Kraken Snap Skid in 4-1 Win vs. Islanders With Stellar Penalty Kill
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Seattle Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak (24) skates against New York Islanders forward Max Shabanov (49) during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - It was a busy night for the Seattle Kraken penalty kill to start their game against the New York Islanders at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday.
It took Islanders forward Anthony Duclair just 19 seconds to ring a shot in off the post following Freddy Gaudreau’s hooking penalty at 2:19, and the Kraken committed two more penalties in the first 6:07 alone.
Despite digging themselves in a hole early, the penalty kill held firm to keep the deficit at one, and almost as soon as the onslaught ended, the special teams flipped in the other direction. Within a span of 48 seconds, the Islanders committed a too many men penalty and Simon Holmstrom got called for hooking to set Seattle up with a 5-on-3 power-play.
With the Kraken peppering Ilya Sorokin with shots as the penalty time winded down, Matty Beniers redirected Vince Dunn’s rebound of Jared McCann’s shot past Sorokin to tie it 1-1 at 10:40 of the first period.
“(McCann) was shooting a lot of pucks, and sometimes you get guys out of position when you’re shooting pucks,” Dunn said. “Maybe they go down to block it, and it bounces somewhere a little funny, and then you get a better look from there, and that kind of happens and translates all the way to 5-on-5.”
Dunn would end up scoring the game-winner at 13:37 of the second period, the first of three unanswered Kraken goals in a 4-1 victory, which snapped a four-game losing streak for Seattle (0-3-1).
After Duclair’s power-play goal for the Islanders, the Kraken killed off each of the following six power-play opportunities, allowing just seven shots across seven total.
“I thought our structure was good,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “And so for them, they were looking for some passing lanes, some seams and things like that. We were taking those situations away, which stopped them from shooting at times.
“The other thing is that I thought we had some great commitment. We did block some shots in that situation, so you have to have that if you’re going to have success on the penalty kill.”
Killers like Ben Meyers and Jamie Oleksiak made some key blocks on Islanders’ young star Matthew Schaefer at the point, and while Isles forward Mathew Barzal made his way inside the crease for a couple of opportunities, he either flipped it off target with a tricky backhand or got stopped by Philipp Grubauer, who made 23 saves.
“Not the start, obviously, we wanted to have,” Grubauer said. “But sometimes it happens. After first one went in, we did an amazing job on the kill and shut it down. Their power play is probably way better than the percentage is showing, so yeah, good for the kill. That’s what we needed.”
After tying it up with the 5-on-3 goal, Seattle jumped ahead at 13:37 of the second period, with Meyers making a terrific pass around New York’s blue line up to Ryan Winterton, who slid it across to Dunn in front, punctuating a shift that lasted 1:41 for the blue-liner.
Seattle doubled its lead a few minutes later, when Jaden Schwartz chased down a dump-in from Dunn off the boards in the neutral zone all the way down behind the Islanders’ net, where he won possession of the puck and fed Kaapo Kakko in front for a one-timer at 16:28 of the second.
“I thought Schwartz did a great job getting on the forecheck, stealing the puck,” Lambert said. “And (Kakko) came off the bench and buried it. I just think that his compete level, his competition for pucks was really good tonight.”
Just 35 seconds into the third period, Seattle got a power-play opportunity on an Anders Lee hook, but it couldn’t generate much, even allowing a short-handed chance that drew a Chandler Stephenson slash to put the Islanders on the power play right after.
Once again, the penalty kill held the Islanders off, not allowing a single shot on goal, but the Islanders kept pressing at even strength looking for two goals to equalize. Despite dominating offensive zone possession in the final frame, the Kraken did well keeping the puck around the perimeter, and were only outshot 5-3 in the final frame.
“I think the worst way we play is when we sit back,” Dunn said. “That’s not our style, and that’s not how we succeed, even defensively, so they came at us. They gave us a good push. I think we could have made a couple more plays and controlled the puck a little bit to get into their zone instead of just flipping it out, but guys battled hard.”
The Islanders pulled Sorokin following a media timeout with 4:39 left in regulation, where it took just over a minute for Brandon Montour to secure the puck from Grubauer behind the goal line and send it all the way up the ice. He missed the empty net wide, but McCann was first to the puck off the end boards to tuck it in at 16:32 for the 4-1 final.
Just two years and a day after he was fired midway through his second season as the Islanders’ bench boss, Lambert scored a satisfying win against his former team, while ending a 1-4-2 skid for his current squad.
“I have a lot of good memories from being in the New York Islander organization. We had a lot of success in that organization when I was there,” Lambert said. “(...) It did feel good to beat them. There’s no question about it, but it felt better just to get a win. We need to get on track.”
