In Pittsburgh, Adam Larsson scored in extra time on Thursday to give the Seattle Kraken a 2-1 win over on the hottest teams in the NHL, the Penguins, on Thursday night.
“It’s a good win in this building. It’s a hard place to win,” Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said. “For us, it’s an enjoyable win, but one that we worked for. Our game didn’t change a whole lot tonight from the drop of the puck all the way through the winning goal in overtime. That was good to see.
“Probably one of the things I liked the most was we pushed a little bit in the third period, even at 0-0, without any risk to our game. That’s a good characteristic for our team.”
Seattle needed a third period strike from Jared McCann to tie the game, 1-1, and force the extra session.
“It does feel good,” McCann said. “Obviously, I’m very thankful for [the Penguins] giving me a chance to play. They brought my career back to life, I’d say. I’m very thankful for them.”
Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves in the Kraken win.
The Kraken moved to 14-25-4.
Evgeni Malkin broke a scoreless tie in the third period to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.
“I think we got a little risky at times,” the Penguins’ Jeff Carter said. “Probably didn’t manage the puck as well as we would like. They’ve got some skilled guys over there, so they’re going to make some plays. [Jarry] held us in, I think.
“It’s definitely not a period that we want to have in the third. [Jarry] held us in. We got a point.”
The Penguins fell to 27-10-6.
“I thought the first two periods, we were fine,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we could’ve had a little bit more net traffic and we could’ve put the puck at the net more than we did playing against a team that defends hard and defends the inside. As far as how we were playing the game, I thought we were playing the right way.
“We controlled territory. We controlled possession time. I thought, in the third period, we beat ourselves.”
McCann game-tying goal came with just over three minutes left in regulation.
“We had so many shot opportunities and they blocked a couple,” Grubauer said. “Three or four get through, we’re not walking away with two shots. We’re walking away with six or seven. You have to stay patient.
“I think that’s the main goal here. Be comfortable in 1-0, 1-1 games. Don’t get impatient and start running around. It’s going to come no matter what.”
It was the first OT win Seattle as a franchise.
“It was kind of a weird game,” the Penguins’ Brian Boyle said. “It was a tight, checking game. You kind of have to embrace that grind. Try not to take chances and go zone to zone. I think when we did that, we got some territory.”
Tristan Jarry made 27 saves in the Pittsburgh loss.
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