The Carolina Hurricanes owned the first period against the Seattle Kraken and it could have been much worse than 2-0 after one period if it wasn’t for Philipp Grubauer in net. He was the unexpected starter for Seattle after Martin Jones was slated to go at Thursday’s morning skate, and the German made at least three stupendous saves early.
The first Hurricanes goal was a weird one. Passing back into his own zone, birthday boy (31) Yanni Gourde crossed up teammates Jared McCann and Carson Soucy with a hard pass resulting in a turnover and a breakaway for Andrei Svechnikov. The man who scored twice in the Hurricanes 5-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena back on October 17th made no mistake going low blocker on Grubauer.
Veteran Derek Stepan would tally his first goal of the season late in the period to double the score.
The Canes outshot the Kraken 14-4 in the 1st.
Determination
It was more of the same for the Kraken when Stefen Noesen scored on a penalty shot to make it 3-0 Hurricanes just 2:08 into the 2nd.
Despite the setback and the growing deficit the Kraken refused to quit. With plenty of time to work with, Seattle took a pragmatic approach. The comeback attempt would eventually fall just short.
Kraken Goal Scorers
2nd Period
3-1 Canes – Even Strength – Ryan Donato (5) from Carson Soucy and Yanni Gourde, 11:26
Donato reached out chest high and made a beautiful tip of a point shot.
3rd Period
3-2 Canes – Even Strength – Daniel Sprong (7) from Brandon Tanev and Will Worgen, 9:14
One that goalie Pyotr Kochetkov would like to have back, a wrister from the right wing boards that beat him stick-side.
— Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play and the Hurricanes outshot the Kraken 39-17.
Kraken 3 Stars:
1) Philipp Grubauer – Game is out of reach a lot earlier if it’s not for his performance early.
2) Ryan Donato – A delightful tip-in and two shots-on-goal that were hard to come by.
3) Daniel Sprong – We’ll give it to him for the goal.
