In Seattle, the visiting Minnesota Wild broke open a tight 2-1 match with three goals in the middle frame on Saturday to down the Kraken, 5-2.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves in the win.
The Wild moved to 28-24-6.
“I thought Seattle came out pretty hard, obviously got [an early] goal,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “Sometimes on the road that’s difficult because it gets the crowd into the game, but I thought our response in our team game was strong.”
Vince Dunn staked the Kraken to a 1-0 lead when he struck with 36 seconds gone in the opening stanza.
The Wild then reeled off five unanswered goals for a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Marcus Johansson started the Wild run with a marker at 4:59 of the first to tie the game, 1-1.
“Johansson’s goal was a big one for us to get that response right away,” Hynes said: “And then from there we were able to get our footing a little bit and move forward.”
Kirill Kaprizov, who hit for a double in the win, put the Wild up, 2-1, on a 5-on-3 power play at 13:32.
“We’ve scored before like this,” Kaprizov said. “I see the goalie was on the weak side, I just try [to stuff it in].”
The Kraken dropped to 24-22-11.
“I don’t think we should be frustrated, I think we should be pretty upset with ourselves,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “There’s moments in the game that are game-changing moments that two nights ago (in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks), we met every one of those moments. Tonight, we didn’t meet very many of them.”
In the middle frame, the Wild took complete control of the match with a three spot on the board.
Matt Boldy pushed the advantage to 3-1 with 69 seconds gone in the second.
“We come out in the second on another penalty that I don’t like that we took to end the first,” Hakstol said. “But we have an opportunity again to get that kill to push momentum in our direction. We failed to clear the puck four or five times before the goal was scored.”
Kaprizov collected his double at 2:14, with a shot off the crossbar for a 4-1 lead.
“How you have to win is the players that play the most minutes, which usually are your top players or your highest-paid players or however you want to phrase what it is,” Hynes said. “When they can drive a team and they’re playing the game the right way and they’re difference-makers in the game, that’s a pretty good quality to have with a winning team.”
Minnesota’s Dakota Mermis stretched the lead to 5-1 at 6:58 off a shot from the high slot..
Jordan Eberle added a goal at 6:11 of the third for the 5-2 final count on the scoreboard.
“We need every point we can get,” Johansson said. “And I mean, playing against the teams that we’re fighting with, obviously the games mean a little bit more.
Joey Daccord got the start for the Kraken, but was give the hook in the middle frame after yielding four goals and making 15 saves.
Philipp Grubauer made 17 saves in a mop up role.
You must be logged in to post a comment.