Jones earns shutout as Kraken win third straight

Fatherhood definitely agrees with Seattle Kraken goaltender Martin Smith. Last Thursday night, Seattle outshot Vancouver, 36-18, but Smith allowed four goals in a 5-4 loss. He spent Friday at the hospital as his wife Alex gave birth to their son Rory. On Saturday, Smith started in goal and had his best game of the season stopping 31 of 32 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But things kept getting better. Jones missed Tuesday’s game due to `personal reasons’ (Joey Daccord, in his first game of the year in the nets, was outstanding in a 5-4 comeback win over the Calgary Flames), but last night against the Minnesota Wild, Smith recorded his 26^th career NHL shutout. Smith stopped 22 shots in a 4-0 victory. Five of those 26 shutouts have come in Minneapolis-St. Paul against the Wild.

With the win, Smith has been the winning goaltender in five of the six Kraken victories this season – Philipp Grubauer played most of the game against Colorado- but Smith entered the game with the score tied. In his last two games, he’s stopped 54 out of 55 shots, increasing his save percentage from .860 to .893.

“I just try to stay in the moment,” said Jones.. ““Momentum is a big part of games and to go into the third period  with a three-goal lead and then come out and really shut them down for the first five, six minutes of the third period was really good.”

Seattle outshot Minnesota, 23-22, but that was enough against future Hall-of-Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Alex Wennberg led the offense with two goals – one hit the Kraken forward in the back and went into the net – and Jamie Oleksiak and Morgan Geekie also scored the Kraken. For Oleksiak, it was the Seattle defenseman’s third goal of the season after scoring only one last year (into an open net). For Geekie, it was his third goal in as many games, four in the last five games. Geekie’s linemate Darren Sprong added two assists. Not bad, considering that Sprong, Geekie and Ryan Donato are considered the Kraken’s fourth line.

The Kraken improved their season record to 6-4-1, and for the second time in the team’s history Seattle won three consecutive games. The first was last April 16-20 when the Kraken won three straight home games against New Jersey, Ottawa and Colorado. The Devils and Senators, like Seattle were already out of the playoffs, and the eventual Stanley Cup champion Avalanche were playing out the string.

The win was a team effort for the Kraken, who scored at least three goals for the eighth consecutive game. Adam Larsson selected as the game’s number-two star didn’t even make the scoresheet. Larsson blocked three shots (the Kraken had 10 blocks overall) and  was a +1 in the contest. Players receive a plus when their team scores a goal at even strength when they’re on the ice, and a minus when the opposition scores. Larsson and Vince Dunn have been an elite defensive pair this season, they’ve been on the ice for more of their teams’ goals than any defense pairing in the league.

“Our group just worked hard all night,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “Being good defensively usually starts with being efficient with the puck. We spent a lot of time in the offensive zone tonight. That cut down the amount of time that we had to defend. When it was time to defend, we were solid as a group of five, pretty strong inside and didn’t give up too much from the outside.”

Minnesota was missing two of their best offensive players with injuries – Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno – but the Kraken still played a good positional game. The first period was tight checking and probably a little boring to fans at the XL Energy Center. The Kraken outshot the Wild by a 6-4 margin.

Seattle opened the scoring at 5:02 of the second period. With a defenseman in deep, Sprong dropped back to the point just as Donato outmuscled a Wild player for the puck and sent a drop pass to Sprong. His shot was tipped in by Geekie. Oleksiak, who’s suddenly becoming a goal scorer made it 2-0 five minutes later. Yanni Gourde skated through the Minnesota defense and then hit Oleksiak cutting to the net.

The Kraken then added one of their most unusual goals of the season on the power play. Matty Beniers’ back-checking started the play. He brought the puck up ice and hit Sprong with a one-timer. The shot went through a sea of players into the net.

The two referees and two linesmen met for a discussion and ruled that Wennberg knocked the puck into the net with his head – okay in soccer but a no-no in the NHL. The Kraken asked for a video review and replays clearing showed that the puck rolled off Wennberg’s back and into the net. The call was changed again and the Kraken took a 3-0 lead.

Wennberg added a more traditional goal in the third period when he tipped home a shot by defenseman Will Borgen. In the interim, Jones made a big save on Minnesota’s leading scorer, Kirill Kaprizov on a Wild power play late in the second period. He also made two big saves on Joel Eriksson-Ek, kicking out his initial shot and then smothering the rebound attempt.

“It was just straight up 60 minutes of hockey,” Hakstol said. “We just wanted to play a real good road game in a tough building.”

“I feel like we’re sticking to the game plan,” Wennberg said. “These are really good teams we’re playing against every night. Everyone’s chipping in, though. There’s no secret to it. I wish we could say that there is, but it’s just a hard-working team. Everyone’s fighting for one another, and that’s just the way we want to play.””

The Kraken look to capture a team record fourth straight victory with a game at Pittsburgh, Saturday night. The Penguins (4-5-2) are winless in their last six games.

GAME NOTES

 Jared McCann, the Kraken’s second leading scorer, missed last night’s game with a lower body injury. He was replaced in the lineup by Shane Wright. That moved Yanni Gourde to right wing with Wright centering Gourde and Brandon Tanev. Wright, the Kraken’s number-one draft pick, has only played in five games this season, usually for about five minutes. Last night, Wright played a season-high 13:45, was +1 and also blocked a shot.

 Last night’s game featured the two highest scoring rookies in the NHL- Seattle’s Matty Beniers (although it’s hard to think of Beniers as a rookie, as he was a regular in the Kraken’s last ten games a year ago) and Minnesota’s Calen Addison. Beniers has five goals and four assists for nine points while Addison has seven assists. Addison was a 2018 second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins and played in 15 games with the Wild last season.

 The Kraken’s defensive pairs have been together all 11 games this season – Adam Larsson with Vince Dunn, Jamie Oleksiak-Justin Schultz and Carson Soucy-Will Borgen. The top two lines- Jordan Eberle-Matty Beniers-Jaden Schwartz and Andrei Burakovsky-Alex Wennberg-Oliver Bjorkstrand have also been together most of the year,

SCORNG SUMMARY

First period

No scoring

Second period

S- Morgan Geekie (Daniel Sprong, Ryan Donato) 5:02. S- Jamie Oleksiak (Yanni Gourde, Justin Schultz) 11:34. S- Alex Wennberg (Sprong, Oliver Bjorkstrand) PPG 14:47

Third period

S- Wennberg (Will Borgen, Andrei Burakovsky) 10:35.

Shots on goal- Seattle 23, Minnesota 22

Penalty minutes- Seattle 4, Minnesota 4

Referees- Kevin Pollack, Graham Skilliter Linesmen- James Tobias, Julian Fornier.

Three stars- 1. Alex Wennberg, S 2. Adam Larsson, S. 3. Martin Smith, S.