McCann, Daccord lead Kraken past Canucks

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The Seattle Kraken stuck a dagger into the twindling playoff hopes of the Vancouver Canucks last night, posting a 5-0 victory at Rogers Center.

The Kraken rode goaltender Joey Daccord’s second shutout of the season – fifth of his career- to victory along with three assists for Jared McCann and tallies from five different goal scorers.

It's tough to pick a player of the game with a lot of these efforts,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “You saw it in the penalty kill and blocking shots. Tye Kartye and Jared on the PK. Joey obviously was outstanding.’’

With the loss, Vancouver (34-28-13) falls eight points behind the Minnesota Wild and the resurgent St. Louis Blues (who’ve won ten in a row) for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. With seven games remaining, last night’s loss ends any realistic chance of last year’s Pacific Division winners making the post-season. Boos rang down on the home team in the game’s final seconds.

The Kraken were short-handed for four of the first seven minutes of the game but Mikey Eyssimont, a trade deadline acquisition by Seattle, scored at 16:12 of the first period. Eyssimont picked off an errant pass by the Canucks’ Jake DeBrusk and muscled past defenseman Filip Hronek for the score. Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko had a tough night allowing four goals on 19 shots.

McCann had the secondary assist on the Kraken’s second goal- Chandler Stephenson’s 12th goal of the season off some nifty passes from Andre Burakovsky and McCann.

The Kraken increased their lead to 3-0 with Shane Wright scoring his 18th goal of the season off a drop pass from McCann that beat Demko on his left side.

McCann, who recently moved back to center after primarily playing on the wing, set up Burakovsky for the Kraken’s fourth goal and defenseman Adam Larsson finished things off with an empty netter.

``Jared had his footprint all over, a couple of big blocks on the PK, then some awesome plays on the rush, an awesome presence for our offense,’’ said Bylsma. ``The play to Wrighter in the middle lane, the drive on Andre's goal, just an elite play. Fortunately, we capitalized on a bunch.’’

``I'm trying to help [Wright] grow as much as I can and [Burakovsky], we're trying to get on the same page and last couple games here have been great,’’ said McCann, the team’s all-time leading scorer. ``Just trying to do whatever the team needs me to do.”

The Kraken held their collective breaths when McCann limped to the bench after blocking a shot in the first period. Seattle was already missing Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen, two of its top forwards with injuries. But McCann returned the next shift.

Daccord stopped 24 shots overall including some big stops on Connor Garland and Drew O’Connor in the first period when the game was still scoreless.

``A shutout is a team result,” Daccord said. “Goalie is going to make saves every game, but when the guys do an amazing job like they did tonight, blocking shots, keeping guys to the outside, eliminating the grade-As, it makes my life a lot easier. We did a good job not giving them a lot of looks.’’

The Kraken (32-38-6) have defeated Vancouver three times in four meetings this season. They continue their final road trip of the season with a game at San Jose on Saturday night.

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Michael Eyssimont 6 (unassisted) 16:42.

Second Period

S- Chandler Stephenson 12 (Andre Burakovsky 24, Jared McCann 35) 9:49.

S- Shane Wright 16 (McCann 36, Vince Dunn 25) 16:00.

Third Period

S- Burakovsky 9 (McCann 37) 8:55.

S- Adam Larsson 7 (Tye Kartye 5, Dunn 26) 16:24.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 19 (Jared McCann 3), Vancouver 24 (Brock Boeser 4).

Hits- Seattle 15 (Cale Fleury, John Hayden 4), Vancouver 30 (Keefer Sutherland 7).

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 10, Vancouver 18.

Faceoffs- Seattle 47.6%. Vancouver 52.4%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 24 (Jared McCann 5), Vancouver 18 (3 tied with 2).

Referees- Kyle Rehman, Trevor Hanson. Linesmen- Trent Knorr, Bevan Mills.

Three Stars- 1. Jared McCann 2. Joey Daccord 3. Andre Burakovsky.


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