it out and it woke up the Kraken.
Starting with Jared McCann scoring his 22nd at 9:14, the Kraken stormed back with goals in quick succession. McCann’s goal was followed by Donato tipping a Jamie Oleksiak pass in to cut the lead to 3-2 at 9:50.
Donato was playing his first game since March 2 and had been a healthy scratch the past three games.
“He was prepared, he was ready for puck drop,” McCann said. “It was good, really good to see him get one there. He deserved it, he works his bag off.”
The comeback would be completed at 13:01 when Mason Appleton’s shot hit goalie Anton Forsberg but fluttered in to tie the game at 3-3.
“We just came alive, we played simple,” McCann said. “It sounds cliche at this point, but that’s the way we’ve got to play to win games. The first two periods were pretty bad obviously and we had some bad turnovers and kind of left [Driedger] out to dry again.”
Forsberg stopped 30 Kraken shots and Norris scored two goals for Ottawa (21-31-5), who won its second game in a row. Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist.
Driedger ended the game with 23 saves for Seattle (17-27-5), who have lost the first four games of a five-game road trip.
Early disallowed goal costly for Kraken
Seattle scored first in the game when Appleton converted a cross-ice pass from Colin Blackwell. It gave the Kraken life and momentum, but it would be short-lived as the Senators challenged the play for offside. After a review, it was ruled that Yanni Gourde was in the zone early, no goal.
Fifteen seconds later, Norris gave the Senators a 1-0 lead at 8:32 of the first period when he attacked the net and tipped in a pass from Tkachuk for his 21st of the season and fourth point in his past two games.
“I think there’s always ebbs and flows,” Donato said. “I feel like lately, a lot of the chances that we’ve got or the reviews have gone the other way for us and sometimes that can be deflating, but I think we got to learn from our past lessons. You can’t get too high or too low on those decisions. You can’t control those, and you got to be big the next shift.”
What was a fast and energetic start for Seattle soon deflated like a leaky party balloon.
Tkachuk extended the Ottawa lead to 2-0 at 5:43 of the second period after Oleksiak failed to clear the puck out of the zone. The Senators intercepted his outlet pass and put it on net where Tkachuk backhanded a rebound past Driedger.
Another defensive mistake allowed the Senators to go up 3-0 at 7:40. Adam Larsson fumbled the puck in his own zone and Ottawa jumped on it, leading to a goal by Parker Kelly.
Tentacle Tales
+ Defenseman Haydn Fleury was in the lineup for the Kraken Thursday. He had not played since Feb 22.
+ Joonas Donskoi was a healthy scratch for the Kraken.
+ Despite earning a point in the standings, the Kraken have slipped to the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Already a lottery team for the upcoming draft, Seattle leads the Montreal Canadiens by three points (Montreal has three games in hand) for the last spot in the league, and the most lotto balls in the Draft. The two teams will play in Montreal on Saturday.
We know it has been a big day in Seattle sports news (with the biggest news, of course, being the five-year contract extension for Jared McCann), but we are here to remind you that there is also a Seattle Kraken game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday!
This is the SOH Liveblog for that game. We will update this article with highlights as the game goes on, so check back often!
Kraken at Maple Leafs
Pre-game
These teams played each other a few weeks ago at Climate Pledge Arena, and it did not go well for the Kraken. That night, Seattle got spanked 6-2, as Philipp Grubauer gave up three goals on 11 shots and was lifted after the first period.
That first meeting between these clubs was one of just a handful of times the Kraken have looked outclassed this season, as they were dominated from the drop of the puck.
The high-flying Leafs have struggled a bit, lately. They have had a middling 5-4-1 record over the last 10 games, and their goaltending has been called into question regularly by the rabid Toronto fanbase and media. Jack Campbell—who was such a huge part of this team’s success earlier in the season—has faltered lately with four straight games under a .900 save percentage, allowing 19 goals in that stretch. Campbell will get the nod Tuesday.
At the other end of the success spectrum, Auston Matthews has continued to tear up the NHL and became the first player in the league to hit the 40-goal plateau Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Leafs are on the second of back-to-backs after a 5-4 win Monday in Columbus.
Kraken lineup
Here are the Seattle Kraken lines against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Looks like Haydn Fleury, Will Borgen, and Ryan Donato are scratches once again.
The latest
Prior to the game, Wayne Simmonds was presented with a silver stick for playing in his 1,000th career game on the same night that Mark Giordano also hit that milestone.
Joonas Donskoi took a tripping penalty at 2:46, giving Toronto’s top-ranked power play its first opportunity of the game. It did not take long for the lethal unit to strike. Morgan Reilly passed across to William Nylander, who went through the seam to Matthews. Matthews fired before Grubauer could get set, and just like that, it was 1-0 at 3:18.
Make it 41 goals on the season for Auston Matthews. He can beat goaltenders so many different ways which just makes him /that/ much more dangerous. pic.twitter.com/ZaKIME471I
The Kraken responded quickly. 2:03 of game time elapsed before Carson Soucy scored his seventh goal of the season to set a career high. He shot from the point and hit Mason Appleton in front of the net. The puck squirted back out to Soucy, who got a second shot away before Campbell could fully recover from the initial try that didn’t get through. With that, it was 1-1 at 5:21.
The early maelstrom of goals continued when TJ Brodie sent a stretch pass to Pierre Engvall at the Kraken blue line. The quick-up pass broke down Seattle’s neutral zone coverage and allowed John Tavares to sneak into the offensive zone untouched. Engvall hit Tavares with a little touch pass, and Tavares scored off a partial breakaway to make it 2-1.
Seattle was closing in on killing off a Jeremy Lauzon tripping penalty, but with just a few seconds left in the Toronto power play, Mark Giordano shot a puck over the glass from the Kraken defensive zone and was called for delay of game. With nearly four consecutive minutes of zone time, the elite Leafs power play did eventually break through for the second time. Nylander shot from the right hashmark, and with Tavares creating some confusion in front, the puck just squeezed through Grubauer to make it 3-1.
The Kraken answered once again with a pretty passing play through the neutral zone. Marcus Johansson made an outlet pass to Jordan Eberle in the neutral zone, then sprinted up the ice to get in on the rush. Eberle passed to Alex Wennberg, who passed back to Johansson, who then went right back to Wennberg in the slot. Wennberg chipped it by Campbell and brought Seattle back within one with his third goal in four games.
Wennberg finishes off some pretty passing!
Alexander Wennberg brings #Seakraken back within one goal!
Giordano took his second penalty of the period, which made us think Seattle was really playing with fire. But on the Toronto power play, Jamie Oleksiak forced a turnover in Seattle’s zone and Yanni Gourde was off to the races with Colin Blackwell. On a two-on-one, Gourde passed to Blackwell, who put it home with a nice finish and leveled the score at 3-3.
Short-handed goal from Colin Blackwell, set up by Yanni Gourde. As @AlisonL's been saying, the Kraken are working to build up a power kill. pic.twitter.com/OLRU133B0M
The second period ended with the score level. The Leafs held a slight advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes, but they had close to 62 percent of the shot quality.
Third period highlights
At 5:57 of the third period, Jeremy Lauzon blasted a shot from the right point. Jaden Schwartz got a piece of the puck and redirected it down ever so slightly. The change in direction was just enough to throw Campbell off the scent, and give Schwartz his first goal since returning from hand surgery.
The lead was short lived. Seconds after Grubauer had made an outstanding save, the Kraken gave the puck right back to the Maple Leafs. Michael Bunting raced in with Matthews and got it to the NHL’s leading goal scorer, who made a beautiful move to tie the score at 4-4.
Then, just 40 seconds later, with Soucy in the box for cross checking, Mitch Marner faked Joonas Donskoi out of his jock and scored through traffic to give the lead back to Toronto, 5-4.
The script Saturday was much the same as it was the night before. The Kraken scored twice but allowed two power-play goals against which again made the difference during a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Unlike Saturday’s loss to the Washington Capitals, the Kraken scored one power-play goal of their own but only managed one five-on-five score and would lose another close game.
“They won the specialty teams by one, that obviously makes a difference in the hockey game,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
Seattle has allowed four power-play goals over its past five attempts to start the road trip, but Hakstol doesn’t think they need to change up the strategy on the kill.
“We’ve got to complete the kill so we’re not going to overreact,” he said. “There’s no major adjustment that needs to be made, it’s a competitive scenario. We don’t like the way it’s gone for the last five, we’re gonna push that the other direction. We’re playing against, tonight, this is a good power play unit. We’re going to see another good one coming up in two days. So,we just got to make sure we get our heads clear.”
After playing to a 2-2 tie over the first two periods, Carolina got what would turn out to be the game-winning goal off the stick of Martin Necas, who found a loose puck in the slot, spun, and scored his ninth of the season at 10:22. The Kraken could not generate enough the rest of the way and dropped their ninth game out of the past 10.
“I feel like we have momentum in the game, we’re pushing and right now it’s just that we really can’t convert those chances,” Alex Wennberg said. “Obviously a tough loss yesterday and we wanted to get a win, we wanted to come out with a win, but like I said, there’s a lot of good things in the game as well. So obviously now we have a couple days here to get ready for our next game and we’re excited for that.”
Seattle has failed to score more than two goals in eight of its past 10 games.
“This is the first night we’ve been out chanced in several nights so we’re going to stay with the formula,” Hakstol said. “We got to stay with the formula and there’s no overreaction there. Last night we out chance our opponent probably nearly two to one. We can’t go and manufacture the puck going in the net, we’ve got to keep generating the opportunities, we got to keep playing hard, and our group has done that.”
Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen each scored, and backup goalie Antti Raanta made 28 saves for the Hurricanes (39-12-5).
Calle Jarnkrok had a goal and an assist for the Kraken (17-36-5), who got 30 saves from Philipp Grubauer.
The Kraken had their chances
Wennberg gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 3:12 of the second period when he flipped a rebound off Raanta’s pads and in. Seattle ended the night 1-for-3 on the power play.
Carolina tied the game 1-1 at 7:10 with a power-play goal when Niederreiter got a quick pass in front of the net from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and scored easily into the empty net.
“If we get the puck out and win the draw,” Grubauer said. “A couple of tough bounces over the last couple of games, but we’ve got to win the special teams. They make such a huge difference in every game.”
The Kraken had a response goal in their bucket, however. At 8:16 Adam Larsson flung a stretch pass through the middle of the ice that found Jarnkrok’s stick in behind the Carolina defense. Jarnkrok was alone and snapped a shot past Raanta on the stick side for his second in the past three games, and Seattle had a 2-1 lead.
Another Seattle penalty would lead to the Hurricanes tying the game at 2-2. Right off the face-off on the power play, Teravainen found a rebound to score his 16th of the season.
The Kraken will next play at the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night.
Tentacle Tales
+ Wennberg’s goal gives him two over his past three games.
+ The Kraken are 4-5-0 against teams that are top-ten teams in points.
+ With an assist, Sebastian Aho recorded his 378th career point and moved past Blaine Stoughton (377) for sole possession of eighth place on the Hurricanes/Whalers all-time list. He is now just one shy of Jeff Skinner.
One nice thing about back-to-back games is that if your team loses the first one, you get to go back out the following night and try to make up for it. The Kraken have that opportunity on Sunday against the Hurricanes, as they look to bounce back from a hard-fought loss to the Capitals on Saturday.
The Kraken played a good game against Washington, but the special teams battle went 2-0 in favor of the Caps, and that was the difference.
Can Seattle get back in the ‘W’ column after snapping a seven-game losing streak two games ago? Let’s find out.
Kraken versus Hurricanes
Against Carolina, Seattle faces another good team, but it did have success against the Canes in the first meeting between these squads at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 24. That night, Seattle fell behind 1-0 at the end of the first period, tied it in the second, and got a winning goal from Marcus Johansson with just 3:09 left to earn a 2-1 victory. Philipp Grubauer was outstanding that night.
Goalie Frederik Andersen is dealing with a minor injury, so Seattle will face Antti Raanta. The 32-year-old backstop has dealt with myriad injuries in his career, but he has been decent this season in 14 starts, posting a 8-3-2 record with a 2.50 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
The Canes are on a 10-game home point streak and are coming off a 3-2 win over the Penguins at PNC Arena on Friday. Watch out for Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho, who have 51 and 57 points respectively and drive the bus offensively for Carolina.
Bodies in, bodies out
Seattle got two important players back in the lineup Saturday in Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann, both of whom were impactful in driving offensive opportunities for the Kraken, though neither found the scoresheet. The simultaneous returns meant the Kraken had to place Austin Czarnik on waivers, and Czarnik got claimed by his old team, the New York Islanders, on Sunday. Czarnik had two assists for the Kraken in six games.
Lineup
The Kraken are bringing a similar look, except Johansson will skate with McCann and Jordan Eberle, and Calle Jarnkrok will move down to play with Schwartz and Alex Wennberg. Grubauer is in net.
First period highlights
There were some nice stops at both ends of the ice in the first period, but nothing doing on the scoreboard, so there’s not much to report here.
The Kraken had a slight advantage in shots on goal, but they weren’t getting much in dangerous areas.
The frame ended with the score tied 0-0.
Alright, welp… 0-0 after 20 min, which is a good place for Seattle to be against a club like Carolina.
Kraken hold a 11-9 advantage in shots on goal, but CAR has a 1.1-.0.58 advantage in expected goals for.
The Hurricanes took their second penalty of the game early in the second period, this one for too many men. Early in the power play, Yanni Gourde shot from the right circle. The rebound got kicked by Jaccob Slavin right onto the stick of Alex Wennberg, who just lifted it over the outstretched pad of Raanta and made it 1-0 at 3:12.
Joonas Donskoi took a high-sticking penalty at 5:21. The Kraken penalty kill did a good job on the ensuing Hurricanes power play, but with 11 seconds left on the advantage, Nino Niederreiter scored a similar goal to Wennberg’s. Seth Jarvis shot from the right circle. Grubauer stopped it but lost sight of the rebound, and it rolled right to Niederreiter at the side of the net. Niederreiter deposited the puck to make it 1-1.
There was some REAL patience going on amongst the unit, but finally Jarvis lets one fly from the circle.
Just over a minute later, Adam Larsson made a world-class stretch pass from his own zone to the far blue line and hit Calle Jarnkrok in stride. Jarnkrok flew into the zone untouched and beat Raanta to re-establish Seattle’s lead, 2-1.
NHL Video Highlight – Calle Jarnkrok scores against the Carolina Hurricanes to make it 2-1. pic.twitter.com/b5yvd972Zj
— Seattle Kraken Gamebot (@KrakenGameBot) March 7, 2022
The Hurricanes got another power-play goal to level the score again at 17:22. With Wennberg in the box for hooking, Teuvo Teravainen put back a rebound off a shot by Aho and made it 2-2.
The interesting thing that happened in this period was Vince Dunn blocking a shot with his… uh… tentacles. He was down on the ice for a bit, while Carolina had sustained pressure, but eventually got up and dragged himself to the bench.
The period ended with the score level.
Third period highlights
Soon after the Hurricanes killed an Aho penalty, they took their first lead of the game. Martin Necas found a loose puck in front, spun, and snuck it past Grubauer to make it 3-2 at 10:22.
Fantastic knockdown at the blue line by Brett Pesce to keep the play alive.
The Necas goal would prove to be the game winner. Seattle again fought hard in this one, but didn’t produce enough offensively and came up short in the end.
Mark Giordano is skating in his 1,000th career game, Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz are both back in the lineup, and our good friend Alison Lukan is doing color commentary for ROOT Sports! This game between the Kraken and the Capitals should be a fun one.
We normally combine a semi-robust game preview with the liveblog on game days, but with so much Kraken news lately, we thought it would be best to do a separate story to prepare you for Saturday’s game. So, for all the latest Kraken news, please give this story a read.
For live updates during the game, stay right here!
Kraken lineup versus Capitals
This lineup looks a heckuva lot better with Schwartz and McCann back, doesn’t it?
First period highlights
As was the case the first time these teams played each other, Tom Wilson got the game’s first goal. Ovechkin broke into the Seattle zone and lost the puck, but it rolled right to Wilson. The big-bodied Wilson barreled toward the net and fired it past Driedger to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
It took just 34 more seconds for the Capitals to extend their lead to 2-0. Nic Dowd passed low to high to Dmitry Orlov at the top of the left circle. Orlov one-timed the pass, and it squeezed right through Driedger’s five hole. Not a great goal.
Joonas Donskoi got the boys back in the game at 16:56. Jamie Oleksiak shot from the point. It got deflected and didn’t make it all the way through to Vitek Vanecek, but instead landed right on the stick of Riley Sheahan, who was planted at the top of the crease. Sheahan tried to tuck it around the outstretched pad of the Capitals netminder, but he stopped it and kicked a rebound right to Donskoi. Donskoi tucked it into a wide-open net for just his second goal of the season, bringing Seattle back within one.
The Kraken had some great offensive zone time in an exciting opening period, but conceded two goals in quick succession. Seattle held a 10-7 lead in shots on goal and had 57 percent of shot quality in the opening frame.
Second period highlights
Early in the second, the Mason Appleton-Yanni Gourde-Colin Blackwell line struck again, after a great game on Wednesday. Off a rush, Blackwell carried the puck into the Washington zone, and looked like he was going to dish to Gourde. But he opted to go hard to the net, nearly lost it to John Carlson on the way, got it back and snuck it around Vanecek to make it 2-2.
Schwartz was racing for a puck with Orlov and accidentally took him down in a dangerous position, sending Orlov hard into the end boards at 9:55. A melee ensued, but Schwartz got the only call for hooking. That gave the lethal Capitals power play its first opportunity of the game, which the Kraken almost killed off. But with seven seconds left on the man advantage, Ovechkin shot into traffic. It pinballed onto the stick of Wilson, who shot into the pads of Driedger, and that rebound went right onto the stick of Conor Sheary. Sheary had a wide-open net and gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead.
Ovechkin wasted no time stretching Washington’s lead back to two to start the third period. With Carson Soucy still in the penalty box after taking a holding penalty late in the second, Carlson put the puck on a tee for Ovechkin, right in the area where Ovechkin has scored so many of his 764 career goals. Ovi one-timed the pass and blasted it by Driedger to make it 4-2.
Sheary scored an empty-net goal, his second marker of the game, to make it 5-2 and seal the deal for Washington.
The Kraken played well in this one, but special teams were the difference. The always dangerous Capitals power play connected twice, while Seattle came up empty in that area.
