Montour hat trick leads Kraken

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After the Seattle Kraken’s lethargic 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night, Kraken coach Dan Bylsma wasn’t keen on the idea that the Kraken might get their groove back once they hit the road.

Like most coaches, Bylsma would like to see the Kraken establish a home-ice advantage where visitors would be leery of entering Climate Pledge Arena.

But Bylsma surely had no problem with the Kraken’s 8-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night at the Bell Center. In what would be a record-breaking night, the Kraken began a five-game Northeastern-road trip with an explosive offensive performance.

The Kraken set a team record notching four goals in the first 10:33 of the game. Five goals came from defensemen, a team record, and defenseman Brandon Montour scored his first three goals in Seattle garb – three in a row- and he joined Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz as Kraken who’ve recorded a three-goal `hat trick.’

According to Montour it was a case of forgetting the pretty pass, just fire at the net.

“I think that especially in the last bunch of games here, we know that we need to get more traffic in front of the net,” Montour said. “Especially these games where we’ve lost, we’ve made it easier on their goalies – especially last game and the game before. So, get in their face. Make it tough on them. Regardless of whether it’s going to the net. Or, just close with somebody driving to the net. I think we are trying to take more pride in just driving there and creating traffic.”

``I think at times this year we’ve been too much on the perimeter, and we’ve been too much without having a shooter’s mentality,” said Bylsma. “And I think there’s no secret about really scoring goals in this league. You’ve got to have shot volume. You’ve got to have guys at the net. And you’ve got to have guys in and around the net.”

Jamie Oleksiak opened the scoring just 25 seconds into the game with a drive from the point with Eeli Tolvanen screening in front. Then defenseman Ryker Evans added a goal on another long shot with Matty Beniers screening and Jaden Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand completed the Kraken’s first-period scoring.

It helped that Montreal’s Sam Montembault had a terrible night between the pipes for the home squad before he was charitably pulled from the contest by Montreal coach Martin St. Louis after Montour’s first goal at 1:32 of the second period.

At the other end, Joey Daccord, making his third consecutive start, turned in another solid performance (Montreal actually Seattle, 30 to 23).  After Cole Caufield put the Canadiens on the scoreboard, Montreal went on the power play in the final two minutes of the first period. Daccord came up with some big saves, preventing the Canadien’s from taking the momentum.

Tolvanen had the final Seattle goal. Chandler Stephenson led the Kraken with four assists and Jared McCann added two helpers. A total of 12 different Kraken entered the scoring column.

Seattle (5-4-1 on the season) continues its current road trip with a game at Toronto, Thursday night.

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Jamie Oleksiak 1 (Andre Burakovsky 6, Chandler Stephenson 4) :25. S- Ryker Evans 3 (Jordan Eberle 3, Jared McCann 8) 3:49. S- Jaden Schwartz 2 (Stephenson 5, Brandon Montour 5) PPG 7:27. S- Oliver Bjorkstrand 3 (Schwartz 4) 10:33. M- Cole Caufield (Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Mailloux) 16:11.

Second Period

S- Montour 2 (Bjorkstrand 2, Stephenson) 1:32. S- Montour 3 (Oleksiak, Schwartz) PPG, 8:44.

Third Period

S- Montour 4 (McCann 9, Stephenson 7) 14:12. S- Eeli Tolvanen 3 (Josh Mahura 1, Matty Beniers 4) 15:14. M- Josh Anderson (Mike Matheson, Jayden Struble) 15:28.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 23 (Brandon Montour 4), Montreal 30 (Cole Caufield. Mike Matheson 4).

Hits- Seattle 16 (Ryker Evans 3) Montreal 19 (Juraj Slafkovsky 4)

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 12. Montreal 26.

Faceoffs- Seattle 54.7. Montreal 45.3.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 17 (Will Borgen 4). Montreal 13 (5 tied with 2).

Three Stars- 1. Brandon Montour, S. 2. Chandler Stephenson, S. 3. Jaden Schwartz, S.

Referees- Kendrick Nicholson, Carter Sandlak. Linesmen-- Derek Hanson, Jonathan Deschamps.

 




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