SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 14: Jared McCann #19 of the Seattle Kraken shoots against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena on December 14, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
SEATTLE - Kailer Yamamoto scored a pair of goals, Jared McCann added his team-high 14th on the power play, and the Seattle Kraken rolled to a 7-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Yamamoto scored the opening goal for the second straight game for Seattle to get the team going as the fourth line continued to provide offensive punch. Pierre-Édouard Bellemare scored again as well as Yamamoto and Bellemare have combined for five goals for Seattle in back-to-back victory over Chicago and the Florida Panthers.
"Got us off to a great start again tonight and continued to provide it throughout the night," head coach Dave Hakstol said of the fourth line. "That scoring that that they've provided the last couple of nights has been a big part of our success."
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored as part of a three-point night, Tye Kartye, and Eeli Tolvanen added goals as well, and Joey Daccord backed up his shutout effort against the Panthers with just one goal allowed on 22 shots by the Blackhawks. The Kraken have scored 11 goals combined in the two wins over Florida and Chicago.
"It's definitely nice," Bjorkstrand said. "I think It helps guys get going a little bit and feel a little bit more confident with the puck. So it's never a bad thing. That said, we got to keep going."
If the Kraken are going to claw their way back into the race for the postseason, it will take some extended winning streaks to help them dig out of the hole they've created for themselves. For the first time this year, the Kraken have won consecutive games in regulation with wins over the Blackhawks and Panthers
Seattle beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime and the Nashville Predators in regulation in back-to-back games, then had a shootout victory over the New York Islanders paired with a regulation win over the Vancouver Canucks in mid-November.
"Big for the confidence and big for the team," Yamamoto said. "I know we had a tough stretch there, but to be able to get the last two has been big for us.
"We need to keep playing this way and keep having games like this."
Yamamoto picked up a bouncing puck in the neutral zone that deflected off the skate of Will Borgen and drove in on net by himself and snapped a shot by Arvid Soderblom for a 1-0 lead.
Yamamoto picked up the second goal as well later in the period when a Vince Dunn shot dropped in front of the net off Philipp Kurashev and Yamamoto chopped it into the net for a 2-0 lead. It's the fourth two-goal game of Yamamoto's career.
The one big mistake of the night for Seattle did ultimately snap Daccord's scoreless streak early in the second period. Jamie Oleksiak's attempt to get the puck out of Seattle's zone was intercepted just inside the blue line by Anthony Beauvillier, who dished the puck to Taylor Raddysh for a shot from the right circle that beat Daccord's glove just inside the right post to cut Seattle's lead to 2-1.
"His play has been good," Hakstol said of Daccord. "If you really break down his body of work, you know, there's been a lot of nights where Joey's provided winning goaltending. We weren't able to provide that next goal or that first goal for him. We've been able to do that the last couple of nights and he's done his job."
The Kraken then finally had a fortunate bounce go their way just over a minute later. Bjorkstrand attempted to fire a pass through the slot only for it to deflect off the skate of Jason Dickinson and by Soderblom for a 3-1 lead.
Kartye tipped a Borgen point shot by Soderblom for Seattle's fourth goal, and Tolvanen finished a fantastic pass through the slot from Yanni Gourde to take a 5-1 lead into the second intermission.
McCann ripped a bomb from the top of the left circle for a power play tally just over three minutes into the final frame, and Bellemare shoveled a puck by Soderblom just 21 seconds later to make it a 7-1 Seattle lead and chase the Chicago goalie from the game. Petr Mrazek replaced Soderblom in net to finish the night for Chicago after Soderblom allowed seven goals on 24 shots.
Rookie Ryker Evans picked up a pair of assists on Bjorkstrand and McCann's goals to give him three points in the last two games.
"We'd won once in a couple of weeks so I don't think any quick satisfaction was going to sink in there," Hakstol said. "I guess that's my point is just understanding the different challenges that every game brings and today's challenge was to make sure that we were ready to stick with the process that brought us success. And we were able to do that."