Kraken slipping out of playoff race

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While many sporting eyes were on the NFL playoffs this weekend, the Seattle Kraken split two road games with the Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings.

The Kraken toppled the Sabres, 6-2, in one of the more entertaining contests of the season. If a hockey game can have an evil twin it was the following afternoon when Seattle recorded a real clunker finishing on the short end of a 6-2 decision to the Red Wings.

Seattle drops to 18-23-3 on the season with chances of a playoff berth slipping away almost daily. The Kraken are now nine points behind the final post-season slot as NHL teams begin the second half of the season.

``With the back-to-back, we knew we’d have to pay attention to the little things and we didn’t,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma, after yesterday’s loss.

“We weren’t ready,” said Jaden Schwartz. “It's unacceptable, and there's no one to blame but ourselves. No one's feeling sorry for us. We have to figure this out collectively and figure it out fast.”

The Wings (20-18-4) came out firing and scored three times in the first 6:16 of the contest. Marco Kasper, J.T. Compher and Alex DeBrincat lit the lamp and Bylsma called a timeout.

Probably, the last thing the coach wanted to do was play Joey Daccord- coming back from an injury, two consecutive games. But during the timeout, Philipp Grubauer got the hook in his second consecutive game.

After keeping the Kraken in the game after falling behind 2-0 in the previous contest, Daccord didn’t go unscathed. Future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Kane beat the Seattle netminder to give the Wings a 4-0 first period lead. Detroit had 11 different players garner a point or an assist on the first four goals and added three power-play goals in the contest.

Oliver Bjorkstrand, his second consecutive game, and Matty Beniers, added late goals for the Kraken. For Beniers, the 50th goal of his NHL career.

The Kraken appeared to be headed towards their second five-game losing streak of the season when they fell behind 2-0, to the Buffalo Sabres after one period

Seattle, which has played more physical this season (at least in some games) may have been sparked by a couple of scraps- one between Bjorkstrand and Sabres’ tough guy Dennis Gilbert and a mini-line brawl in the second period after Rasmus Dahlin delivered an elbow to Brandon Tanev’s noggin.

Ryker Evans and Andre Burakovsky tied the game in the second period- Chandler Stephenson assisted on both. The game winner actually came when a Buffalo defenseman knocked the puck into his own net.

Bjorkstrand was credited with the goal and the newest Kraken, Kaapo Kakko turned the game into a rout with two consecutive goals, one on the power play. Tanev’s empty-netter completed the scoring for Seattle.

The Kraken return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins and complete their road trip in Winnipeg on Thursday.

“It’s playoff hockey for us right now; we're trying to win as many games, collect as many points as we can,” said Stephenson after the Buffalo game. “It doesn't really matter who we're playing. We’re just trying to keep distractions away and just trying to focus on us.”

KRAKEN-RED WINGS

Scoring Summary

First Period

D- Marco Kaspar (Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond) 3:23.

D- J.T. Compher (Vladmir Tarasenko, Albert Johansson) 3:33.

D- Alex DeBrincat (Raymond, Moritz Seider) PPG, 8:16.

D- Patrick Kane (Erik Gustafsson, Andrew Copp) 7:54.

Second Period

D- Gustafsson (Tarasenko, Kasper) PPG, 4:13.

D- Larkin (Kane, Seider) PPG, 11:27.

S- Oliver Bjorkstrand 13 (Jaden Schwartz 15, Adam Dunn 11) PPG, 18:00.

Third Period

S- Matty Beniers 8 (Schwartz 16, Kaapo Kakko 15) 16:54.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 33 (Oliver Bjorkstrand, Brandon Montour 5) Detroit (Moritz Seider 4)

Hits- Seattle 27 (Eeli Tolvanen 5), Detroit (Moritz Seider 2)

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 12, Detroit 6.

Faceoffs- Seattle 38.3%. Detroit 61.7%

Blocked Shots- Seattle 16 (Ryker Evans 7) Detroit (Marco Kasper 2)

Referees- Francois St. Laurent, Riley Brace. Linesmen- Kyle Flemington, Tyson Baker.

Three Stars- 1. Dylan Larkin 2. Erik Gustafsson 3. Patrick Kane

KRAKEN-SABRES

Scoring Summary

First Period

B- Sam Lafferty (Peyton Krebs, JJ Peterka) 2:37.

B- Jack Quinn (Rasmus Dahlin, Peterka) 17 :17.

Second Period

S- Ryker Evans 5 (Chandler Stephenson 23) 12:45.

S- Andre Burakovsky 4 (Josh Mahura 2, Stephenson 24) 19:12.

Third Period

S- Oliver Bjorkstrand 12 (unassisted) 3:08.

S- Kaapo Kakko 6 (Mahura 3, Jaden Schwartz 14) 3:46.

S- Kakko 7 (Jared McCann 18, Shane Wright 12) 5:26.

S- Brandon Ranev 8 (McCann 19, Jamie Oleksiak 6) 5:26.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 30 (Andre Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz 5). Buffalo 35 (JJ Peterka 2).

Hits- Seattle 18 (4 with 2) Buffalo 20 (6 with 2).

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 17, Buffalo 15.

Faceoffs- Seattle 62.5%. Buffalo 37.5%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 18 (4 with 2). Buffalo 1.

Referees- Kendrick Nicholson, Peter MacDougall. Linesmen- Scott Cherrey, Mark Shewchyk.

Three Stars- 1. Kaapo Kakko. 2. Joey Daccord. 3. Josh Mahura. 

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