In his Kraken debut, winger Eeli Tolvanen stuck to his plan to keep it simple. He came out with the deciding goal in Sunday’s 4-1 win against the New York Islanders.
Tolvanen hung behind at the top of the faceoff circle while the other members of Seattle’s power-play unit set up. He one-timed a pass from defenseman Vince Dunn, shaking the water bottle in the back of the net.
Just like Dunn drew it up. He dived in with a hug for grinning Tolvanen.
“Dunn told me right before we went on the ice — shoot it as soon as I got it,” Tolvanen said. “That’s what I did.”
Tolvanen nearly wiped out as he headed to the bench for more congratulations.
“I was too excited for the first goal. Lost an edge,” Tolvanen said. “I just kind of blacked out for a second.”
Seattle claimed 2017 first-round pick Tolvanen off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Dec. 12. Between the Predators and Kraken, he was scratched 14 games — seven with each team. He last played Nov. 19 with Nashville, but said he felt good when he finally got on the ice for something other than practice.
“It was definitely worth it to skate a couple weeks before hopping in the game,” the 23-year-old said.
The shot he uncorked was clocked by the ESPN broadcast at 90 mph.
“You can’t teach that. That’s an ability that he has,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “That was heavy. He got all of that.
“I know he can do that. I didn’t know that he was willing to block shots. He blocked a couple of big shots from the line. He managed the puck well (and) he checked pretty well. From top to bottom, that’s a nice start for him.”
He entered the lineup in place of usual fourth-line center Morgan Geekie, who was scratched. Tolvanen went out on a line with Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, who scored later in the game.
On one of his first shifts, Tolvanen pestered Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock in front of the Kraken bench and allowed Seattle to regain possession. He played 3:49 in the first period and 12:53 in the game with two shots, two hits and three blocked shots.
Milestone night for former Thunderbird
Islanders forward Mathew Barzal, a former Seattle Thunderbird, scored his 100th career goal in the first period of his 400th career game Sunday against the Kraken. According to the league, he’s the fourth player in NHL history to have those milestones align and the first since 1991.
It was his fifth goal in five games.
“It’s nice, but at the end of the day, would have rather gotten a win tonight,” Barzal said.
Barzal, 25, played four seasons for the Thunderbirds from 2013-17 and captained the Thunderbirds after returning from a two-game stint with the Islanders in 2016. The Thunderbirds went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup, awarded to the playoff champion of the Western Hockey League. Barzal was the MVP of the WHL playoffs that season and the WHL’s Western Conference Player of the Year.
The Islanders drafted him 16th overall in 2015. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2017-18.
He’s from Coquitlam, British Columbia, about three hours from Seattle, and celebrated his milestone NHL game with family members in attendance.
He dropped the ceremonial puck before the Thunderbirds’ 2-0 win over the Kelowna Rockets.
“Some of my favorite times in hockey have been down here,” Barzal told assembled media Saturday. “A lot of my best friends played on that team. A lot of good memories here for sure.”