SEATTLE — The revived Seattle Kraken earned a convincing 5-2 victory Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena in their first-ever meeting with the Utah Hockey Club, the yet-to-be-named remnants of the Arizona Coyotes.

Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz kept rolling with a hand in the first three Kraken goals. He scored the game-winner midway through the third period and had another disallowed. He’s managed five points (three goals, two assists) in Seattle’s past two games.

The Kraken dominated the early scoring chances and blocked most of what Utah mustered, 7-3 nearing the first period’s halfway point. But while killing off a Brandon Tanev boarding penalty, Utah snuffed a clearing attempt and Shane Wright’s draft classmate Logan Cooley found a way through Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer (28 saves).

Flat on the ice, Grubauer threw the paddle of his stick against the post to block a second Utah goal.

Schwartz appeared to even the score with a casual backhand late in the first period. Usually mild-mannered center Chandler Stephenson — who set up the power-play goal — started shoving along the boards and all nine skaters on the ice joined in, with several getting their helmets ripped off.

As it turned out, there was no harm done, at least on the scoreboard. The penalized Utah player remained suspiciously still inside the penalty box instead of rejoining the action, a sign his team was challenging Schwartz’s goal as offside. A quick review confirmed it, so the power play continued.

Kraken alternate captain Yanni Gourde got the goal back, legally, roughly a minute and a half later. A Ryker Evans rebound bounced directly to Gourde and he was looking at an open net.

Fifty-one seconds after that, Seattle’s Andre Burakovsky redirected a pass in front and beat opposing goaltender Karel Vejmelka for a 2-1 Kraken lead.

Schwartz, who launched a historic three-goal comeback win Saturday in Vancouver and then forced overtime, earned assists on both.

The score remained at 2-1 until the final minute of play was announced in the second period. In those five seconds, Utah’s Alexander Kerfoot scored in similar fashion to Gourde. Grubauer kicked out a rebound directly to the incoming center. The initial shot might have glanced off a shin guard.

After Schwartz scored his permanent goal, the one off a short breakaway in the third period, Matty Beniers added insurance. His first attempt went wide and off the end boards. He flung the puck back toward the Utah crease, where it went in off Vejmelka. Beniers has goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Newest Kraken player Kaapo Kakko had assists on his team’s third and fourth goals. Jared McCann scored the fifth, an empty netter.

Daniel Sprong, who drew a penalty and assisted on Schwartz’s first goal on Saturday, nevertheless took a seat in the press box in favor of Burakovsky, who returned after missing a game due to illness. Sprong has been a healthy scratch more often than he’s played since the Kraken acquired him in a trade Nov. 8.

Seattle won its last two games of 2024, after dropping the previous five. Both victories came against teams ahead of the Kraken in the wild-card hunt in the Western Conference. Three games shy of the season’s halfway point, they’re six points behind Vancouver in the final spot — no need to start discussing games in hand yet.

Their next game is a rematch against the humbled Canucks on Thursday.

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