Canucks comeback spoil Kraken effort

One thing the Seattle Kraken have shown this season is that this team can generate a lot of offense, not always the case a season ago. At the risk of stating the obvious, when Seattle holds the opposition to under two goals or less it’ll usually finish in the win column. But when the team gives up five goals it negates the offensive firepower.

That was the case last night as the Vancouver Canucks came into Climate Pledge Arena and posted their first win of the season, 5-4. Bruce Boudreau, a longtime NHL coach with Anaheim, Washington and Vancouver picked up his 600^th NHL victory.

The Kraken outshot their guests by a 2-1 margin, 36-18. Jared McCann scored in his fourth consecutive game, Matty Beniers in his third straight game and Jamie Oleksiak, known as a defensive-minded defenseman, tallied for the second straight game. On Beniers’ goal, the Kraken’s Jordan Eberle picked up an assist for his 600^th NHL point.

“We carried the momentum for most of the night,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “They won on specialty teams.”

“They were a desperate team and we didn’t capitalize on the power play,” said Eberle. ”When you play against a quality goalkeeper (Thatcher Demko) you have to take it to the net and get secondary chances.”

Demko was particularly strong in the closing minutes of the game protecting a one-goal lead. Martin Jones, starting his third consecutive game between the pipes, had a rough night allowing four goals on 17 shots. The Canucks’ Conor Garland also scored on an empty net.

The Canucks entered the game as the only NHL team without a victory, and they started off in an ornery mood. Tanner Pearson challenged the Kraken’s Adam Larsson after Larsson’s big hit on Sheldon Dries and Seattle’s Carson Soucy and Vancouver’s J.T. Miller squared off in front of the benches. There was almost a third fight as Vancouver captain Bo Horvat challenged Vince Dunn but the Kraken defender skated away. That was probably a wise move as Seattle already had two of their six defensemen (Larsson and Soucy) in the penalty box for fighting..

The Canucks’ cantankerous play paid off as Ilya Mikheyev, recently acquired from Toronto, scored the game’s opening goal at 4:36. But the momentum shifted Seattle’s way as the Kraken added two goals in the final three minutes of the period.

Oleksiak was an unlikely candidate to get the first score but he fired a shot home after taking a pass from his defense partner, Justin Schultz. Oleksiak has now scored in his last two games after notching only one goal in 72 games last season.

A minute later, McCann, originally drafted by the Canucks, snuck behind the Vancouver defense and took a lead pass from Yanni Gourde. Demko appeared to stop McCann’s original breakaway shot, but it trickled underneath the goalie’s pads and into the net.

Vancouver tied the game with a power play goal at 3:58 of the second period. Seattle’s Karson Kuhlman attempted a clearing pass and the puck somehow got caught between his skates. The Canucks regained control and Mikheyev picked up his second goal of the night.

“On that goal  a clear or a save makes a difference,” said Hakstol.

The Canucks took a brief lead on Andre Kozmenko’s goal at 14:16 but Matty Beniers answered that score a mere 16 seconds later. Eberle picked up his milestone assist on that goal.

Elias Petterson would give Vancouver the lead for good at 1:18 of the third period on a lead pass from defenseman Luke Schenn.

The Kraken would carry the play in the second half of the third period. The Andrei Burakovsky-Alex Wennberg-Oliver Bjorkstrand turned in three awesome shifts in a row. Burakovsky had a goal disallowed as his stick was above the crossbar and Demko made two big saves on Burakovsky and Wennberg with four minutes left.

Seattle pulled Jones for an extra attacker. After Demko’s save on McCann, Garland fired a puck from deep in his own zone that found its way into an empty net.

The Kraken didn’t go down without a fight. After play resumed, Jones was pulled again and Jaden Schwartz added his fourth goal of the season with 30 seconds left.

“You saw the desperation we played with at the end of the game which I liked,” said Eberlie. “It would have been good to have that earlier when it was a 2-1 game.”

The Kraken host the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night before beginning a three-game road trip. The Penguins, who average over four goals a game, play tonight in Vancouver and will be playing the last game of a five-game road trip in Seattle.

GAME NOTES

• After a 5-1 blowout against Buffalo on Tuesday, Hakstol went with the exact same lineup last night. That meant that Ryan Donato, the team’s fourth leading scorer a year ago, and first-round draft pick Shane Wright, were again healthy scratches.
• The Kraken entered last night’s game with nine power play goals, second in the NHL to the Colorado Avalanche.
• Entering their second seasons with the Kraken, defenseman Adam Larsson and forward Morgan Geekie both picked up their first five-minute fighting major penalties with the team. Geekie fought Vancouver defensemen Kyle Burroughs in the second period.
• The Canucks were missing two of their top players – Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser- with injuries. Hughes had a team high six points in games against the Kraken last season.
• Before last night’s game the Canucks announced that they had acquired forward Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg. Studnicka, 23, has appeared in one game with Boston so far this season, registering four penalty minutes. He’s mostly played for the Providence Bruins since being selected in the second round of the 2017 draft.  The P-Bruins were formerly coached by current Kraken’s assistant coach Jay Leach.
• Heading into last night’s contest, the Canucks were 4-0-0 all-time against the Kraken, including a 2-0-0 record at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Vancouver defeated Seattle three times by a 5-2 score, the fourth game of the Pacific Northwest rivalry ended 4-2.

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

V-Ilya Mikheyev (Luke Schenn , Andrei Kuzmenko) 4:38. S- Jamie Oleksiak (Justin Schultz, Brandon Tanev) 18:39. S- Jared McCann (Yanni Gourde, Vince Dunn) 19:44.

Second Period-

V- Mikheyev (Sheldon Dries, Conor Garland) 3:58. V- Andrei Kuzmenko (J.T. Miiller, Elias Petterson) 14:16. S- Matty Beniers (Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle), 14:32.

Third Period

V- Petterson (Schenn), 1:18. V- Garland (empty net) 18:36. S-Schwartz (Eberle, Andrei Kurakovsky) 19:30.

Shots on Goal – Vancouver 18, Seattle 36.

Penalty Minutes- Vancouver 23, Seattle 19.

Referees- Kevin Pollock, Mitch Dunning. Linesmen- Justin Johnson, Jesse Marquis.

Three stars- 1. Ilya Mikheyev, V. 2. Jared McCann, S 3. Andrei Kuzmenko V.