Kraken get late tying goal to force overtime, fall 3-2 to Kings in nine-round shootout
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 16: Oliver Bjorkstrand #22 of the Seattle Kraken shoots the puck during the shootout round of overtime of a game against the Los Angeles Kings at Climate Pledge Arena on December 16, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo
SEATTLE - Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a game-tying goal on the power play with 2:29 left to play to force overtime, but Carl Grundstrom beat Joey Daccord in the ninth round of a shootout to sink the Seattle Kraken in a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Kailer Yamamoto, Yanni Gourde and Matty Beniers each scored shootout goals to push Seattle to the brink of victory only to be answered by Adrian Kempe, Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Lewis in the longest shootout in Kraken team history. The Kraken won an eight-round shootout for a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders last month.
"To get the three-out-of-nine (in the shootout) and put ourselves in position to win, that's positive, but I'll probably bounce back (in) about a week here and just talk about moral victories, they're not all that sweet at this time of year," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "But we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the shootout with some nice plays and some nice goals."
The Kraken needed another standout performance from Daccord in net and Bjorkstrand's late goal to force the extra session. Seattle then had to survive a power play for the Kings in overtime after Vince Dunn took a slashing penalty out of frustration to get to the shootout. Dunn had been taken down driving to the net by Drew Doughty and wanted a penalty called against the Kings. He then slashed Phillip Danault's wrist shortly after to force Seattle to kill off a penalty in overtime.
"That's out of a little bit of frustration," Hakstol said. "And so we took two penalties tonight that we'll talk about internally, you know, discuss it. There are two penalties that we don't want to take."
Daccord made saves on 36 of 38 shots by the Kings as he continued a run of strong performances in place of injured starter Philipp Grubauer. Daccord earned his first career shutout Tuesday night in a 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers, backed it up with 21 saves on 22 shots against the Chicago Blackhawks in a 7-1 win on Thursday, and carried the Kraken into the shootout.
"He's been outstanding," Bjorkstrand said of Daccord."Keeping us in games and we're gaining momentum from it. It's obviously nice to see when a goalie is standing in there and when we make a mistake, he's there to stop it."
The Kraken jumped out to an opening lead for the third straight game on a shot from Adam Larsson that wasn't meant to be a shot. Larsson picked up the puck in the right circle and attempted to slide a pass to Pierre-Édouard Bellemare at the front of the net. But instead of connecting on the pass, the puck slid through the legs of Bellemare, Kings defenseman Jordan Spence, and goaltender Cam Talbot into the net for a 1-0 Seattle lead.
Los Angeles answered before the end of the period to bring the game back even. A bouncing puck in Seattle's zone found its way to Kevin Fiala, who turned to fire a shot toward the Kraken net. The puck deflected off Will Borgen and Danualt set the puck perfectly for Trevor Moore as he maneuvered the puck around Daccord and into Seattle's net for the tying goal.
The Kings defensive effort suffocated Seattle for most of the game. It led to Los Angeles out-shooting the Kraken by a 14-3 margin in the first period and a 15-6 margin in the second period. The Kraken struggled to generate offensive zone time and then struggled to find shots against the Kings' pressure. Los Angeles out-shot Seattle by a 38-19 margin for the game.
"I think we worked really hard coming back in that game," forward Yanni Gourde said. "They are a very structured team. We knew that going in and we saw that all night. I think they're probably one of the best structured teams we've seen all year.
"I think it's their neutral zone forecheck. They're pretty efficient in it and they have the routes. They know what to do. They know where to put the puck to break out."
With Borgen in the penalty box for a roughing penalty against Mikey Anderson, the Kings capitalized on the power play to take the lead. Adrian Kempe beat Seattle's blue line pressure to get the puck to Quinton Byfield, who found a driving Anže Kopitar on the back post for an easy finish for a 2-1 Kings lead.
Then late in the third period, the Kraken pressured Anderson into sending the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Bjorkstrand found space at the top of the right circle and snapped a wrist shot through traffic that beat Talbot to tie the game and force overtime.
"We battled hard in the third," Gourde said. "Didn't give them much in the third. We kept pushing and pushing and eventually. we got our break."
The Kraken got a couple blocks and a couple saves to deny the Kings on the power play with Dunn in the penalty box and got the game to the shootout. Ultimately, the Kraken couldn't deliver in the skills competition despite scoring three times.
Tomáš Tatar played alongside Beniers and Jared McCann on Seattle's top line in his first game with the Kraken after being traded from the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. Tatar saw nearly 14 minutes of ice time with one shot on goal, but looked fairly comfortable and flashed some of his skill as well.
"HJe's had an awful lot happening over the last 24 hours," Hakstol said. "He gave us good minutes. He's outstanding on the bench. He makes a lot of little plays out there that might go on unnoticed. So it was a good start for him."
It's just the second time all season the Kraken have earned points in three straight games. Coming out of an eight-game losing streak, it's good progress for Seattle as they try to turn their season around.