A promising start quickly got away from the Kraken, who dropped their third straight in regulation, 5-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena.
Martin Jones (11 saves) took over in net after Auston Matthews scored the Maple Leafs’ fourth goal. Kraken starter Philipp Grubauer exited 4:13 into the second period after 17 saves. He never looked comfortable in his seventh start in the 10 games since the All-Star break.
He wasn’t the only one. Two power-play chances went fairly smoothly, but the Kraken didn’t convert on either. As soon as the latter expired, Matthews scored his second of the night, it was 5-1 and that was officially that.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn, from just south of Toronto in Mississauga, Ontario, opened the scoring 3:47 into the game. Teammate Jamie McCann held in the puck at the blue line and Jordan Eberle centered to Dunn, who put it through a defender’s leg and beat Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov stick side.
Dunn had a goal and two assists in the Kraken’s last outing against the Maple Leafs.
Former Kraken captain Mark Giordano answered for the Maple Leafs a little over a minute later, moments before a video tribute to his brief tenure in Seattle. John Tavares and Timothy Liljegren made it 3-1 Toronto heading into the first period break.