Kraken blow lead to Flames

 


Kraken blow another lead, lose to Flames, 6-3

By Raymond V. Murphy

For the second consecutive game, the Seattle Kraken had a poor second period after a promising start. But unlike their previous game against the Nashville Predators, a 4-2 victory, the Kraken were unable to rebound in the final period and dropped a 6-3 decision to the Calgary Flames last night at Climate Pledge Arena. The Flames’ victory ended a six-game losing streak by the Kraken’s Pacific Division rivals.

“You can’t underestimate any team,” said the Kraken’s Pierre Eduard Bellamare after the game. “Sometimes you don’t get the breaks but we hurt ourselves. It’s not the way you want to start (an upcoming) road trip.”

Kraken took advantage of a lengthy power play early. Calgary’s Andrew Mangepane received a five-minute penalty and was kicked out of the game for cross-checking the Kraken’s Jared McCann in the head while he was down on the ice. Oliver Bjorkstrand fired home  shot from the left circle. But as sometimes happen in hockey, Martin Pospisil, who had been serving Mangepane’s five-minute penalty, came out of the penalty box to notch the goal.

Seattle would take a 2-1 lead to the intermission. After Yanni Gourde broke up a Calgary attempt to clear its’ defensive zone, Devin Shore gained control and sent a lead pass to Gourde. From the right wing boards, Gourde made a picture perfect pass to Eeli Tolvanen cutting to the net and Tolvanen slid a shot past Flames’ netminder Daniel Vadar, into the net.

The Kraken had a 10-6 shots on goal advantage after the first 20 minutes but Seattle could only muster two shots in the second frame. Calgary had a 12-2 shot advantage and recorded the only goal of the period. After not drawing a penalty for almost half the game, Seattle’s Tolvanen and McCann were whistled off in quick succession giving Calgary a 5-3 advantage. When Tolvanen returned, it appeared the Kraken might kill the penalty but defenseman Noel Hanifan fired home the tying goal.

“We work our way through the 5-on-3 and get toward the end of the penalty-kill, but then ultimately that’s where it changes the complexion of the entire game,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, who bemoaned that the Kraken just weren’t shooting enough. “They outhustled us.”

“We weren’t skating,” said defenseman Justin Schultz of the second period. “We were chasing the puck around too much.”

Things got worse for the Kraken in the third period as the visitors struck for two quick goals. At 1:33, Yegor Sharangovich tapped in defenseman Nikita Zadarov’s drive from the point. Two minutes later, A.J. Greer, not known for his offensive prowess, pounced on a loose puck and went in on a breakway. Philipp Grubauer made the split save in the Kraken crease, but with the Seattle defense still out of his position, Walker Duehr gathered the puck and passed to Mikael Backlund, who fired home what proved to be the game winner. Backlund added an empty netter later on to earn `number-one star’ honors.

Jaden Schultz gave the Kraken faithful some hope when he scored at 18:29 to make it 4-3. Schultz `got inside’ and scored off a pass from Matty Beniers, who’s had a quiet start after earning rookie-of-the-year honors a season ago. Schultz’s goal came after Grubauer had been pulled from the Kraken net. But on the ensuing two faceoffs, Seattle was unable to keep the puck in their offensive zone leading to empty netters from Rasmas Anderson and Backlund.

It (our offense) felt like it was coming, coming,” said Bellamare. “Then we were down by two with five minutes left. We gave up too many three-on-twos in the game.”

The Kraken return to the road on Tuesday night when they travel to Edmonton to face the always dangerous Oilers. However, Edmonton has gotten off to a slow start (2-7-1) losing yesterday to the Nashville Predators, the team Seattle beat in their previous game, 4-2.

KRAKEN NOTES…Yanni Gourde played last night’s contest with a CCM turtleneck sweater designed to prevent skate blades from cutting a player’s throat. Last week, former NHLer Adam Johnson was killed while playing in England, the result of a skate cut to the neck. Washington Capital forward and Washington state native T.J. Oshe is another player donning the turtleneck…Kraken fans can at least take solace in the fact that their team isn’t the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, 10-2, the second consecutive game the winless Sharks have given up that many goals. San Jose lost to Vancouver, 10-1, on Thursday night. SJ is the first team since the 1965 Boston Bruins to lose two consecutive games allowing double figures in goals.

 

 

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Oliver Bjorkstrand (Justin Schultz 4, Yanni Gourde 3) power play . C- Martin Pospisil (Nazem Kadri, Dillon Dube) 13:59. S- Eeli Tolvanen 2 (Gourde 4, Devin Shore 1) 16:22.

Second Period

C- Noah Hanifan (Jonathan Huberdeau, Connor Zary) 9:00.

Third Period

C- Yegor Sharangovich (Nikita Zadarov, Nick DeSimone) 1:33. C- Mikael Backlund (Walker Duehr, A.J. Greer) 4:00. S- Jaden Schwartz 5 (Matty Beniers 4, Vince Dunn 8) 18:29. C- Mikael Backlund (unassisted) empty net, 19:12. C- Rasmus Anderson (unassisted) empty net, 19:39.

Shots on Goal- Calgary 31, Seattle 20

Hits- Calgary 17, Seattle 8.

Penalty Minutes- Calgary 9, Seattle 6.

Faceoffs- Calgary 40%. Seattle 60%

Referees- Kevin Pollock .Trevor Hanson. Linesmen- Bevan Mills, Mitch Hunt.

Three Stars- 1. Mikael Backlund, C. 2. Yegor Sharangovich, C. 3. Yanni Gourde, S.

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