Sprong leads Kraken to one-sided victory

In hockey `a healthy scratch’ is a term used for a player who’s on the active roster but isn’t one of the 19 players suited up for a particular game. Forward Darren Sprong was a healthy scratch in six of the first seven Seattle Kraken games this season. Last night he was inserted in the lineup and at the contest’s end he was referenced by another hockey term -` the game’s number-one star.’

Sprong scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Kraken to a 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres last night at Climate Pledge Arena. Brandon Tanev, who played on a line with Sprong, had two assists earning him the number-two star and goalkeeper Martin Jones earned the third star with 15 saves in the Kraken net (giving him a .930 save percentage on the night. Coming into the game his save percentage was only .860). For their efforts, the trio tossed a (plastic) salmon into the crowd when their names were introduced.

Morgan Geekie, who centered Sprong and Tanev, added his first goal of the season as did defenseman Jamie Olesiak. Jared McCann scored in his third consecutive game (four goals overall) and Matty Beniers added his third..

Twice this season, Kraken have blown a third-period lead grasping a defeat out of the hands of victory. On both occasions, they responded with a victory in their next game. Seattle was coming off a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday where the Kraken jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and seemed to be in control of the contest. They came back last night with a solid 60 minute effort. In their season opener at Anaheim, Kraken fans were getting ready to celebrate an opening night victory when the Kraken dropped an overtime tilt where they led most of the contest. But a victory over the Los Angeles Kings followed the next night.

“This team we played against tonight makes it difficult,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “They get up and down the rink, they push things on the offensive side, so you have to find ways to have layers and defend well and work for your opportunities. For the most part, we were able to do that and that led to a good win for us.”

Buffalo came into Seattle on a four-game winning streak including road wins at Calgary and Edmonton, the two Pacific Division favorites. Not much was expected from the Sabres, who missed the playoffs last season.

Sprong’s hard work led to the first Kraken goal. Coming out of the right-wing corner, Sprong’s shot hit the net but he hustled to the puck and hit Olesiak charging to the net. The 6-4 250-pound defenseman one-timed it at 2:20.

The Kraken took a 2-0 lead in their third consecutive game when Tanev’s stretch pass from his own zone hit Geekie, who became the 15^th Kraken to score a goal this season This score brought back memories of the Kraken’s game with St. Louis last week when Tanev sent a similar long pass to Ryan Donato for a goal.

“I called for it,” Geekie said. “[Tanev] yells at me all the time, so I figured I could yell at him back, and he heard me tonight He made a heck of a play over the defenseman (Owen Power, first pick in the 2021 amateur draft). I just tried to use my speed and my size to gain some ground on it.”

Tanev, who does talk a lot on the ice, picked up his second assist in the second period. He deflected a clearing pass and hit Sprong in front. Sprong became the 16^th Kraken to score a goal this season when he deked out Buffalo goaltender Eric Comrie which gave him an open three quarters of the net.

“It was just a good bounce, hit Turbo’s skate, came right to me,” Sprong said. “And then, alone on the goalie, you make a fake, he slides, and you have a wide-open net. You’ll take those any day.” 

Talking about the Tanev-Geekie-Sprong line which is actually fourth on the depth chart, Hakstol noted, “In that role, you’ve got to do a good job in a 200-foot sense, but for that group, they were able to contribute tonight offensively. That’s important for our group to have that depth in scoring.”

“We played in Edmonton that last pre-season game together, and we had some good looks,” Sprong said. “We can all skate, we’re big boys, and I thought our line really complemented each other tonight.”

The Sabres had only six shots midway through the game but Dylan Cozens had the first Buffalo goal at 12:25. Cozens’ initial shot hit the post but he was `johnny on the spot’ to tap home the rebound. It looked like the visitors cut the lead to 3-2 on Tage Thompson’s power play goal, but the Kraken challenged the goal and after the officials looked at the replay, the play was ruled offsides and the goal disallowed.

It would be the Kraken who would add two power play goals. McCann continued to have a hot hand scoring at 16:37 and Beniers finished the scoring with a shot from the right side that found its way past a screen of players into the net.

The Kraken continue their three-game homestand with games against winless Vancouver tomorrow and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. The Penguins are ranked the number-two team in the NHL in the latest power rankings according to The Athletic website.

POST GAME NOTES

• Last night’s game marked the first matchup between the first and second selections in the 2021 amateur draft and former Michigan teammates – Owen Power and Matty Beniers. Beniers, the Kraken’s first ever draft pick, won round one with his third goal of the season while Power was -1 when Brandon ‘Turbo’ Tanev sent a puck over Power’s head to Morgan Geekie who went in for a breakaway goal.
• Darren Sprong has had an interesting tenure with the Kraken since the club acquired Sprong and draft choices from Washington for Marcus Johanson at the trade deadline. Sprong scored six goals in 16 games for the Kraken but the team didn’t offer him a contract for the 2022-23 season. He came to camp as an unsigned free agent and Hakstol had a `heart-to-heart’ talk with Sprong that he’d have to improve his defense to make the team. Sprong, a former second round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to Hakstol “worked his ass off in camp” and was signed to a two-year contract. Then Sprong, who was born in the Netherlands, had customs problems leaving Canada and didn’t join Seattle until the third game of the season..
• Besides having 16 different players scoring goals, 20 different Kraken (all the players who’ve suited up for games) have at least one point. Seattle also has had five defenseman score goals, those are all league highs. The Kraken also have nine power play goals. After giving up two power plays to the Blackhawks in their previous game, Seattle successfully killed four penalties last night including 1:27 when Buffalo had a two-man advantage.
• Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin entered last night’s game with goals in each of the Sabres’ first five games this season, setting the record for longest goal streak to start the season by a defenseman. Dahlin was picked as the NHL Star of the Week for the first full week of the season. Dahlin’s six-game point streak makes him the fourth active defenseman to start a season with a streak of that length.
• Sabres’ number-one pick in 2018, Mattias Samuelson is on injured reserve after crashing heavily into the boards in the Sabres’ previous game against Vancouver. Riley Sheahan, who played all of last season with the Kraken is also on IR.
• The Sabres are 4-0 against Canadian teams – Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver- and 0-2 against teams from the United States – Florida and Seattle.

SCORING

First period

S-Jamie Oleksiak (Darren Sprong, Yanni Gourde) 2:20. S- Morgan Geekie (Brandon Tanev Vince Dunn), 5:39.

Second Period

S- Darren Sprong (Tanev, Geekie) 4:26.B- Dylan Cozens (Vinnie Hinostroza, Rasmus Dahlen) 12:25 S- Jared McCann (Andrei Burakovsky, Dunn) PPG 16:07.

Third Period

S- Matty Beniers (Justin Schultz, Sprong) PPG 9:45.

Shots On Goal- Buffalo 16, Seattle 24.

Penalty minutes-Buffalo 6, Seattle 8.

Referees- Kyle Rehman, Francis Charron Linesmen- Lidor Suchanek, Killian McNamara.

Three stars- 1.Darren Sprong 2. Brandon Tanev 3. Martin Jones