CALGARY-
A three-goal flurry in the third period pushed the visiting Seattle Kraken to a 5-4 victory Tuesday against the Calgary Flames, who squandered a third-period lead for a second straight game.
Yanni Gourde scored shorthanded with Carson Soucy, Morgan Geekie, Daniel Sprong and Matt Beniers each contributing a goal to the Kraken’s first ever win over the Flames.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had two assists for Seattle (5-4-2) entering his second NHL season after going 27-49-6 in his expansion year.
Goaltender Joey Daccord stopped 36 of 40 shots for the win in his first start of the season in front of a reported crowd of 16,803 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“We have so much more confidence in this group,” Gourde said. “Last year was last year. We know we can pull together and we know we have the skills to do so.”
Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist for Calgary (5-3-0) to reach 400 career points.
Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zadorov and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Flames, who led 4-2 early in the third.
“We kept flipping the puck and it ended up biting our ass,” Toffoli said. “That’s what happened.”
Calgary led the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Saturday, but lost 3-2.
“We’re not happy. We’re an older group and we know good teams don’t do that,” Toffoli said.
Calgary’s Elias Lindholm had two assists and Dan Vladar stopped 21 of 26 shots in the loss.
The hosts scored twice in 17 seconds from 1:34 into the third period to lead 4-2. Seattle responded with power-play, shorthanded and even-strength goals in 4:55.
“You just have to find opportune plays and stick with it, that’s how you come out of these type of games with two points,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said.
Beniers on an odd run scored on a Jordan Eberle feed at 1:26. Gourde stripped Kadri of the puck in the neutral zone for a shorthanded breakaway at 11:26.
As Calgary’s Brett Ritchie served minor interference, Alex Wennberg at the side of the net fed Sprong for a one-timer at 8:31.
“A few tough breaks that were kind of self-inflicted,” Kadri said. “With a two-goal lead in the third period, you should be able to wrap things up, but give them credit. They pushed back.”
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter changed his forward lines to start the game. Kadri in the center was flanked by Jonathan Huberdeau and Andrew Mangiapane in an effort to produce more even scoring.
Sutter continued to mix and match attackers, although he remained with Milan Lucic on the left wing of Lindholm and Toffoli.
Lindholm recovered the puck after a draw and returned the puck to Toffoli for a one-timer on the glove side at 1:34 of the third period.
Seattle then flipped the puck down the boards for Lewis to score from the slot with Adam Ruzicka providing a screen.
Shooting 10-7 in the first period, the Flames turned things around with a 20-8 margin in the second.
Seattle trailed 2-1 when Geekie scored at 1:10 on an odd run with Jamie Oleksiak.
Kadri generated his team-leading fifth goal for the Flames at 8:12. He drove the net and collected the loose puck to place a sharp-angled shot past a sprawling Daccord for his team-leading fifth goal.
Seattle then lost a goalie interference challenge to a Flames power play.
Zadorov tied the Flames at 6:28 of the second period off the run. Toffoli sent a cross pass down to the defender to cut off a sharp angled shot from Daccord.
Calgary killed Seattle’s two-man advantage midway through the opening period, but the visitors were up 1-0 on Soucy’s first goal of the season at 14:58.
The defender’s raised wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle beat Vladar on the opposite side. Seattle’s Oleksiak and Calgary’s Zadorov traded shots after Soucy’s goal.
REMARKS
Kadri, signed as an offseason free agent, has a team-leading 10 points (five goals, five assists) in eight games for Calgary… Ritchie’s assist on Lewis’ goal extended his point streak to four consecutive games (two goals, two assists). With three goals and three assists in eight games, Richie surpassed his points tally from last season…Seattle Beniers extended his point streak to five games (four goals, one assist)…Hakstol took a page of Sutter’s book by not naming a captain this season. Kraken’s four replacements are Eberle, Gourde, Adam Larsson and Jaden Schwartz.
NEXT
Kraken: Continue the three-game road trip Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.
Flames: At home Thursday against the Nashville Predators in the seventh of eight straight home games. Calgary’s last meeting with the Preds on April 26 featured 56 penalty minutes (including two fights), 74 hits and Matthew Tkachuk’s tying goal with a tenth of a second remaining. Elias Lindholm scored in overtime for the Flames 5-4 victory.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 1, 2022.
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