After Listless Start, Kraken Comeback Attempt Falls Short in 4-3 OT Loss to Canadiens
SEATTLE — For 48 minutes at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, the Seattle Kraken lagged behind as the Montreal Canadiens, led by young stars Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, worked up a 3-0 lead. The Habs generated just two more shots on goal than Seattle in the first two periods (12-10), but a strong performance from their power-play and sweeping defense on an uninspired Kraken team created a sizable margin.
Then, Seattle started to push back. Brandon Montour scored his first goal of the season on the power play at 8:57 and assisted Shane Wright from behind the net at 4-on-4 soon after, coming on the heels of a skirmish where Jani Nyman stuck up for Ben Meyers, who Canadiens forward Kirby Dach roughed up along the end boards at 13:20 of the third period.
With more fire forming and Daccord pulled for an extra attacker, Montour scored again from the left point to tie it 3-3 at 18:17 of the third, eventually forcing overtime.
It was enough to salvage a point in the standings, but not enough to steal the win, as it took Caufield just 44 seconds into overtime to muscle a puck past goalie Joey Daccord along the right post to give the Canadiens a 4-3 overtime win.
“I think we were just battling,” Wright said. “We were working. I think obviously not a great first two-and-a-half periods there, but we gave ourselves a chance. Obviously, real proud of the guys and how we came back there and got a hard-earned point there, and yeah, good fight by everyone there.”
The Kraken struggled to put together much offensive zone time at 5-on-5 in the first period, but for a while they only allowed a couple sustained possessions from Montreal and limited shooting lanes when they got there. At the 8:50 mark, shots were only 2-1 in favor of the Canadiens.
Eventually, the red-hot top line broke through. Defenseman Noah Dobson cut off a clearance attempt along the boards from Vince Dunn and sent a backhand shot back towards Daccord. He made the stop, but it went straight to Suzuki, who stood alone on the right post.
Suzuki recovered the puck and got Daccord to dive at it before making a slick move and pass out to Caufield in the left circle, where he had a wide-open net to fire at and give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 10:25. A Caufield slash 20 seconds later gave Seattle a power-play opportunity, but they couldn’t cash in.
“I thought we passed up too many shots, or opportunities I guess, to shoot, certainly in the first [period] a little bit,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “We found ways to get a few more pucks to the net and get them in. … There was power plays at the start of the game where we just passed it around. We gotta get pucks to the net.”
Montreal got a power-play opportunity of its own shortly after Suzuki cut off a Daccord clearance attempt and extended another offensive zone possession. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren committed a cross-checking penalty 32 seconds later while fending off the possession, and a quick passing sequence from Suzuki down to Caufield behind the goal line and back in front to Juraj Slafkovsky allowed the Canadiens to take a 2-0 lead at 17:28.
Kirby Dach nearly scored at 18:47, taking advantage of a miscommunication between Montour and Adam Larsson, bringing the puck in on net before Daccord trapped the puck under his skate.
Despite the first-period surge, Montour felt it was more of an internal energy issue than anything Montreal was doing.
“Just no energy, really,” Montour said. “It seemed like we were tired. They (are) a fast, young team. They maintained most of the possession time, but it’s tough three-nothing. … Kudos to them, but again, I don’t think they did much to change how we (played). I think it was just us or our mindset, and again, [Lambert] preached kind of ‘be ready, be prepared,’ and I think right off the hop we were kind of flat.”
Whether it was a lethargic effort on Seattle’s part or better defense on Montreal's end, the Canadiens snuffed out multiple opportunities before they became dangerous in the second period.
Tye Kartye tried to connect with Nyman on a backhand pass in front of the net, but a couple defenders took Nyman out of the play and the puck went to the boards, breaking up the first real Seattle chance after a wave of Montreal opportunities. Ryan Winterton and Chandler Stephenson applied some pressure in the middle of the period with a good forechecking effort, but Montreal managed to wiggle out of it. Perhaps the best chance of the frame came on a 2-on-1 with Mason Marchment and Eeli Tolvanen, but Dach smothered Marchment on the back check to eliminate any potential for a shot around the 13:45 mark.
Seattle came out firing in the third, with Montour slipping a pass to Matty Beniers behind the Canadiens defenders, but goaltender Jakub Dobes made a kick save to turn it away at the 1:17 mark. But Montreal went back on the power play at 4:09 after Jaden Schwartz tripped Lane Hutson as the Canadiens defenseman corralled the puck behind Dobes’ net, and they cashed in after initial resistance from Lindgren and Stephenson, with Alex Newhook slotting a one-timer past Daccord at 5:55 off a cross-ice pass from Dach. The Habs’ lead stood at 3-0.
By the time the next Kraken power-play opportunity rolled around at 7:57, Lambert rolled out the second unit, after seeing too much passing and not enough shooting earlier in the game from the first unit. The second unit rewarded the decision, with Montour scoring on a shot from the point at 8:57 to cut the deficit to 3-1.
“I think that we needed to make a little bit of a switch to see what was going to happen,” Lambert said. “Obviously, it worked, so that doesn’t take away from anything in terms of— that’s why we have two units. If one isn’t going, we have to go with the other one.”
Less than five minutes later, Dach and Nyman received matching minors, and the Kraken took advantage of the extra space, with Montour feeding Wright from behind the net after Tolvanen followed up his own chance off the rush with a pass to Montour.
“All five guys were in there, and yeah, I think that definitely gave us a little spark, for sure,” Wright said about the dust-up that led to the 4-on-4. “It’s nice to see guys stick up for each other like that.”
With the score suddenly within one goal, the Kraken had life, and just 55 seconds after making it 6-on-5 by pulling Daccord, Montour struck again with another shot from the point, tying it 3-3 at 18:17 with his 300th NHL point.
“Just getting a shot, I mean, I don’t even know at that time, we might have had 12 shots on net, 11 shots on net,” said Montour, who underestimated slightly, as the team had 15 shots on goal by the time he cut it to 3-1. “Didn’t give that goalie much work tonight, but ‘Schwartzy’ had guys in front of the net. Just try to get it there and find a lane. Nice to see them go through.”
Montour made another big play in overtime, blocking a shot from Hutson just 11 seconds in, but Seattle quickly turned possession back over to Montreal, who put the puck into Caufield’s hands as he danced around Dunn and stuffed the puck in past Daccord to end the game with a 4-3 win.
The Kraken made a needed push to earn a point in the standings, but ultimately Lambert believed that with a better effort, they could have kept things closer — particularly in the first period but extending into the second. They have three days off to figure things out before they host the New York Rangers on Saturday.
“No excuse for it. We have to be better,” Lambert said. “We’ve started games pretty well consistently so far this season, but this was not one of them. You can’t afford to do that.”
