Kailer Yamamoto scores in home debut, but Avalanche score four unanswered goals to beat Kraken 4-1
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 17: Jordan Eberle #7 of the Seattle Kraken and Logan O'Connor #25 of the Colorado Avalanche fight during the first period at Climate Pledge Arena on October 17, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty
SEATTLE - An opening goal from Spokane native Kailer Yamamoto in his first regular season home game for the Seattle Kraken wasn't enough to hold off the playoff-rival Colorado Avalanche in a 4-1 loss on Tuesday night.
Yamamoto's goal gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead in the first period, but the Avalanche would score four unanswered goals to pull away and exact some revenge for their playoff series loss to Seattle last spring. Artturi Lehkonen tied the game just under four minutes into the second period, Logan O'Connor scored a short-handed goal that served as the game-winner, and Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichuskin added on in the third period to put a damper on the Kraken's home opener.
"The chances are there. We've just got to execute a little bit," forward Jordan Eberle said.
It's another disappointing result for the Kraken as they fall to 0-3-1 on the season while managing to score just three goals combined in their first four games of the year. Jared McCann scored in the regular season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights, Jaden Schwartz scored on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues, and Yamamoto got on the board Tuesday night.
"I think we've got to start putting the puck in the net and obviously taking care of the D-zone," Yamamoto said.
Yamamoto – the first Washington native to play for the Kraken – was the only player that managed to accomplish that on Tuesday night. After a Tye Kartye shot deflected off the crossbar, the puck found its way to Yamamoto wide of the net to Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev's right. Yamamoto snapped a shot that cleared the right shoulder of Georgiev for the first home goal of the season for the Kraken.
"He kind of was off his angle a little bit and was kind of looking back door a little bit, but I saw a little opening up top, shot it and thank goodness it went in," Yamamoto said.
Yamamoto's parents were in the building for opening night and got to see him score in his home debut. Yamamoto scored in Climate Pledge Arena in March while a member of the Edmonton Oilers, but getting to score for the Kraken in his home debut meant a little more.
"Any time you can score for your home team, it feels pretty special," he said.
Just 1:10 into the game, the Avalanche looked to retaliate against Eberle for his hit on Andrew Cogliano in Game 6 of last spring's first round playoff series. O'Connor went after Eberle on the first shift of the game for both players and Eberle obliged in taking the fight.
O'Connor may have got an extra blow or two in on Eberle, who fought for just the third time in his 15-year NHL career.
Eberle was called for a boarding penalty on Cogliano in the second period of Colorado's 4-1 victory that sent the series back to Denver for Game 7. While Cogliano returned to the game, examinations after the game revealed that Cogliano sustained a fracture in his neck from the blow.
"You ask, you go," Eberle said of the fight. "Obviously I was trying to get my teammates going. First game here, trying to get the crowd into it too."
After Lehkonen's goal tied the game early in the second quarter, O'Connor then got involved offensively to swing the game in Colorado's favor.
The Kraken had come off a really strong power play chance that did everything right except score. They got four shots on Georgiev and two more blocked as the offensive pressure was constant through the two-minute advantage. Then after Nathan MacKinnon took an interference penalty shortly after the previous one expired, the Kraken looked to continue the pressure. Instead, the second power play was far more disjoined as Seattle struggled to gain the offensive line. Then once they did, the Avalanche won a puck battle behind their net and sprung the scoring chance.
Devon Toews won the puck away from Yamamoto and Jaden Schwartz and got it to Cale Makar as he flung the puck around the board. The puck hopped the stick of defenseman Vince Dunn and O'Connor won a race to the puck and beat Philipp Grubauer to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.
"For me that's a play that starts down low," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We've got two to their one and they win a puck battle. Retrievals on power plays are a huge thing, sometimes that's overlooked. We missed the retrieval on that, they got a clear and it turned into the short-handed goal for them."
Rantanen took advantage of a broken stick for Yanni Gourde to find some open space and snap a shot by Grubauer to extend the Avalanche lead to 3-1 with 6:15 left to play. Nichuskin's empty-net goal made it a three-goal loss for Seattle.
"We lacked execution in a few spots tonight and against a good team that leaves us on the wrong side of the ledger," Hakstol said. "So, you know, we've got to take that upon ourselves. We've got to execute a little bit better in some of the offensive situations, continue doing the things that we're doing well, we're doing a lot of really good things. We played hard again. We played hard in a lot of areas of the game. We executed pretty well in a lot of areas, but we need a little bit more and until things start to come a little bit easier, we've got to push to get over the hump and that's on all of us in our dressing room."