Kraken season ends with loss but awards

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A disappointing season came to an end for the Seattle Krakens last night as they suffered a 6-5 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings at Climate Pledge Arena.

The Kraken, who finish the season with a 35-41-6 mark, went down fighting, scoring three third period goals after the playoff-bound Kings had taken a 6-2 lead.

After the game, season-ending awards were presented and to the surprise of no one, Joey Daccord copped two major awards as the Kraken netminder was the best player on the team for the second consecutive year.

While Daccord didn’t have a great night between the pipes, he copped the Pete Muldoon Award presented to the team’s Most Valuable Player along with the Three Stars award, tabulated by how many times a player’s mentioned in the three-stars competition.

Brandon Montour, a first-year Kraken, was selected Fan Favoite, of course voted by the fans. A free-agent signee from the Stanley Cup winning Florida Panthers in the off-season, Montour scored his 16th goal of the season on a power-play goal in the second period.

Jaden Schwartz won the Guyle Fielder Award as the player who `exemplifies perseverance, hustle and dedication.’’ This aligns nicely with Schwartz also being the Kraken’s nominee for the Bill Masterson Trophy awarded league-wide to the player who exhibits those traits.

The Guyle Fielder Award is named for the former Seattle Totems’ player-who competed 22 years in pro hockey and holds the minor league hockey records for games played, assists and points. Only Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and Gordie Howe have scored more points in pro hockey than Fielder. At 94-years-young, Fielder attended a Kraken game this season.

Muldoon coached the Seattle Metropolitans to the Stanley Cup in 1917 – the first US team to win the hockey holy grail. Muldoon was also known for reportedly putting a curse on the Chicago Black Hawks when they fired him as head coach, although that’s widely disbelieved now.

Fittingly Montour and Schwartz had goals in last night’s contest. After LA had taken a 2-0 lead after one period but the Kraken tied the game thanks to Tye Kartye’s first career shorthanded goal and Montour’s power-play marker at 10:24.

However, the Kings, who will play the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, scored the next four goals

“The game was a little bit of the microcosm of our season as a whole,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “There was a positive amount of good in the first period for sure. But we let the game slip away a little bit and got down 2-0. Had that kill in the second period, the four minutes, and scored a shorthanded goal.’’

Schwartz then notched his 25th goal of the season at 5:12 of the third period. Ville Ottavainen playing his first NHL game had a secondary assist on the score. The 6’5 defenseman also had three hits and a blocked shot and was selected number-three star in the game.

Ottavainen, the 99th pick in the 2021 entry draft, becomes the fourth Finland native joining the Kraken this year after Eeli Tolvanen, Kaapo Kakko and Jani Nyman.

Matty Beniers notched his 20th goal of the season at 13:54 on the power play and Tolvanen made things interesting with his goal with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Unfortunately, Shane Wright couldn’t record his 20th goal of the season, a yardstick for NHL players.

Scoring Summary

First Period

LA- Samuel Helenius (Vladimir Gavrikov, Jordan Spence) 15:14.

LA- Alex Tucotte (Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala) PPG 16:23.

Second Period

S- Tye Kartye (unassisted) shortanded, 5:36.

S- Brandon Montour 16 (Andre Burakovsky 27, Kaapo Kakko 30) PPG 10:24.

LA- Warren Fogele (Phillip Danault, Gavrikov) 16:05.

LA- Alex Laferriere (Fiala, Jeff Malotte) 17:17.

Third Period

LA- Kempe (Turcotte, Andei Kuzmenko) 1 :41.

LA- Helenius (Jacob Moverare, Trevor Lewis) 2:38.

S- Jaden Schwartz 26 (Jamie Oleksiak 13, Ville Ottavainen 1) 5:12.

S-Matty Beniers 20 (Jordan Eberle 17, Jared McCann 39) PPG, 13:34.

S- Eeli Tolvanen 23 (Shane Wright 25, Vince Dunn 28) PPG 19:30

Shots on Goal- Los Angeles 24 (Samuel Helenius, Adrian Kempe 3), Seattle 34 (Brandon Montour 5).

Hits- Los Angeles 28 (Samuel Helenius 4), Seattle 12 (Tye Kartye 4).

Penalty Minutes- Los Angeles 8, Seattle 6.

Faceoffs- Los Angeles 54.2%, Seattle 46.8%.

Blocked Shots- Los Angeles 19 (Vladimir Gavrikov 3) Seattle 18 (Vince Dunn 4).

Referees- Kyle Rehman, Mitch Dunning. Linesmen- Travis Toomey, Mitch Hunt.

Three Stars- 1.  3.Vladislav Gavrikov, LA. 2. Adrian Kempe, LA 3. Ville Ottavainen 

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