Kraken turn tables on Canucks with 4-3 shootout win in Vancouver

The Kraken give up a 3-1 advantage in regulation time, but gain revenge on the Canucks as Matty Beniers scores the only goal of the shootout.

When the Seattle Kraken ended the third period of Friday’s game in Vancouver tied at 3-3 with the Canucks, it would have been quite easy for them to have a foreboding sense of doom. After all, the visitors had a 3-1 lead with less than one minute remaining in the middle frame, before a deflected goal by the hosts instigated a comeback which resulted in the game going to overtime.

In addition, the Kraken were just four nights removed from losing 3-2 to the Canucks thanks to a shootout goal from Liam Ohgren. However, in a beautiful case of symmetry the visitors were able to return the ‘favor’ at Rogers Arena in front of a hostile crowd of 18,724, to clinch a second invaluable point with a 4-3 win.

Joey Daccord did his part by stopping all three shots he faced in the shootout, while a seemingly rejuvenated Matty Beniers scored the crucial winning goal for the Kraken. This resulted in a second consecutive First Star of the Game for Beniers one night after scoring two goals in a 4-1 victory versus the Nashville Predators.

Matty Beniers continues to work on his game

When speaking to the media postgame, Beniers acknowledged the shootout hasn’t necessarily been a strong part of his game, but had been working on improving it. As per Bob Condor of NHL.com, he said:

“That’s something I’ve tried to work on and get better at. You know, coming down [on a goaltender], you look at the best guys in the league, like one of the best guys was [T.J. Oshie]. He comes down his same route, and he has four different moves that he can pull. And that’s kind of what I was trying to work on and get to.”

At one point it seemed as if a shootout wouldn’t even be needed, with the Kraken taking their aforementioned 3-1 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the second period through Ben Meyers. However, as is often the case with this team, they don’t make life easy for themselves.

Not that the Kraken don’t have resilience and tremendous mental fortitude, with Friday’s game representing the 13th time this season they’ve gone to overtime to secure at least one point. This could make all the difference come playoff time, as they look to secure qualification for the first time since their second season in 2022-23.

A first Pacific Division title is now in play

In this respect, the Kraken now move up to seventh place in the Western Conference standings and within striking distance of the leaders in the Pacific Division. As much as some may contend it’s too soon for fans to get excited, the reality is the team is well-placed as they approach the halfway point of their regular season campaign.

It seems fair to say the horror of just one win in 11 games is now well behind the Kraken, with them taking 13 out of a possible 14 points since then. Still though, the team needs to continue working on their consistency in order to still be in the mix come April time.

This means needing to find more goals, with the Kraken sitting second-bottom in the NHL on 102 and fourth-lowest with an average of 2.62 per contest. At least they seem to be making strides in the right direction, as evidenced by scoring four goals in three of their last four games.

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Kraken players continue to grow in confidence

Winning cures all (most) ills, while also building up a team’s confidence and Kraken head coach Lane Lambert noticed there was no panic among his players even after giving up their two-goal lead. Speaking to Condor and the rest of the media postgame, Lambert said:

“This is a time of year now where they start to take ownership. They’re doing a really good job of that. As a coaching staff, we continue to teach behind-the-bench things we don’t like to see. But those guys on the bench are the guys who are going out there. They did a good job of keeping each other positive.”

We would be remiss not to mention that Cale Fleury opened the scoring with his first goal as a member of the Kraken. It was also just the second goal of his NHL career, with the first coming while playing for the Montreal Canadiens back in 2019-20.

The Kraken’s other goal came from Chandler Stephenson on a powerplay in the second period, with him now second on the team with 11 overall. While he hasn’t been quite as effective as during his time in Vegas, the potential is still there for a player who was an All-Star in 2022-23.

After taking the full four points in a back-to-back, the Kraken will now get the weekend to recuperate before facing another back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday evening. They will first play in Calgary and then return home to face the Boston Bruins in a contest which will officially take them to the halfway point of their season at 41 games.

Do you have faith in Daccord being able to backstop the Kraken into the playoffs as the main starter? Or would you like the team to make some kind of change, whether it be giving Philipp Grubauer more outings or bringing in another goalie prior to the Mar. 6 trade deadline? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.