In the one year, one month history of the Seattle Kraken, last night’s 5-4 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome may have been the Kraken’s most remarkable victory in their brief existence..
Consider that Martin Jones, who has played the last five games for the Kraken, didn’t make the trip to Calgary due to family matters. With Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger, last year’s goalies on the injured list, the call went out to Joey Daccord. The fourth man on the depth chart, the Coachella Valley Firebirds netminder was making his first NHL appearance of the season, against a Calgary squad which is considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Chris Gibson, the Firebirds backup, flew to Calgary to backup Daccord.
Kraken followers have often seen the club get off to a fast start only to see their opponents- especially a quality squad like the Flames,-take over the game in the third period and post the victory. That appeared to be the scenario that would play out last night.
The Flames’ Tyler Toffoli and Trevor Lewis scored goals 16 minutes apart in the third period to give Calgary a 4-2 lead. Losing to the Flames on their home ice is no embarrassment, especially with Calgary smarting from a loss to their hated rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, on Sunday night. But this game was far from over.
Darren Sprong, known for his elite shot, scored a power play goal at 8:31. It was the 11th power play marker of the season for the Kraken. Scoring on the power play had been a major problem for Seattle a year ago.
Then Yanni Gourde, who’s had a quiet season, only one assist in the first ten games, showed why he’s known as a top-notch penalty killer. With Seattle down a man, Gourde stripped Calgary defenseman Rasmus Anderson of the puck at center ice and scored on a breakaway, beating Flames’ netminder Daniel Vladar.
Finally, Matty Beniers scored the game-winner on a nice feed from linemate Jordan Eberle. Beniers made his NHL debut in Calgary late last and picked up his first NHL point, assisting on a goal by Ryan Donato.
“I was fired up,” Beniers said. “I was smiling skating down the ice because you know [Eberle’s] dangerous with the puck, whatever he’s going to do. He ended up making a perfect play and gave me a wide-open net on the back side. That was great.”
Meanwhile, Daccord held the fort at the other end. While the Flames recorded four goals, Daccord stopped 36 shots in the Kraken net. On the same power play where Gourde scored, Chris Tanev fired a shot from the point that Daccord stopped. But the puck trickled past the netminder. Daccord alertly dove on the puck before Flames’ forward Milan Lucic could poke it into the open net.
“Over the last couple games, we’ve found timely saves,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “If you look back to the Pittsburgh game, and certainly tonight from Joey, the job he did. Not just the save on a [late] two-on-one, on the power play that he made in the third. But you can go back to the start of the game (four minutes left first-period) and a save on [Dillion] Dube. We hadn’t given up much at all through the first period but we give up that point-blank opportunity and Joey was there to make that stop.”
The Kraken officially outshot the Flames 10-7 in the first period (it looked like Seattle probably had three or four more shots, but shot counting is an inexact science). In the second period, Calgary peppered 20 shots on the Seattle net but Daccord allowed only two goals to defenseman Nikita Zaduroff and leading scorer Nazim Kadri. And if you put stock in hockey analytics, Daccord made 10 Grade A saves in the game.
Carson Soucy opened the scoring for Seattle. A native of Alberta, Soucy’s first goal was set up by Andrei Burakovsky who brought the puck into the zone and hit Soucy heading to the net. Morgan Geekie scored in the second period to deadlock the game, 2-2. That marked Geekie’s second consecutive game with a goal and three in the last four games. Oliver Bjorkstrand didn’t score a goal but had two assists and was selected third star in the game.
“I think we’ve got so much more confidence in this group,” Gourde said. “Last year was last year. This year we have confidence in this group, and we know we can rally back and we know we have the skill to do it. It’s a matter of just putting one shift together and then the next line is up. You just tilt the ice a little bit.”
The Kraken improve their record to 5-4-2. They move ahead of the Flames in the Pacific Division standings into third place. Seattle continues its three-game road trip with a contest in Minnesota against the Wild.
GAME NOTES
Goaltender Christopher Gibson, made his debut in a Seattle Kraken uniform last night but didn’t appear in the game. He was an emergency callup when Martin Jones didn’t travel with the team to Calgary. Gibson was a draft choice of the Los Angeles Kings and has appeared in 16 NHL games with the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s played two games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds this season. Daccord and Marcus Hellberg were expected to be the Coachella Valley netminders but when they were sent to the minors before the start of the season, the Ottawa Senators picked up Hellberg on waivers.
Carson Soucy, the leading scorer among Kraken defensemen last season with eight goals, scored his first goal last night. He became the 18th player on Seattle to score a goal this year. Later in the contest, Gourde became the 19th Kraken goal scorer, both league highs. First-round draft pick Shane Wright’s the only non-goaltender, not to have scored a goal this season. Wright’s been a healthy scratch in the last four Kraken games. The Kraken are the only team where every defenseman who’s played in a game (six) has a goal.”
Daccord picked up his first victory as a Kraken goaltender last night. His only previous NHL win came in 2020 when he defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs as a member of the Ottawa Senators.
A knee injury sidelined Brandon Tanev for the final five months of last season, meaning he didn’t get to play very much against his older brother, Calgary defenseman Christopher Tanev. Brandon’s former Providence College linemate Kevin Rooney is also on the Flames, but wasn’t in the lineup last night.
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First Period
S- Carson Soucy (Andrei Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand) 14:58
Second Period
C- Nikita Zadorev (Tyler Toffoli, Elias Lindholm) 6:28. C- Nazem Kadri (MacKenzie Weeger, Chris Tanev) 8:14 S- S- Morgan Geekie (Jamie Oleksiak) 13:10.
Third Period
C- Toffoli (Lindholm) 1:34 C- Trevor Lewis (Brett Ritchie) 1:50.S- Daniel Sprong (Alex Wennberg, Oliver Bjorkstrand) PPG, 8:31. S-Yanni Gourde (unassisted) SH, 11:26. S- Matty Beniers (Jordan Eberle) 13:26.
Shots on Goal- Seattle 26, Calgary 40.
Penalty minutes- Seattle 13, Calgary 13
Referees- Ghislain Hebert, Brandon Blandina Linesman- Daniel Brisbois, Bevan Mills
Three stars-1. Yanni Gourde, S. 2. Tyler Toffolo, C. 3. Oliver Bjorkstrand, S.
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