Moments after the biggest offensive display of his NHL career, Kraken forward Ryan Donato paused to reflect on someone he’d met before entering the league.
Donato had been jolted before Thursday night’s huge overtime win over the New Jersey Devils, in which he scored twice and added an assist, learning that a high-school hockey star near his Boston hometown had died after a pickup-truck crash last weekend. Dylan Quinn, 16, had been part of a group of hockey playing youths who attended Harvard University games when Donato played there.
“There were about 30 of them that used to show up all the time at games, so we got to know them a bit,” Donato said after the second three-point outing of his career to go with his initial one-goal, two assist effort against Columbus in his NHL debut on March 19, 2018. “I didn’t really know him, but it just hits you when somebody shows you a picture you had taken with him back then and now you hear that he’s gone. And I know he has a little brother as well, so that’s got to be very hard on him, and so you really feel for the family.”
Moments earlier, in speaking to the postgame media scrum in front of his locker, Donato had said: “I just want to give a shoutout to his little brother, Connor, and let him know I definitely felt Dylan with me tonight.”
Donato’s team got the day off Friday before facing the resurgent defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena. Colorado had won three in a row entering a Friday night road showdown against the Vancouver Canucks, having outscored opponents 17-4 during that span following a prolonged slump.
The Kraken, who’ve now won four consecutive overtime games after losing their initial three this season, entered Friday tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division — percentage points atop the standings for the first time in franchise history based on two fewer games played.
Donato has 10 goals this season and is 39th in the league in goals per 60 minutes played with 1.41 — part of a group of unheralded “bottom six” Kraken forwards contributing significantly to the team’s offense.
Daniel Sprong has 15 goals and ranks fifth in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes with 2.11. Brandon Tanev, who took a Donato feed to notch a go-ahead third-period goal against the Devils, has scored nine times.
“I mean, that’s the story of our year, right?” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of Donato’s two goals on a pair of pinpoint short-side shots. “That’s the story of our team. Somebody stepping up and scoring big goals at the right time.”
While Donato was mentioning Quinn postgame Thursday, a tight-knit amateur hockey community in the southern part of Massachusetts — near the Rhode Island state line — was reeling. Hockey families in Quinn’s hometown of Rehoboth, urged by a social-media campaign with the #sticksoutfordylan hashtag, put hockey sticks outside their front doors in tribute to the teenager.
Competing teams in towns throughout the area also posted online condolences.
A GoFundMe account set up on behalf of Quinn’s parents and his brother, Connor, 10, had raised $66,420 as of Friday afternoon.
A sophomore at Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School, Quinn played goalie for the school’s cooperative team at nearby Southeastern Regional Vocational. Last Saturday night, hours before his death Sunday morning, he’d made 32 saves in a 2-1 overtime loss.
Police say he was a passenger in a Mazda pickup that struck a utility pole and a tree in the town of Berkley — about 40 miles south of Boston — at about 7:30 a.m. Quinn died in a hospital, and the vehicle’s 16-year-old driver was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
They had been headed home from a doughnut shop.
For Donato, who played high-school hockey at Dexter Southfield about five miles outside of Boston, news of the accident struck a chord. His father, Ted, who played 13 seasons for eight NHL teams, had been a standout at Catholic Memorial High School in Boston and led Harvard to its only national championship as a player in 1989 before becoming coach at the university in 2004.
Donato played for his father, who remains Harvard’s coach and is actively involved in high-school recruiting. As such, Donato — who left college in 2018 after his junior season to jump to his hometown Boston Bruins — has had the chance to meet and interact with hundreds of high-school and youth players.
“I can only imagine what they’re going through back home, and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody,” he said Thursday. “I just wanted to offer them my support.”