OTTAWA, Ontario — The Kraken these days are getting used to making a statement by responding to one.
For the second straight game, the Kraken managed a go-ahead goal mere seconds after surrendering a tying marker. This time, it took Daniel Sprong just 22 seconds to put the Kraken back in front for good in the second period of Saturday night’s 8-4 win over the Ottawa Senators that’s the fourth in a row for his team.
Their first-ever victory in two tries at the Canadian Tire Centre helped the Kraken improve to 22-12-4 with their 12th road win this season, surpassing the 11 they had their entire debut campaign. It was also the third straight win for the Kraken with an offensive outburst of at least five goals on this gut-check of a seven-game road trip, the longest in franchise history.
The Kraken have never before scored five or more goals in three consecutive games, tallying 17 over this initial road trio. Yet another go-scoring onslaught — in which seven different Kraken players scored — helped them survive a hat trick by Senators forward Tim Stutzle and improve to 12-4-2 on the road compared to 10-8-2 at home.
The other night in Toronto, the Kraken got a go-ahead, eventual winning goal by Vince Dunn — who scored again in this game — just 14 seconds after the Maple Leafs had tied it up in the middle period. And just as in that affair, the one by Sprong this time around, beating goalie Cam Talbot to the short side, was followed before period’s end by Matty Beniers firing a puck home from the slot to give the Kraken a multi-goal advantage by intermission.
The Kraken had started the game well enough, with Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jared McCann and Justin Schultz chasing Ottawa starting goalie Anton Forsberg with three goals on their first five shots. Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer was chased after the exact same goal-to-shot ratio five games ago and hasn’t been back in nets since.
His replacement, Martin Jones, has gone undefeated the last four games. Jones gave up a lone first period goal to Brady Tkachuk on a wrist shot from 27 feet out that seemed to catch him by surprise.
Then, with the Kraken up 3-1 in the second period, Stutzle scored a pair of goals just two minutes apart to tie things up 3-3. The first one came seconds after the start of a power play with a Kraken clearing attempt hitting the Senators’ forward and ricocheting past Jones.
Then, on a rather lackadaisical spate of play by the Kraken, a failed clearance attempt led to an incoming Thomas Chabot shot. Jones kicked the puck aside, but the rather large rebound allowed Stutzle to fight off the check of Dunn and poke home a tying goal.
But fans barely had time to settle into their seats before Sprong restored the Kraken lead. Then, after Beniers scored following a turnover behind the Sens’ net, Dunn would score his second goal in as many nights on a slap shot from the point just over a minute into the final period to make it a 6-3 game.
Jordan Eberle, who had a three-point night, put his team ahead by four goals a few minutes later — cashing in on a rebound and providing the Kraken ample cushion to withstand Stutzle completing his hat trick just 25 seconds later. Andre Burakovsky then became the eighth Kraken player to score on the night, patiently gathering in a rebound from behind the net and tucking it into a vacated left side.