Seattle's winning streak ends

 

For the Seattle Kraken all good things came to an end last night as the team’s four-game winning streak came ended with a 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers at Climate Pledge Arena.

Ranger netminder Jonathan Quick stopped 24 shots to earn the shutout victory. The 38-year-old netminder also shutout the Detroit Red Wings in his previous start (Nov. 7). The Kraken drop to 9-9-1 on the season.

``We played them nose-to-nose and forced their goalie to make some great saves,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. ``Maybe after the second goal went in, there was a little dip. But the guys responded on the bench with the mindset of getting back out there and getting two.”

The teams played even hockey for most of two periods but Alexis LaFreniere put the Rangers (who are 11-4-1 overall) on the scoreboard at 17:30 of the second period off a pass from his All-Star linemate Artemi Panarin.

The Kraken also had their best scoring chance in the latter stages of the second period. Brandon Tanev, who’s recorded points in the last four games couldn’t make it five, when he went in on a breakaway. New York defenseman K’Andre Miller caught up to Tanev and knocked the puck off his stick as `Turbo’ plowed into Quick.

New York picked up the all-important insurance goal from an unlikely source as defenseman Zac Jones’ shot trickled through the pads of Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer, Jones’ first goal of the season.

Grubi was making his first start in over two weeks and had a save percentage of over .900 in the game, stopping 21 of 23 shots.

“Solid. Real solid,” is how Bylsma described Grubauer’s performance. ``Their goalie made some big saves; our goalie made some big saves. They had a couple of really good chances [after the 2-0 lead]. Both goalies gave their team a chance to win the game with how they played.”

Shane Wright, who’s had a disappointing season, as he hasn’t provided the offense that the Kraken hoped for from the former first-round draft choice, fourth overall. Ben Meyers, a free-agent signee who Bylsma spoke highly of at Kraken training camp, made his Seattle debut in place of Wright.

“As the games have gone along here, I think Shane's game has been trending in not the best direction,” said Bylsma. ``The message is to take a reset, watch the game tonight and get back focused on playing the way you can play.”

On Saturday, the Kraken topped the New York Islanders, 3-2. Jamie Oleksiak’s drive from the point with three minutes remaining provided the margin of victory. The Islanders asked for a replay, challenging that Tanev interfered with the goalie, but the play stood.

Yanni Gourde picked up his first goal of the season in the first period, when Tanev’s pass went off the veteran center and into the net. Jared McCann recorded his team-high ninth goal of the season early in the third period after the Islanders had taken a brief 2-1 lead.

Daniel Sprong, who first joined the Kraken at the trade deadline in their initial season (2021-22) and was an integral part of their playoff team- 25 goals and 21 assists- the following season, was traded to the Kraken the beginning of last week. Due to immigration problems, Sprong didn’t make his (second) debut until the weekend.

``I’ve had a lot of success here,” said Sprong ``They had some salary cap issues and I was able to make some money as a free agent, but I never really wanted to leave here. I hadn’t skated for eight days, so hopefully I’ll have a good week of practice.”

Sprong, who had only one goal and two assists with Vancouver, saw some power-play time with the Kraken this weekend and also was on the ice late in last night’s game when Seattle had six attackers on the ice.

The Kraken conclude their six-game homestand on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators.

KRAKEN-RANGERS

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

NYR- Alexis LaFreniere (Artemi Panarin) 17:30.

Third Period

NYR- Zac Jones (Kaapo Kakko, Will Cuylle) 2:58

Shots on Goal- New York 23 (Alexis LaFreniere 4) Seattle 24 (Adam Larsson 4)

Hits- New York 41 (Will Cuylle 10) Seattle 19 (Tye Kartye, Yanni Gourde 3)

Penalty Minutes- New York 2, Seattle 0.

Faceoffs- New York 55.1% Seattle 44.9

Blocked Shots- New York (Braden Schrader 4). Seattle (Jamie Oleksiak 6)

Referees- Graham Skilliter, Furman South. Linesmen- Travis Gawylretz, Caleb Apperson

Three Stars- 1. Jonathan Quick, NYR. 2. Artemi Panarin, NYR. 3. Philipp Grubauer, S.

KRAKEN-ISLANDERS

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Yanni Gourde 1 (Brandon Tanev 2, Tye Kartye) 8:10. NYI- Pierre Engvall (Ryan Pulock, Dennis Cholowski) 13:28.

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

NYI- Brock Nelson (Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri) shorthanded, 4:49. S- Jared McCann 9 (Andre Burakovsky 8, Ryker Evans 8) 5:26. S- Jamie Oleksiak (Gourde 5, Tanev 3) 16:47.

Shots on Goal- New York 24 (Brock Nelson 4) Seattle 27 (Jaden Schwartz 6)

Hits- New York 9 (Jean-Gabriel Pageau 2) Seattle 16 (Ryker Evans, Brandon Tanev 4).

Penalty Minutes- New York 8, Seattle 2.

Faceoffs- New York 59.6 %, Seattle 40.4%.

Blocked Shots- New York 16 (Noah Dobson 4) Seattle (Jaden Schwartz, Shane Wright 2).

Referees- Gord Dwyer, Furman South. Linesman- Travis Gawryletz, Caleb Apperson.

Three Stars- 1. Jamie Oleksiak 2. Jared McCann 3. Yanni Gourde.