Kraken snap losing streak, open road trip with 4-2 win vs. Hurricanes

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Dec 3, 2024

Published in Hockey

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Perhaps this will be the message sent by Kraken coach Dan Bylsma that gets his team off the roller coaster of inconsistency.

The initial response was overwhelmingly positive.

The Kraken opened a challenging four-game road trip with arguably their best win of the season, knocking off Carolina, 4-2, on Tuesday night. A mix of changes to the forward lines along with the benching of Andre Burakovsky and Daniel Sprong paid off with a gritty performance that took away a little bit of the sting from last week’s untimely and unexpected three-game losing streak to Anaheim and San Jose.

The biggest benefactor in the changes Bylsma made was Jaden Schwartz, who had one of his best games of the season. Schwartz scored 19 seconds into the game and later assisted on Yanni Gourde’s go-ahead goal midway through the third period that snapped a 2-2 tie.

Schwartz, Gourde and Matty Beniers all had two-point games, while Eeli Tolvanen scored for just the second time in 10 games and Brandon Tanev gave the Kraken some cushion, scoring his sixth of the season with 4:57 remaining.

Tanev was sprung free off a pass from Ryan Winterton, who picked up the first point of his NHL career with the assist.

The Kraken were suffocated by the Hurricanes when the teams met in October in one of the more one-sided losses suffered by Seattle this season. Carolina won that game, 4-1, and peppered Joey Daccord with 38 shots, while the Kraken managed just 19 shots on goal.

This time, the Kraken were significantly better at handling Carolina’s pressure and suppressed the amount of shots Daccord faced. The Hurricanes had just seven shots on net through two periods and had just two shots in the second period.

Daccord finished with 15 saves and was helped by a challenge for goalie interference after it appeared Carolina had taken a 3-2 lead with 9:58 remaining. Jack Drury scored, but Daccord was clipped by Eric Robinson and Seattle’s challenge was successful.

Just 42 seconds later, Schwartz’s pass found Gourde cutting in front of Pyotr Kochetkov and finished off his fourth goal for a lead the Kraken wouldn’t surrender.

Bylsma again threw his lines in a blender and spit out an entirely different look for his top two groups of forwards. Most notable was the benching of Burakovsky as he continues to struggle to find offense. While Burakovsky finally scored his first goal of the season a week ago in Anaheim, the goal served as his only point in the past seven games.

“I think Andre has been working hard mentally to get out of the spot he’s in not scoring, not providing offense,” Bylsma said after morning skate. “Tonight will be a reset for him, a little bit like Shane Wright having a reset a couple of games. Andre needs to get refocused back on what he does well.”

Sprong was also a healthy scratch for the third straight game as Winterton continued to take his minutes.

The changes Bylsma made paid off immediately as barely a blink after the opening faceoff, the puck was in the net. A good win on the wall by Beniers popped the puck free to Gourde and his pass allowed Schwartz to split defensemen Jalen Chatfield and Dmitry Orlov and score his sixth of the season.

It was the third-fastest goal in franchise history, behind only Alex Wennberg (14 seconds in 2022 at Los Angeles) and Jordan Eberle (15 seconds 2021 at Arizona). Considering how last week went, the Kraken could not have asked for a better start.

Seattle also played without defenseman Ryker Evans due to an undisclosed injury suffered during last Saturday’s loss to San Jose. The absence of Evans scuttled Bylsma’s plans — for now — of having the young defenseman play alongside Brandon Montour and brought Josh Mahura back into the lineup.