Jared McCann and Matty Beniers extended their goal streaks to four and three games, respectively, as the Seattle Kraken tied the game twice but couldn’t recover a third-period tally in time, falling 5-4 Thursday night to previously winless Vancouver.
Relief finally belonged to the Canucks, who were going for their first victory of the season in their eighth try.
“We were the better team most of the night, but they beat us on special teams by one,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “That was ultimately the difference in the hockey game.”
It’s now a short tradition for a team to get its long-awaited first win of the season against the Kraken. On Nov. 6, 2021, the Arizona Coyotes got their first victory against Seattle following a 0-10-1 start — tied for the second longest drought in NHL history. That final score was also 5-4.
In the first period, the Kraken (3-4-2) decisions were too late and the passes too hard. In the second, they weren’t seeing plays all the way through. They pressed hard in the third. Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko was wobbling, weaving, diving and getting help from behind from teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the form of a last-ditch save. The puck stayed out.
Andre Burakovsky angled a shot into the Vancouver net but his stick was well above the crossbar. The Canucks’ Conor Garland hooked the puck into the empty cage soon after Kraken netminder Martin Jones was pulled for the extra attacker.
Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz scored a power-play goal with 29.7 seconds left in the third period.
Jones made 14 saves. He waited out Bo Horvat and kept his pads locked together early in the second period.
Vancouver’s go-ahead goal 1:16 into the third period resulted from some friendly fire. Carson Soucy knocked the puck into his own goal while trying to break up a play. Elias Pettersson was the last Canuck to touch it and was credited.
“You’re not going to be able to be able to carry momentum all night, but we carried momentum for a lot of the night,” Hakstol said. “Didn’t give up a whole lot of zone time. Didn’t give up a whole lot defensively.”
The Canucks (1-5-2) enjoyed a 1-0 lead for most of the first period before Jamie Oleksiak’s long one-timer found its way through Demko’s pads. The defenseman has goals in consecutive games.
As the clock wound down on the period, the Canucks lost track of McCann on the right side of the ice. Yanni Gourde turned and landed a smooth deflection onto McCann’s stick, and the Kraken’s hottest goal-scorer raced toward the net. Demko (32 saves) got a piece of the shot, but it bounced over his foot.
McCann had time to turn back and watch the puck dribble all the way over the line.
“Good speed and good pace on a transition play,” Hakstol said “Obviously he’s got confidence. He’s feeling good when he gets those opportunities.”
Ilya Mikheyev scored his second of the game for the Canucks to make it 2-2. Andrei Kuzmenko stalled in the crease waiting to redirect a J.T. Miller shot past Jones to give the Canucks the lead back. With that pair of goals, Vancouver went 2-for-2 with the man advantage.
“Make a clear or a save, and that makes all the difference,” Hakstol said.
On the next shift, Schwartz absorbed contact along the boards in order to complete the chain of passes and punch the puck out to Beniers, who went mano a mano with Demko and scored his fourth of the season. He sent a low, blistering shot in to tie the game at 3.
“Coach has put a big emphasis on the shift after we let up a goal, making sure those shifts are good,” Beniers said. “We were able to execute on that shift and able to put one in.”
Schwartz had two prime chances in the first period. He muffed a power-play chance from the slot and sent a tip-in bid from Justin Schultz wide.