CALGARY, Alberta — Yanni Gourde tied it, Matty Beniers sealed it and the Seattle Kraken surged back to a 5-4 victory Tuesday night at the Saddledome after spotting the Calgary Flames a two-goal lead earlier in the third period.
With just 11 NHL starts under his belt, Joey Daccord earned the surprise start after Martin Jones (family matter) didn’t travel with the team to Calgary. At the other end of the ice, Flames goaltender Dan Vladar had just two appearances this season and 30 in his career.
Tyler Toffoli and Trevor Lewis scored 17 seconds apart early in the third period, prompting Kraken coach Dave Hakstol to call his timeout. Daniel Sprong lurked to the side of Vladar, waiting for a pass, which he received and scored a power-play goal. Gourde then tallied his first of the season short-handed to make it 4-4.
Beniers scored exactly two minutes later to secure the Kraken’s first-ever win over the Flames.
In the first period, neither team capitalized on a sequence with just about every man-advantage scenario. The Kraken had 36 seconds of 5-on-3 but failed to score.
Carson Soucy, the only Alberta native on the Kraken roster, then crossed the blue line, took the puck off Andre Burakovsky’s hands and ripped a shot into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. Soucy was the last of the Kraken’s six defenseman to score this season.
Jamie Oleksiak dropped the gloves for the second time in six games, taking on Nikita Zadorov at center ice. The officials let them go for about 30 seconds before Oleksiak tackled Zadorov.
Zadorov then opened the scoring for the Flames, going wide and waiting for the tap-in on a 3-on-2 rush.
Nazem Kadri, the Flames’ splashy free agent signing this summer, charged up the side and swung through the crease. He left Daccord in his wake and dumped the puck into the net for a 2-1 Calgary lead.
From a distance, it looked like Kadri made the barest of contact with Daccord. It might have just been a light breeze against his pads. But the Kraken bench bosses thought they would test it for goaltender interference and challenged. The officials confirmed the goal and the judgment call didn’t come back to bite the team. The league’s third-worst penalty kill (66.7%) heading into the game finished another one off.
Morgan Geekie and Oleksiak went off on a 2-on-1. Geekie accepted the pass and sent a quick wrister low glove side, tying the score and sucking the air out of the building.
The penalty kill had another timely showing in the first period. Alex Wennberg took a blast to the shin, earning an appreciative tap from Jared McCann once he limped to the bench. The Kraken regularly sent the Flames chasing the puck down the ice as well.
The Flames outshot the Kraken 20-7 in the second but left with a 2-2 tie.