A mixed weekend for the Kraken

 

The first weekend of the regular season was a mixed bag for the Seattle Kraken.

On Saturday night, the Kraken scored a 5-4 shootout road victory over the Minnesota Wild. Captain Jordan Eberle notched his 300^th and 301^st career goals and scored the winning tally in the shootout to give Seattle its first victory of the 2024-25 campaign.

The next night Seattle was met by a recurring problem in Dallas. Once again, lack of scoring – a Kraken bugaboo last season- spelled defeat for Seattle as backup goalie Casey DeSmith shutout the visitors, 2-0.

DeSmith, in his Minnesota debut, turned aside 25 shots as the Stars recorded first period goals from Sam Steel and Wyatt Johnston a mere 13 seconds apart.

``Although it's a back-to-back [games] and you might be tired, it is Game 3,” said Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour. “There should be no excuse, especially going against a team like Dallas, a top-end team in the West, especially for us as a team that's looking to get over the hump and get a good run in the playoffs. That's one you should just kind of be up for. The game got away from us with simple, simple plays that could have been avoided.”

Whether it was acceptable or not, the Kraken did appear sluggish in the first period. Besides taking a 2-0 lead, the Stars outshot their guests, 7-1, in the opening minutes.

Seattle than appeared to get their `second wind’ in the second period as they recorded 12 shots on goal. In the third period, the Kraken were unable to capitalize on two power plays.

At the other end, Philipp Grubauer tried his best to keep Seattle’s hopes alive. In the third period, Grubauer stopped the Stars’ Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment on breakaways. The veteran netminder lost the season opener against the St. Louis Blues when Jordan Kyrou scored on a breakaway.

``I thought Grubi played really well,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “There were a couple of barrages around the net in the first period, and he stayed strong. In the third period, they got the two breakaways. Grubi came up big on and kept us in the game. He gave us a chance.”

The Kraken were without the services of Vince Dunn, the team’s leading scoring defenseman. Dunn left the Minnesota game in the third period after taking a hit from the Wild’s Marcus Foligno behind his own net. Josh Mahura, a member of the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers a season ago, made his Kraken debut.

                                                     Big Night For Eberle

Against the Minnesota Wild, the Kraken also fell behind in the first period, but the scoring was only beginning.

``I don't think you want to get in the habit of having to do that [staging three comebacks to win a game in a shootout],” said Bylsma post-game. “But it was good for our team to respond.”

``It was a character win,” said Eberle. ``Those are the kind of wins that build momentum. The first win’s always the hardest to get.”

Matts Zuccarello opened the scoring for the Wild, who almost made it 2-0 on Karil Kaprizov’s period ending goal, but the officials ruled that time had expired. Brandon Boldy did make it 2-0 on his power play marker at 1:06 of the second.

Eberle went to work picking up his 300^th career goal off a rebound of Jared McCann’s shot, 30 seconds later. Eberle tied the game at 2-2 when Andre Burakovsky’s (two assists) pass hit Eberle’s skate and into the net. Once again, a replay went in Seattle’s favor.

Kaprizov made it 3-2 less than two minutes into the third period. But Seattle responded again, thanks to its `high energy’ fourth line of Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev and Tye Kartye. Kartye scored his first of the season off a pass from Tanev.

Ryan Hartman gave the Wild yet another lead, but with a delayed penalty coming up on Minnesota, Ryker Evans found McCann in the left slot, and the Kraken’s all-time leader scorer fired a shot home.

After a scoreless overtime frame, Matts Zuccarello scored, leading off the shootout. Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal, and Joey Daccord came up with a save off Kaprizov. Eberle recorded the game winner as Boldy shot wide of the net.

The Kraken conclude their early season road trip, Tuesday at Nashville.

 Scoring Summary of Seattle (1-2) at Dallas (3-0).

1st Period			SEA	DAL
16:17		Sam Steel (1) Assists: Colin Blackwell (1), Thomas Harley (2)	0	1
16:30		Wyatt Johnston (1) Assists: Jamie Benn (1), Logan Stankoven (4)	0	2
Shots On Goal – Seattle 25 (Brandon Montour 5), Dallas 23. Hits- Seattle 24 (Tye Kartye), Dallas 13. Penalty Minutes- Seattle 8, Dallas 10. Faceoffs- Seattle 48.1, Dallas 51.9.   Scoring Summary of Seattle-Minnesota 1st Period SEA MIN 9:22 Mats Zuccarello (2) Assists: Kirill Kaprizov (2), Marco Rossi (1) 0 1 2nd Period SEA MIN 1:06 Matt Boldy (2) (Power Play) Assists: Kirill Kaprizov (3), Mats Zuccarello (1) 0 2 1:46 Jordan Eberle (1) Assists: Jared McCann (1), Brandon Montour (1) 1 2 8:15 Jordan Eberle (2) (Power Play) Assists: Andre Burakovsky (1), Vince Dunn (1) 2 2   3rd Period SEA MIN 1:41 Kirill Kaprizov (1) Assists: Marco Rossi (2), Brock Faber (1) 2 3 2:47 Tye Kartye (1) Assists: Brandon Tanev (1), Yanni Gourde (1) 3 3 12:33 Ryan Hartman (1) Assists: Matt Boldy (3), Jared Spurgeon (1) 3 4 Jared McCann Assists: Ryker Evans (2), Andre Burakovsky (2) 4 4 No Goals Scored   Shootout Summary SEA MIN Mats Zuccarello Goal Wrist Shot 0 1 Oliver Bjorkstrand Goal Snap Shot 1 1 Kirill Kaprizov Wrist Shot saved by Joey Daccord 1 1 Jordan Eberle Goal Wrist Shot 2 1 Matt Boldy Wrist Shot High and Wide Right 2 1