The Kraken winning streak is at eight games, the unbeaten-in-regulation streak at 12, after Seattle defeated Washington 4-1 on Thursday night.
1st Period
The happy times continued early in the hockey game. Kraken goalie Joey Daccord stopped all 11 Washington shots he faced in the 1st period, while at the other end Darcy Kuemper had trouble with two of the six he faced.
That would be Tye Kartye’s wicked wrister from the top of the left wing circle that may have hit a defender’s stick on the way through at the 8:50 mark, and Alex Wennberg’s ripper from almost the same distance at 18:12.
Back to Daccord.
The guaranteed highlight reel set of saves for the night, or the week, came eight minutes into the period when Joey D robbed Capitals center Connor McMichael twice. Kraken D-man Justin Schultz coughed up a puck right on to McMichael’s stick close to the left wing post. Daccord made a diving save to stop a deke move and then while on his belly, kicked a leg up in the air behind him to stop the rebound chance. Some refer to it as the scorpion save.
2-0 Seattle
2nd Period
The Capitals gained some momentum during the first half of the period and broke through at the 5:47 mark. Max Pacioretty one-timed a sneaky good, blind, cross-slot pass from Alexander Ovechkin and deposited it glove side on Daccord. No chance for the netminder.
About the middle of the period the Kraken began to reassert themselves. With just 1:40 remaining, Schultz restored Seattle’s two-goal cushion.
Carrying the puck into the right wing circle he centered for Yanni Gourde, only to have the puck carom back to him off a goalmouth scramble. He potted the carom on the backhand just inside the post over Kuemper’s oustretched leg.
3-1 Seattle
3rd Period
Gourde had a good chance to make it 4-1 in the first minute but was stopped by Kuemper on the doorstep.
The Capitals earned a power play when Seattle D-man Will Borgen tripped blueliner Nick Jensen at the 7:00 mark. The Kraken killed the penalty. It was the first of just two total power plays in the game. Seattle would fail on a late one.
Seattle added to its lead and put the game away at 12:02. Adam Larsson finished with a beautiful backhand deke on a 2-on-1 rush with Brandon Tanev. “Turbo” landed a nifty, lofted saucer pass right on to “Big Cat’s” stick and he tucked it home.
Shots on goal ended with the Capitals outshooting the Kraken 26-23. Power plays: Seattle 0-for-1, Washington 0-for-1.
With the win Seattle moved to four games above .500 with 45 points in the standings.
Kraken 3 Stars:
1) Adam Larsson – Goal and an assist. Team high 24:27 of ice time.
2) Brandon Tanev – Two assists and a shot-on-goal in 13:52 of ice time.
3) Joey Daccord – Stopped 25 of 26 shots with a couple of beauties and won his 7th straight.
