Down 4-1 with six minutes remaining in regulation on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla., the Kraken rallied for three goals to force overtime against the Florida Panthers, only to lose 5-4 as Florida’s Vinnie Hinostroza scored the only goal of the shootout.
Seattle has lost four games in a row (0-3-1).
Since the Olympic break, the Kraken have won two of 14 games against teams not named the Vancouver Canucks. The Kraken also bested the Canucks, owners of the NHL’s worst record, twice in that span.
“Our resolve was good,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “We walk out of here at least moving ahead in the standings.”
Well, sort of; at 72 points (31-29-10) with 12 games left, Seattle fell five points behind the Nashville Predators for the final Western Conference wild card spot. Nashville won Tuesday, their fifth straight.
“It hurts not getting two points,” a clearly distraught Matty Beniers said in a postgame interview. “We have to find a way to put ourselves in a better situation going into the 3rd period. We’re chasing a lot of games right now. It’s not a recipe for success.”
3rd Period Kraken Rally: 3 Goals In 6:07
Beniers started the rally with arguably the most spectacular individual effort of the Kraken season. Skating to the crease from the bottom of the near circle, Beniers got tripped by Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. While horizontal and headed to the ice, Beniers swatted the puck past Bobrovsky’s outstretched pad.
“I knew if I could get to the weak side, I might be able to tuck it in,” Beniers said.
“We’re encouraging our players to make more plays offensively,” Lambert explained.
Captain Jordan Eberle and newcomer Bobby McMann took their coach’s advice to heart, remarkably scoring on breakaways 14 seconds apart late in the 3rd. “We stuck with our game plan,” said McMann, team leader with 24 goals. “So proud of this team for doing that.”
Eberle’s tie for the Seattle goal lead at 23 lasted only those 14 seconds. Since being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs, McMann has scored five times in six games.
“Catastrophic Defensive Errors”
The Kraken, once in a 4-4 deadlock, melted the final 3:24 of regulation. Florida got all four shots in overtime, requiring Seattle goalie Joey Daccord to come up big four times. Then Eberle, McMann and Freddy Gaudreau went 0-3 in the shootout.
“The goals they scored, we gave them,” said Lambert. “We’ve got to cut out those catastrophic errors. If we can eliminate those mistakes, there’s more positive days ahead than not.”
The catastrophe we’ll remember most is a hustling effort gone wrong on the Panthers’ fourth goal. A backchecking Shane Wright swiped at a centering pass from Noah Gregor. Wright made the interception alright, sweeping the puck right into his own net, as goalie Daccord was re-positioning himself to face Nolan Foote on the doorstep.
Wright remained motionless near the net, chomping on his mouth guard while looking up at the sky in disbelief. It’s been that kind of season.
Game Notes: Larsson & Maurice Milestones
Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson played his 1000th NHL game in a 15-year career split evenly among Seattle, the Edmonton Oilers and the New Jersey Devils, who drafted him 4th overall in 2011. Larsson has played every game in Kraken history except one, absent only for the birth of his daughter. The “Big Cat” had a frisky night, playing 21:15, +1, 3 shots, 3 blocks, and earning an assist on Beniers’ goal.
Speaking of milestones, it was an anxiety-inducing victory for Florida coach Paul Maurice, his 2000th game behind an NHL bench. “I don’t think I have ever seen four unassisted goals in a hockey game,” Maurice said to NHL.com. “We were fooling around with the puck a little bit too much.”
The Kraken didn’t score at all for nearly the first 52 minutes. “We could have more looks if we were a little sharper with our execution offensively,” Lambert said. Defenseman Ryker Evans broke the shutout (and, as it turned out, opened the four-score floodgates) at 8:10 of the 3rd period.
