In Vancouver, the Seattle Kraken held a 2-1 lead after the first period, but were unable to capitalize on the advantage, and lost 5-2 to the Canucks.
After Tyler Motte had give the Canucks a 1-0 lead in the first,
Jared McCann and Mark Giordano scored to give the Kraken the lead.
“We had a rough night with the puck all night,” Giordano said. “We usually break the puck out a lot cleaner, don’t spend time in our zone and they were desperate. We knew they’re going to be desperate coming off a bad loss, you can tell right from the start.”
Thatcher Demko made 25 saves in the Vancouver win.
Motte scored with just 11 seconds elapsed in the opening period.
“We play simple, we play hard and fast, create a few turnovers, and we’re going to continue to generate a little bit of offense,” Motte said. “For us, it’s making sure we’re taking care of the [defensive] side of it, too. We’re not giving them much there. Contributing offensively is obviously huge for our group. We don’t want to put too much pressure on our top guys to score every night.”
The Canucks moved to 24-22-6.
The second period belonged to the Canucks, who outshot the Kraken, 18-4.
“They won the races, they won the puck battles, and because of that they had the majority of the zone time,” Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said. “You end up spending your energy playing defense and there’s not much left to go in the other direction. The second period made the difference in this hockey game.”
The Kraken dropped to 16-32-4.
Vancouver took a 3-2 lead in the middle frame off goals from Travis Hamonic and Vasily Podkolzin.
“I was so happy for him (Podkolzin),” Boudreau said. “He tries so hard and works so hard. When you get into a bit of a prolonged slump, scoring a goal makes you feel an awful lot better.”
Vancouver’s Bo Horvat scored with 35 seconds gone off the clock in the third period for a 4-2.
“There’s no doubt he’s been struggling since he got back,” Boudreau said. “It’s the monkey off your back type scenario, and it just alleviates a lot of pressure that you’re putting on yourself, and hopefully that’s what happens with him.”
Tanner Pearson added an empty-net goal with 92 seconds left in the third period for the 5-2 final.
Chris Driedger made 41 saves in the Kraken loss.
“Definitely not the start we were looking for,” Driedger said. “I go back and that one bounces on me and then the next one bounces on me and I realized that there’s an inch high bump in the ice, so that’s tough. Obviously, want to still make the save there, never good to start a game down 1-0 11 seconds in.”
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