In Seattle, the Kraken got a power play goal in the third period to tie their match with the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, then picked up the win, 2-1, in extra time when Justin Schultz scored midway through the extra session.
“I just kind of waited for the opportunity,” Schultz said. “‘Bjorky’ [Oliver Bjorkstrand] and [Yanni Gourde] did a great job just holding on to the puck, and we found an opportunity. [I was] lucky enough to [have it] go in.”
Joey Daccord made 27 saves in the win.
“We’ve been in some low-scoring games,” Daccord said. “I think we’re confident in our structure, and we have a blueprint for how we need to win games. And I think when we stick to that, and we have a full group committed to the team and in the structure that we’ve set up in our game plan, good things happen.”
The Kraken improved to 14-14-9
“You know, Schultz, he’s a guy that’s played in this league for a long time,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “And all you have to do is look at his performance tonight to know how good of a pro he is and how great of a teammate he is.
“I mean, when we talk about wanting to have team-first guys, selfless guys in this room … I’m sure it was very difficult for him, personally, to come out of the lineup. That hasn’t been the case many times for him in his career, yet the way he handled that really pushes the group inside of this dressing room in the right direction.”
Seattle is 6-0-2 going into the Winter Classic on Monday.
Travis Konecny was the lone striker for the Flyers.
“In overtime, they get the bounce, but overall, it was a good effort,” Konecny said. “We’ll take the point. It’s a tough way to come in back to back after the [holiday] break, so we’ll take it and move on.”
The Flyers dropped to 19-11-5.
“When they scored the (tying) goal, I felt we played better,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said. “There wasn’t much going on for a lot of the game. They ended up generating a little bit more as the game went on. It’s just grind away and find a way to get a point. You always want the other one, but I have no complaints about the effort.”
Konecny hit for a shorthanded goal at16:21 of the opening stanza.
The game stayed that way until
Vince Dunn forced the extra session with a power play strike at 5:45 of the third period for a 1-1 tie.
“I think we’ll get tomorrow to kind of relax, and then Sunday, it starts, basically,” Schultz said. “It’s going to be busy for everyone here, especially for all of us at home. Everyone’s got families and stuff, so it’s important for everyone to narrow their focus, and there’s still two points on the line.”
Carter Hart made 27 saves in the loss.
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