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          Kraken drop home opener to Avalanche, 4-1

Despite a change of venue and the excitement of Opening Night, the Kraken’s early-season scoring woes continued as the Kraken dropped a 4-1 decision to the Colorado Avalanche. After scoring a mere two goals in three road games, the Kraken could only muster one goal off Colorado netminder Alexandar Georgiev. last night’s number-one star.

The good news for the Kraken- Kailer Yamamoto, the first Washington-born player to don a Kraken uniform, scored his first Seattle goal late in the first period. Yamamoto, an off-season free-agent signee lofted a wrist shot from the left wing over Georgiev’s shoulder. Prio to the score, Georgiev made two saves against the Kraken’s Tye Kartye. Seattle received a strong performance from its number-four line of Yamamoto, Kartye and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

“Anytime you can score a goal in your home town (actually he’s from Spokane) for the home team, it’s special,” said Yamamoto, who scored a goal for Edmonton last season at Climate Pledge .”It’s special. My parents were in the barn tonight. So, it’s a little extra special.”

 The Avs get a measure of revenge against a Seattle team that eliminated them in the first round of last year’s playoffs. With the victory, Colorado captured its 14th consecutive road victory, dating back to last season, an NHL record. Seattle falls to 0-3 in home openers, they lost to the Vancouver Canucks in season one, 4-2, and dropped a 5-2 verdict to the eventual Stanley Cup winning Vegas Golden Knights last season.

The Kraken outplayed the visitors in the first period, boasting a 16-9 shots-on-goal advantage, Seattle had an opportunity to tack on to the lead with three power-play opportunities in the second period. However, it was the Avalanche who tied the score on Logan O'Connor's shorthanded goal. O'Connor pounced on a loose puck and went in on a breakaway, sliding the puck past Seattle netminder Philipp Grubauer.

The Avs would score the game winner at 13:50. Valeri Nichushkin started the play by driving hard to the net. The puck came loose in a scramble, Arturi Lehkonen pounced on the puck and fired home from the slot. Mikko Rantanen added an insurance goal in the third period, the first of the season for the high-scoring winger, and Nichushkin wrapped up the scoring with an empty netter, the third allowed by Seattle this season.

While O'Connor's goal was the second `shorty' against the Kraken this season, meaning the team had given up more goals on the power play than they scored in their first four games. Conversely, Seattle was 13-for-13 opening the season on the penalty kill, a problem for the squad in previous years. Newcomer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was a perfect 9-for-9 on faceoffs (Alexander Wennberg was also 1.000% in the faceoff dot, going 7-for-7).

"We've come away from the last two hockey games feeling like we did a lot of really positive things at the end of the night," said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. "We lacked execution in a few spots tonight, against a good team, and that leaves us on the wrong side of the ledger."



KRAKEN NOTES

Along with scoring a short-handed goal, Logan O’Connor fought the Kraken’s Jordan Eberle in the opening two minutes of the game, presumably in retribution for Eberle’s cross-check on Andrew Cogliano in last year’s playoffs. Eberle’s not a fighter, but he got a few punches in, Eberle’s first fighting major with the Kraken…Seattle fans once again booed Colorado’s Cale Makar every time he touched the puck. The Kraken faithful found public enemy number-one as Makar’s late hit on Jared McCann (he was suspended for one game) caused the Kraken’s leading scorer to miss several playoff games last season. McCann had Makar lined up for a hit in the second period but the Norris Trophy winning defenseman avoided the hit…The Kraken announced that Brandon Tanev will miss four-to-six weeks of playing time after awkwardly falling to the ice after a high hit from Vegas’ Brett Howden in the season opener. While Howden received a two-game suspension for a blow to the head, the Kraken are calling Tanev’s injury a `lower body injury.”..Kraken assistant coach Dave Lowry was struck with a puck on the bench in the second period. There appeared to be some blood on the back of Lowry's head as he retired to the trainer's room for repairs. He returned to the bench none the worse for wear in the third period.

 

First Period

S- Kailer Yamamoto (Vince Dunn, Tye Kartye) 15:09.

Second Period

C- Logan O’Connor (Cale Makar, Devon Toews) shorthanded, 1:50. C- Artturi Lehkonen) 13:50.

Third Period

C- Mikko Rantanen (Sam Girard, Andrew Cogliano)13:45. C-Valeri Nichushkin (unassisted) empty net, 16:56.

Saves- C: Alexander Georgiev 37. S: Philip Grubauer 24.

Penalty Minutes- Colorado 15, Seattle 11.

Hits- Colorado 11, Seattle 20.

Faceoff Wins- Colorado 41.9% Seattle 58.1%

Three Stars- 1. Alexandar Georgiev, C. 2. Kailer Yamamoto, S. 3.

Referees- Steve Kozari, Trevor Hanson. Linesmen- Kiel Murchison, Travis Toomey.

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