In Seattle, the visiting Calgary Flames got a tune up game in on Saturday, and won 4-1, over the Kraken.
“It was a good night. Obviously big points for our team,” Calgary’s Noah Hanifin (fpir assists) said. “Finishing the road trip off with a win, and I think there are definitely some things we can clean up as a team, especially the D-zone, but [goalie Jacob Markstrom] had a great night for us, made some huge saves.”
Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves in the Flames win.
Karson Kuhlman was the lone goal scorer for the Kraken.
“Their goaltender became the difference in the second half of that hockey game, especially on specialty teams,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had good looks, like at the end of the second period on those power plays. We had three real good looks and he made saves through traffic. We were there, we’re on top of it, other than trying to get a stick on it. Find it, find a tip on the way in, which we had a couple of those as well. Like I said, he was the difference in those situations.”
Calgary improved to 44-19-9.
Blake Coleman scored for Calgary in the opening period for a 1-0 lead.
“We scored the first goal, killed all those penalties,” Calgary coach Daryl Sutter said. “Two or three guys had really good games, so we won.”
After Seattle tied it, Trevor Lewis put the Flames ahead, 2-1, before the end of the first.
“Anytime you sweep a road trip there’s a lot of positives,” Coleman said. “Most importantly, I think we got out of that rut. I think, for whatever reason, just a lot of home games and it felt a little bit stale. And we weren’t playing our best hockey, and sometimes it’s just good to get on the road, be around your teammates a little bit. Just kind of have that time together and kind of hunker down as a unit.”
Seattle dropped to 23-43-6.
“Our power play was good, especially the latter ones,” Hakstol said. “Once we got going and clicking in the second period … we didn’t get the finished product. At the end of the day, that’s what counts. We need to find the back of the net on one of those, but in terms of execution, getting in the zone, we did a lot of real good things.”
Michael Stone hit for a goal in the middle frame for a 3-1 lead to Calgary.
“A four-assist night for my boy ‘Hani’, that’s nice,” Coleman said. “Hopefully he can keep bringing those on, but you know, in seriousness, if you want to go deep in this game you’ve got to have depth scoring, you’ve got to have guys that can win you games and win you series that can step up, because as you get further along in the season, and as games become more important, so do the matchups.”
Tyler Toffoli scored in the third period for the 4-3 final.
Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves in the Seattle loss.
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