Kraken post historic win

A funny thing happened to the Seattle Kraken on their way to a sixth consecutive loss to the Vancouver Canucks yesterday afternoon at Rogers Arena.

Trailing 4-1 with six minutes remaining in the contest, the Kraken tied the game with 50 seconds remaining and won the five-minute overtime session on Vince Dunn’s breakaway goal.

Dunn and Jaden Schwartz led the biggest comeback in the Kraken’s 3 ½ year history, scoring the final four goals- two apiece. The Kraken avoided a team-tying sixth consecutive loss (the team had two six-game losing streaks in its maiden season, 2021-22) and overcame a three-goal deficit to win a game for the first time in team history.

Only two other teams in NHL history – the San Jose Sharks (Oct. 28, 2024) and the Montreal Canadians (March 25, 2014) have won a game trailing by three with five minutes left. In their initial season, the Kraken overcame a three-goal deficit to the Columbus Blue Jackets but lost in overtime,

``We’ve dug a few holes for ourselves the past few games,’’ said Dunn. ``To respond like we did feels really good.’’

After Schwartz’s goal with 50 seconds remaining sent the game into overtime, the Canucks had a golden opportunity to score on a 3-on-1 breakway. Shane Wright was the one player back for Seattle- not known as a defensive forward.

Fortunately for the Kraken, Tyler Myers was the Vancouver player with the puck- not known as an offensive-minded defensemen. Myers made a weak pass to Brock Boeser, Dunn stepped into the passing for the interception and was off to the races. Dunn would slide a wrist shot through the legs of Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko for the game winner.

At the start of the game, the Kraken didn’t look like the one-week holiday layoff had done them much good. Seattle went nine minutes without a shot and the Canucks would take a 1-0 lead to the first intermission when Boeser scored a power play goal of a pass from Jake DeBrusk.

Matty Beniers tied the game in the opening moments of the second period- his first goal in 16 games. The Canucks would tally the next three goals to take a 4-1 lead.

While the Kraken were unsuccessful on four power plays, Vancouver’s Connor Garland would score on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box off a pass from Teddy Blueger. Vancouver increased its lead to 3-1 when Boeser scored his second goal off the contest.

DeBrusk scored at 3:01 of the third when he split the Kraken defense and fired through the legs of Philip Grubauer. Joey Daccord sat out yesterday’s game after suffering an apparent lower body injury in the Kraken’s previous game with Colorado.

The Canucks appeared to have wrapped things up when Dakota Joshua apparently scored with 16 minutes left. But replays showed that Joshua had batted the puck into the net with his glove and that goal was taken off the scoreboard.

Schwartz gave what appeared to be a slim life support when he took a pass from Dunn down low, and beat Demko with a shot from the left side when it appeared that Schwartz was actually below the goal line.

The Kraken pulled Grubauer with four minutes remaining when Dunn pounced on a loose puck – after some diligent forechecking by Daniel Sprong and Kaapo Kakko- and fired home from the slot.

With under two minutes remaining, the Kraken pulled Grubauer again and Schwartz would record his second goal at 19:10 when Oliver Bjorkstrand found him in front of the net. Schwartz picked up his 500^th NHL point on the play.

When asked if the Kraken were playing with desperation in the final five minutes of regulation, Dunn replied, ``Definitely. We were hard on pucks; throwing things at the net. I think (Vancouver) felt the pressure when we came after them, wave after wave, line after line.”

“There is no quit in this group, no quit in these guys,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “I thought we used it as a little bit of a wakeup call to put our best effort out there for the last bit of the game there. Just the way we came back, the way time was dwindling down, the effort should build a lot of confidence in the guys.”

The Kraken return to Climate Pledge tomorrow night (Dec. 30) for the final game of 2024 against the Utah Hockey Club. On Thursday, Seattle hosts the rival Canucks in a return meeting.

Scoring Summary

First Period

V- Brock Boeser (Jake DeBrusk, J.T. Miller) 16:03.

Second Period

S- Matty Beniers 5 (Jamie Oleksiak 5) 1:18. V- Connor Garland (Teddy Blueger, Carson Soucy) 8:26. V- Boeser (Soucy, Danton Heinen) 15:14.

Third Period

V- DeBrusk (Miller, Derek Forbert) 3:01. S- Jaden Schwartz 10 (Vince Dunn 7, Daniel Sprong 2) 15:15. S- Dunn 6 (unassisted) 18:48. S- Schwartz 11 (Oliver Bjorkstrand 14) 19:10.

Overtime

S- Dunn (unassisted) 3:15.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 29 (Jaden Schwartz 7), Vancouver 21 (Jake DeBrusk 4).

Hits- Seattle 9 (Tye Kartye, Brandon Tanev 2) Vancouver 24 (Kieffer Sherwood 5).

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 6, Vancouver 8.

Faceoffs- Seattle 46.9%. Vancouver 53.1%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 13 (Adam Larsson 2) Vancouver 18 (Noah Julien 5).

Referees- Cody Beach, Tom Chmielewski. Linesmen- Brandon Gawrylitz, Bevan Mills.

Three Stars- 1. Vince Dunn, S. 2. Brock Boeser, V. 3. Jaden Schwartz, S.