The Kraken outworked and outlasted the Canucks, beating their northern neighbors 5-2 and handing Vancouver their 4th straight loss.
1st Period
Thatcher Demko started in net for the Canucks, Philipp Grubauer for the Kraken.
After Seattle opened with some decent offensive pressure in the first two minutes, Vancouver answered with some sustained heat. They’d open the scoring at 4:35 with J.T. Miller banging home his 29th goal of the season from the doorstep. He entered the night tied for 5th in NHL scoring with 75 points.
Moments later Jordan Eberle went off for tripping, but the Kraken avoided going down another goal while shorthanded. They killed the penalty and almost immediately created a couple of scoring chances. Demko stopped an Eeli Tolvanen shot from the right wing circle on a 2-on-1 rush.
Play was even as the period moved along with Seattle getting its first man advantage at 11:19 when Elias Lindholm went off for high sticking. Vince Dunn ripped a slapper home from the point at 13:22 just after the power play ended. Demko never saw the shot that went top shelf through a heavy screen.
Over the last six minutes of the period the Kraken put on incredible amounts of pressure while trapping Vancouver in their own end. Demko was scrambling with one shot clanging off the crossbar. The Canucks, potentially a tired team playing their third game in four nights, were chasing.
The period ended with Eberle getting dumped with four seconds remaining as Nils Höglander went off for a hooking call that would carry over into the 2nd.
2nd Period
21-seconds into the period and 25-seconds into the carry-over power play, Jared McCann ripped his 25th goal of the season past Demko’s glove, top shelf to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead.
A minute later we saw the fight we felt was coming tonight. Seattle’s Brandon Tanev and Vancouver’s Connor Garland were getting at each other in the 1st period and they dropped the gloves at 1:34 of the 2nd. Tanev basically fed Garland.
The next sequence went the way of the Canucks. A fortunate carom on a Canucks rush at 4:56 went off Sam Lafferty’s shoulder and into the net past Grubauer. The shot from Pius Suter double-deflected. Ten seconds later McCann went off for tripping, but the Kraken killed the penalty.
A Kraken power play that followed soon after that also failed.
At the midway point of the game the shots favored the Kraken 13-11. Seattle to this point had the better of the play overall.
At 10:55 Tolvanen went off for high sticking, an accidental clip of Canucks captain Quinn Hughes. The accumulation of time shorthanded seemed it might impact the Kraken’s positive momentum at 5-on-5.
Nothing doing. Seattle killed the penalty and grabbed all the momentum they needed.
D-man Justin Schultz scored from the right circle past a screen at 13:29. Demko looked awkward trying to make the save.
Eberle smacked home his own rebound a minute and nine seconds later and Seattle suddenly had a 4-2 lead.
A Matty Beniers penalty for interference late in the period, one he took in retaliation for a Pettersson hold, briefly carried over into the third.
3rd Period
The Kraken killed off the remainder of the penalty.
Again, this appears to be a tired Canucks team, looking out of sync. They were offside on three separate zone entries in the first four minutes of the 3rd period.
Seattle began working the clock, grinding Vancouver across the sheet and making all movement difficult.
With 6:21 remaining Demko kept the game alive by stopping Beniers and Eberle on a 3-on-1 for Seattle.
It didn’t matter.
Vancouver pulled its goalie for the extra attacker with more than three minutes left and Eberle scored an empty netter with 2:09 remaining.
Shots on goal ended 31-21 in favor of the Kraken. Power plays: Vancouver 0-for-4, Seattle 1-for-3.
Kraken 3 Stars:
1) Jared McCann – A goal and three assists adds up to a six-game point streak.
2) Jordan Eberle – 2 goals and an assist with five shots-on-goal.
3) Justin Schultz – Goal and an assist for the D-man with four shots-on-goal.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken NHL; Parity, Mediocrity and Inconsistency
