Panthers outshoot Kraken, 2-1

After a successful road trip that saw the Seattle Kraken win three of four games, the Kraken returned home last night to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

The Kraken didn’t post a victory, but the home team garnered a hard-earned point in a 2-1 shootout loss. Seattle’s record goes to 14-14-2 on the season. Last year at this point, the Kraken had six overtime losses, 8-13-6 overall.

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart both scored in the shootout while Florida goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky stopped shots from Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

After missing Sunday’s game in New York with a stomach virus, Joey Daccord was Seattle’s star-of-the-game, stopping 32 shots, particularly against Aaron Ekblad on a shot late in the second period.

``We came home playing a good team, the Stanley Cup champs,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma, post-game. “That's gonna be a hard game. We battled it out tooth and nail. There are things we can know and need to do better in order to have success, but you should take a lot of confidence and pride in point against that team.”

Chandler Stephenson opened the scoring for Seattle. After taking a pass from Yanni Gourde, stationed along the sideboards, Stephenson went in on a breakaway beating Sergei Bobrovsky on the short side. Jared McCann picked up the secondary assist, his 100^th helper in a Kraken uniform. The Kraken’s all-time leading scorer, McCann’s now in triple digits in both goals and assists.

The Panther goal came with some controversy. Yanni Gourde went in on a breakaway and was whacked on the arm by the stick of Florida defenseman Nate Schmidt preventing Gourde from getting the shot off. The Kraken could have been awarded a penalty shot, but there was no call and Barkov scored at the other end.

To add insult to injury, Gourde didn’t play the third period, although Bylsma said that Gourde’s injury wasn’t related to Schmidt’s slash (he had sat one game of the recent road trip with a lower body injury). However, the Kraken seemed to get a spark in recent games when Gourde, normally a center, was moved to the wing on a line with Matty Beniers.

The third period belonged to Daccord, who showed no ill effects from his weekend illness. The Panthers outshot the home team by a 9-4 margin in the third period, with Daccord covering several shots to prevent rebounds. The Kraken also had 18 blocked shots in the game.

The Kraken offensive came alive in the 3-on-3 overtime period as Shane Wright and Eeli Tolvanen both came in on breakaways but were stopped by Bobrovsky, the Panthers’ All-Star netminder.

While displeased with the non-call on Gourde’s breakaway, Bylsma was still happy with the teams’ performance. “Against a dangerous power play the penalty kill was really good. I thought that was our best defensive effort of the year.”

The Kraken host the Boston Bruins tomorrow night in the second game of a four-game homestand. The Bruins defeated the Kraken, 2-0, in Boston early November, the last game of a long East Coast road trip. The B’s should be in an ornery mood as they were shellacked by the Winnipeg Jets, 8-1, last night

 

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Chandler Stephenson 3 (Yanni Gourde 9, Jared McCann 14) 15:39.

Second Period

F- Aleksander Barkov (Sam Reinhart) 15:39.

Third Period

No scoring.

Overtime

No scoring.

S- Eeli Tolvanen shot wide.

F- Aleksander Barkov score.

S= Oliver Bjorkstrand, save.

F- Sam Reinhart score.

Shots on Goal- Florida 33 (Carter Verhaege 4) Seattle 18 (Matty Beniers, Vince Dunn 3).

Hits- Florida 29 (Sam Bennett 6). Seattle 16 (Brandon Tanev 4).

Penalty Minutes- Florida 6, Seattle 4.

Faceoffs- Florida 46.9%. Seattle 52.1%.

Blocked Shots- Florida 13 (4 players with 2). Seattle (Brandon Tanev 3).

Referees- Chris Lee, Carter Sandlak. Linesmen- Shander Alphonso, Bevan Mills.

Three Stars- 1. Aleksander Barkov, F. 2. Joey Daccord, S. 3. Chandler Stephenson, S.