Kuhlman’s goal leads Kraken past Avs, 3-2

Last Wednesday night the Seattle Kraken played one of the better games in their brief history but only escaped Climate Pledge Arena with one point as the St. Louis Blues edged the home team in overtime, 3-2.

Last night, Seattle traveled to Ball Arena in Denver to face the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and stunned their hosts with a 3-2 victory. Karson Kuhlman notched the game winner, his first goal of the season, after taking a stretch pass from Jaden Schwartz. With Colorado’s 6-3 defenseman Kurtis McDermott hanging on his back, Kuhlman got the shot off which slid past goalie Pavel Francouz into the net.

“We needed a (line) change and I knew (Kuhlman) was fresher,” said Schwartz.

“This was a rock solid effort for 60 minutes,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “We played with confidence from the opening faceoff. For the guys not to let up, that’s kind of the benchmark for me, “We played a real good hockey game, but made a mistake [a shorthanded goal] that can rattle you, especially in this building and momentum gets rolling. But we just went right back to work.”

Jared McCann and Schwartz both contributed a goal and an assist to Seattle’s second win of the season. While they didn’t figure in the scoring, the line of Andrei Burakovsky, a member of the Avalanche a year ago, Alex Wennberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand were dominant offensively. Bjorkstrand had six shots on goal, Burakovsky (5) and Wennberg (3).

Then there was Philipp Grubauer in the nets. A former Avalanche before signing with the Kraken a year ago, Grubauer came into the contest with a goalie save percentage of .860. An NHL goalie should have a percentage over .900. But there’s something about goaltenders facing their former team.

The Kraken haven’t always gotten off to a fast start, often playing from behind even in games when they’ve played well. While the Kraken outshot Colorado, 11-6, in the first period, Grubauer looked sharp. He stopped Alex Newhook on a breakaway midway through the period as the team’s went to the intermission scoreless.

Seattle opened the scoring in the second period when Jordan Eberle passed across the front of the net to Schwartz, who banged home his team leading third goal of the season.

Last season, the Kraken allowed too many `rebound’ goals, a score by their opponents within a minute or so of a Seattle score. This time it was the Kraken scoring a mere 23 seconds later (an offensive rebound?) as McCann jammed home his own rebound.

It was also the first time in four games that McCann (who drew a secondary assist on the first goal) played without a full face shield. Against Los Angeles, McCann caught an errant stick in the mouth and needed dental work. The Kraken’s leading point-getter a year ago, McCann didn’t garner a point in the four games with the full-face shield. He was back wearing his usual half-shield last night.

Evan Rodrigues, signed as a free agent from Pittsburgh in the off-season, cut the lead in half at 5:58. It was a tough shift for Justin Schultz, who’s played well for Seattle after signing as a free agent in the offseason. First Schultz failed to clear the puck out of the defensive zone and then lost his stick giving the Avs a 2-on-1 break.

The Kraken started the third period on a power play and Burakovsky and Bjorgstrand’s were both denied by Francouz. The Avs broke free from their zone and Bowen Byrum scored the tying goal on a back pass from Valerie Nichushkin.

After the goal, Grubauer looked to be in discomfort and skated over to the Kraken bench for a word with the trainers. At the next play stoppage, Grubauer skated over to the bench again, this time for good. Martin Jones had the unenviable task of coming in cold against the defending champs with 17 minutes to go in the game. After the game, Hakstol said the Kraken weren’t sure of the extent of Grubauer’s injury.

Sometimes a team rises to the occasion in these situations, and that was the case with Seattle. The Avs had only shot against Jones for the remainder of the contest, a blistering shot from the point by Mikko Rantanen. Colorado had a few shots that went wide of the net and Jamie Oleksiak and Will Borgen both blocked Avalanche shots.

“It was an all-around good effort,” said Schwartz. “We executed, getting the puck out of our zone, cleaner and faster. The defense and the forwards were on the same page.”

The Kraken travels to Chicago on Sunday for a matinee with the Blackhawks. The game time is 10:30 Pacific time.

Game Notes

• *Andrei Burakovsky, the Kraken’s leading scorer after five games, received his Stanley Cup ring at yesterday morning’s practice in his return to Denver. As a member of the Avalanche, Burakovsky scored the game-winning overtime goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals. In three seasons with Colorado, Burakovsky had 61 goals and 89 assists for 150 points. At the first play stoppage last night at Ball Arena, the scoreboard screen showed highlights of Burakovsky’s career as an Avalanche.
• National Hockey League teams unveiled their `alternate third uniforms’ this week. In what’s become a great marketing tool for the NHL – check all the people wearing Kraken jerseys at Seattle home games- the Kraken will wear a similar jersey to their home blues, except that upper half of the jersey is a powder blue.
• The Athletic website released its first power ratings since the season began yesterday. Colorado ranked 1<sup>st</sup> in the pre-season, dropped to third after their loss to Winnipeg on Wednesday. Carolina, which defeated Seattle on Monday night, is the new top team. The Kraken dropped from 23 to 25 after a week of play (last night’s games weren’t included). The Kraken have played only one team below them in the rankings. The Anaheim Ducks, overtime winners against the Kraken on opening night haven’t won a game since and are 29<sup>th</sup>. The Kraken’s next opponent Chicago is ranked 30<sup>th</sup>, but the Hawks defeated Detroit in overtime last night.
• The Coachella Valley Firebirds played their first `home’ game at the Kraken practice facility yesterday afternoon. The Firebirds dropped a 4-3 decision to the Abbotsford Canucks. Alexander True had two goals for the `Birds, Jesper Froden added a score and newly named captain Max McCormick had two assists. These same two teams play Sunday night at Climate Pledge Arena
• Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog underwent knee surgery Tuesday in Minneapolis and is expected to miss 12 weeks. Knee problems are nothing new for Landeskog who had knee surgery in March but returned to the Avalanche for the playoffs. According to Colorado coach Jared Bodnar when Landeskog returned to the ice for offseason training, the knee started bothering him again. He’s not played in a game this season. Landeskog a 12-year veteran, had 30 goals and 24 assists a year ago. The Avalanche were also missing Devon Toews, who’s part of the top defensive pairing along with last year’s playoff MVP, Cale Makar.

Scoring

1^st Period

No scoring

2^nd Period

S- Jaden Schwartz (Jordon Eberle, Jared McCann) 1:38. S- McCann (Carson Soucy) 2:00. C- Evan Rodrigues (Valerie Nichushkin)

3^rd Period

C- Bowen Byram (Nichushkin, Logan O’Connor) SH, 1:08. S- Karson Kuhlman (Schwartz, Jamie Oleksiak) 12:06.

Shots- Seattle 38, Colorado 20.

Penalty minutes- Seattle 9, Colorado 15.

Referees- Frederic L’Ecuyer, Tom Chmielewski. Linesmen- Brandon Gawryletz, C.J. Murray.

Three stars- 1. Karson Kuhlman S 2. Jared McCann C- Valerie Nichushkin.