Sharks take a bite out of Kraken

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After a big win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night sent the Seattle Kraken to the rarified air of first place in the Pacific Division (for about 20 hours) the ghosts of bad performances invaded Climate Pledge Arena as the San Jose Sharks posted a 6-1 victory.

Bringing back the memories of bad games from seasons past, the Sharks scored three early third period goals sending some Kraken fans to an early exit. The first home regulation loss for Seattle drops the Kraken to 6-3-4 on the season, while the Sharks improve to 5-6-3, after starting the year at 0-2-3.

The lone bright spot for the Kraken came in the first period when Ryan Winterton scored his first NHL goal. Trailing 1-0, Winterton was foiled on a partial breakaway, when SJ goalkeeper Yaroslov Askarov made the initial save. However, Shane Wright picked up the rebound and Winterton scored off the rebound of a shot from defenseman Ryan Lindgren.

``You just try and keep a good mind-set,’’ said Winterton, when asked about not scoring, even though he’s played regularly all season. ``That’s all you can do. I felt (a goal) was coming. The game wasn’t the way you wanted it to play out.’’

``We were disconnected in a bunch of different areas,’’ said Kraken coach Lane Lambert. ``Our structure wasn’t good enough tonight. I didn't like our game. I thought we were too loose. We did not play to our identity.’’

The Sharks opened the scoring. The Kraken had trouble clearing the zone and Tyler Toffoli, battling along the boards, centered a pass to Macklin Celebrini who fired home from the slot. Celebrini’s eighth goal of the young season came only 1:08 into the game.

Winterton’s goal came at 16:30 and Seattle had a chance to go ahead a couple of minutes later, when Winterton found linemate Ty Kartye alone in front of the net. But Askarov made a sprawling kick save.

The rest of the night belonged to the Sharks. Ethan Cardwell recorded his first goal of the season at 18:42 of the first, off a cross-ice pass from former Kraken Alex Wennberg.

The Kraken had an early 10-5 lead in shots on goal, but the Sharks had outshot them, 17-15, by the end of the second period. John Klingberg had the only goal of the second period on a drive from the point with Wennberg screening Daccord in front.

The goals came fast-and-furious for the Sharks in the third period. They scored three times in under three minutes. Will Smith, the Sharks’ other young star along with Celebrini, started things with a shot from the right circle at 1:02.

The Kraken went on the power play but the Sharks’ Collin Graf took the puck away from Vince Dunn and went in on a breakaway. Daccord made the initial save but Ty Dellandria, trailing the play, tapped in the rebound.

At this point, Lambert pulled Daccord in favor of Matt Murray. Daccord has played in 11 games this season for the Kraken and started the last six. Toffoli, coming out of the penalty box, had another breakaway and scored to make it 6-1 at 3:54.

``We were getting a little bit loose,” said defenseman Josh Mahura. ``I don’t think it's intentional by anyone. Everything's been going pretty good for the most part. Obviously, we need to try to use this as a kick in the butt to regroup and get going.”

The Kraken finish their first extended home stand of the season with a 2-1-2 record. Seattle goes on the road this weekend with games at St. Louis and Dallas.

Scoring Summary

First Period

SJ- Macklin Celebrini (Tyler Toffoli, John Klingberg) 1:08.

S- Ryan Winterton 1 (Ryan Lindberg 2, Shane Wright 4) 16:30.

SJ- Ethan Cardwell (Alexander Wennberg, Jeff Skinner) 18:42.

Second Period

SJ- John Klingberg (unassisted) PPG, 11:21.

Third Period

SJ Will Smith (Mario Ferraro, Celebrini) 1:02.

SJ- Ty Dellandria (Collin Graf) SH, 3:21.

SJ- Toffoli (Sharia Mukhamadullen) 3:54.

Saves- SJ Yaroslav Askarov 28. S-

Three Stars- 1. Maxklin Celebrini 2. Will Smith 3. Yaroslav Askarov 

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