Kraken snap 7-game skid with 4-3 win over Predators
SEATTLE — Colin Blackwell scored the go-ahead, short-handed goal in the third period and the Seattle Kraken snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
Blackwell’s goal came a little more than three minutes into the third, and was the first short-handed tally of his career.
Blackwell also had an assist during a second-period scoring binge for the Kraken as Alex Wennberg, Calle Jarnkrok and Yanni Gourde had goals in a span of 2 minutes, 39 seconds. It was the fastest three-goal span for the first-year franchise.
Chris Driedger had 19 saves for his fifth win for Seattle, which trailed 2-0 before its big second period.
Matt Duchene had two goals for Nashville, Philip Tomasino also scored, and Roman Josi had two assists, giving him 500 points for his career. Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots.
After a relatively quiet first period during which Nashville took a 1-0 lead, the second featured a flurry of offense from both teams.
Nashville took a 2-0 lead with 13:06 to go in the second period on a power-play goal by Duchene.
It took only 29 seconds for Seattle to answer. On a rush up ice, Marcus Johansson’s cross-ice pass gave Wennberg an easy score.
Just a minute and a half later, Jarnkrok tied the game at 2 as Jordan Eberle’s pass from just behind the net found Jarnkrok at the top of the crease.
It took one more minute for the Kraken to take their first lead of the game as Gourde flipped it in on another rush up ice after a nice assist from Blackwell.
Duchene tied it with about 5 ½ minutes left in the period with his second goal, a shot on an open net as Driedger was caught out of position.
The Predators opened the scoring with 6:47 left in the first. Michael McCarron’s pass from behind the net found Tomasino at the top of the crease for a 1-0 lead.
NOTES
Josi reached 500 points in 732 games, the fifth-fastest defenseman in the last 25 years. He’s also the fifth defenseman from the 2008 draft to reach the mark, the most of any draft class in history. … The Predators reassigned D Matt Tennyson to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. … Jarnkrok is the fourth Seattle player to score against the team he was selected from in the Kraken’s expansion draft. … The Kraken’s last win came on Feb. 11 at Anaheim.
FOR UKRAINE
The Kraken invited Ukrainian-born singer Roman Vashchuk to sing his country’s national anthem before the game. The team also announced the One Roof Foundation — the philanthropic arm of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena — was donating a portion of the night’s proceeds to USA for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which is supporting the people of Ukraine.
UP NEXT
Nashville: Plays at San Jose on Saturday.
Seattle: Travels to play the Capitals on Saturday.
RANGERS 5, BLUES 3
Chris Kreider scored a tiebreaking power-play goal in New York’s three-goal third period and the Rangers rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Wednesday night.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists, and Alexis Lafrenière, Ryan Strome and Patrik Nemeth also scored for the Rangers, who recovered after giving up a two-goal lead and snapped their two-game skid. Adam Fox had three assists and Igor Shesterkin finished with 28 saves to help New York improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven at home.
Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron each had a goal and an assist, and Ivan Barbashev also scored for St. Louis, which had won four straight. Ville Husso stopped 24 shots in the Blues’ first regulation loss in eight games (6-1-1).
Nemeth, back in the lineup after missing three games for the birth of his son, tied it at 3 with his first goal of the season at 7:27 of the third. Kreider put the Rangers back ahead with 8:20 remaining for his 35th goal of the season and NHL-leading 18th on the power play.
Panarin added an empty-netter with 1:52 left for his 15th of the season.
SABRES 5, MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO — Craig Anderson made 29 saves, Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson scored in the second period and the Buffalo beat Toronto to end a six-game losing streak.
Toronto played at home in front of a full crowd for the first time since Dec. 11 after Ontario eased COVID-19 capacity restrictions Tuesday.
Jacob Bryson, Jeff Skinner and Kyle Okposo also scored to help Buffalo finish off a five-game trip. Seventh in the Atlantic Division, the Sabres improved to 17-30-8 — nine points ahead of last-place Montreal.
Rasmus Sandin scored for Toronto, and Petr Mrazek stopped 26 shots. The Maple Leafs had won three in a row.
STARS 4, KINGS 3
DALLAS — Ryan Suter and Alexander Radulov scored in the final minute of Dallas’ four-goal second period and the Stars rallied to beat Los Angeles.
Luke Glendening and Jason Robertson added goals to help Dallas improve to 5-1-1 in its last seven games and 30-20-3 overall. Jake Oettinger made 28 saves to improve to 15-3-0 at home this season.
Radulov — playing his 500th NHL game — scored his third goal of the season and second in his last 40 games.
Kings rookie Arthur Kaliyev had his first two-goal game in the NHL, Phillip Danualt also scored and Cal Petersen stopped 38 shots.
