Seattle, WA – In much different fashion than their barn burner win on Tuesday that featured 17 combined goals, the Seattle Kraken grit out a low scoring affair against the Washington Capitals. After an ugly first 30 minutes that saw the Capitals score twice, Seattle managed to wake up thanks to a timely power play goal. The Kraken found momentum, and were able to ride that wave until overtime. Matty Beniers scored just seven seconds into the overtime period, and just like that Seattle had turned a frustrating contest into another victory.
The Kraken looked far worse offensively than they did in their nine-goal outing against the Kings on Tuesday throughout the first 30 minutes tonight. Seattle was failing to string passes together, properly clear the puck, and were consistently putting themselves in dangerous situations. The Capitals took advantage of the sloppy, unorganized plays as Washington scored twice. Both times, Capitals skaters were able to fire away with plenty of breathing room. Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol discussed how the team had to be patient to withstand the early struggles.
“You need some patience, it’s not gonna be easy. The critical stretch in that game was halfway through the second period, being able to turn that period. There was a little frustration setting in, not a lot happening in the first ten minutes of that minute. We were able to take advantage of the great power play goal by Schwartzy. That pushed us through the end of the second period and set the table for the third period,” Hakstol reflected.
On the offensive end, Seattle had to find “greasy” goals to get them to overtime. The aforementioned Jaden Schwartz goal was scored right in front of Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper, as Schwartz punched home a puck that had slammed off the glass behind net. To tie things up late in the third period, Seattle forward Yanni Gourde was able to take advantage of a juicy rebound off of the leg pad of Kuemper, flipping the puck into the net with ease. Those two chaotic goals were topped off by Matty Beniers’ overtime winner, as the rookie won the initial faceoff and made a dash to the net. All it took was seven seconds of overtime for Beniers to extend the teams win streak to seven. Teammate Jaden Schwartz talked about just how quickly things happened in the extra period, thanks to the rookie.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen that before, it happened quick. I think someone lost their stick, it happened so fast, I think I was actually grabbing water. I looked up, and he was on a breakaway. They were hungry off the faceoff, we were ready, and I’m super happy for him, that was a good finish,” Schwartz stated.
The Kraken will have a day off before they return to action for the second of a three game homestand. Seattle will host a struggling Florida Panthers team at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday, December 3rd with a puck drop of 7PM PST. The Panthers are looking to find their form this season, failing to regain their Presidents Trophy winning form from last season. On the flip side, Seattle aims to continue their franchise-long winning streak.
