Red Wings 6, Kraken 2
We took a couple of days off — missed the Kraken’s 6-2 comeback win against the Eastern Conference’s worst team, the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Seattle leads the NHL with six multi-goal comeback wins. Unfortunately the chances are always greater for that phenomena when you’re always falling behind and chasing the game.
Sunday afternoon it wasn’t going to happen. The Detroit Red Wings buried Seattle in the first eight minutes.
Dylan Larkin and J.T. Compher, former teammates at the University of Michigan, scored 11-seconds apart at 3:33. Alex DeBrincat ripped home a power play goal three minutes later, and Patrick Kane was left alone for an easy goal at the 7:53 mark.
Seattle starter Philipp Grubauer was replaced by Joey Daccord after the DeBrincat goal.
There would be no comeback on this occasion for a tired, discombobulated Seattle team, beginning to play out the string in early January.
Erik Gustafsson made it 5-0 Red Wings at 4:17 of the 2nd period. The puck went in off Seattle D-man Josh Mahura’s leg in front. The Wings stood 2-for-2 on the power play and had multi-PP-goal games in five of their last six. No wonder the Motown boys were on a six-game, now seven-game, win streak.
Larkin scored his 2nd goal of the game and 19th of the season on yet another successful Detroit power play opportunity at 15:21 of the second. At 18:00, also on the power play, Oliver Bjorkstrand put Seattle on the board to make it 6-1. It was Ollie’s first goal in twelve games.
Matty Beniers added a goal for Seattle in the 3rd period, his 8th on the season.
The Kraken continue their road trip, hitting Pittsburgh on Tuesday night and then Winnipeg on Thursday. The Penguins are lingering just outside an Eastern Conference playoff position while the Jets are tied for the most points in the NHL (61).
Earlier Seattle:
Up The Road:
