Beniers, Wright lead Kraken

 

Seattle Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma has preached- especially lately- that the Kraken can’t win if they’re always chasing the game- falling behind by multiple goals and then trying to rally to victory in the final period.

Last night, the Kraken proved their coach wrong. At least for one game. Trailing 2-0 with six minutes remaining in their contest with the Calgary Flames, Seattle rallied for two late goals and posted a 3-2 victory thanks to Matty Beniers’ overtime goal.

Thus, the Kraken take a 24-29-4 record into the February break, still 11 points out of a playoff berth. The NHL pauses for two weeks for the Nation 4 Faceoff tournament involving NHL players from the United States Canada, Sweden and Finland.

“I was just trying to move their triangle,” said Beniers, who brought the puck out of the right corner. “Try to get them out of position, Schwartzy (Jaden Schwartz)  had a great screen, and I was able to kind of just walk down and shoot it. I had no idea if it went into the net.’’

Beniers’ goal came at 2:58 of OT was also a power play goal. Morgan Frost was called for holding Vince Dunn and the Kraken had a 4-3 advantage. Beniers’ goal came after Dunn’s shot. The Seattle defenseman played over 29 minutes in the game as Brandon Montour left the game after the first period with an upper-body injury.

``We stayed with the game,’’ said Bylsma. ``We’ve been there (two goals down) too often. But the Shane Wright-Andre Burakovsky-Jared McCann line came up big for us tonight.’’

For those who believe that Beniers and Wright, both high first round draft picks, are the future of the Kraken, this was there night.

With six minutes remaining in the contest, defenseman Adam Larsson drove a shot from the point that was tipped in by Wright. Two minutes later, Wright and linemate Burakovsky combined to steal the puck away from Jonathan Huberdeau, the Flames’ best player. Burakovsky drove down the wing and his shot went off the glove of goalie Dustin Wolf, into the net.

The game also loomed as a matchup between two of the top young goaltenders- Seattle’s Joey Daccord and Wolf, a former Everitt Silvertip, who has won the Flames’ starting goalkeeper job this season. And both netminders didn’t disappoint.

Wolf made a big save on Beniers in the opening minute of the game. Later in the period, Wolf proved that the goalie is the best penalty killer as he made a point blank save on Kaapo Kakko when Seattle had a 5-on-3 advantage. Seattle had five shots on the power play.

Both goalkeepers stopped ten shots in the first period, but Morgan Frost gave the Flames a 1-0 lead when he fired home from the right circle on an odd-man rush early in the second period. Both of Frost’s goals as a Calgary Flame (he was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers last month) have come against the Kraken.

When veteran Nazim Kadri made it 2-0, six minutes into the third period it appeared the Kraken were headed for their fourth consecutive loss.

``This was a huge game. A divisional game,’’ said Beniers. ``We’re trying to catch these guys. And we’ll go into the break with a nice win and a little momentum. It’s good for morale and good for the team. (With time off) we’ll get a little reset.’’

Kakko will be the only Kraken competing in the 4 Nations tourney, for Team Finland. The rest of the team is idle until Feb. 22 when they have a back-to-back weekend series with the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second period

C- Morgan Frost (Yegor Sharanovich, Mackenzie Weegar) 2:22.

Third Period

C- Nazem Kadri (Jonathan Huberdeau, Danil Miromanov) 6:37.

S- Shane Wright 12 (Adam Larsson 10, Andre Burakovsky 16) 13:12.

S- Burakovsky 5 (Wright 19) 15:39.

Overtime

S- Matty Beniers 13 (Vince Dunn 15, Chandler Stephenson 30) PPG 2:58.

Shots- Seattle 28 (Jaden Schwartz 4), Calgary (Mikael Backlund 4).

Hits- Seattle 23 (Tye Kartye 6), Calgary 17 (Dryden Hunt 3)

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 6, Calgary 10.

Faceoffs- Seattle 52.7%. Calgary 47.2%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 24 (Jamie Oleksiak 5), Calgary 17 (Mikael Backlund 4)

Referees- Garrett Rank, Mike Markovic. Linesmen- Bevon Mills, Caleb Apperson.

Three Stars- 1. Andre Burakovsky, S 2. Nazem Kadri, C. 3. Matty Beniers, S.