Seattle Kraken rally from three-goal deficit, lose 4-3 in overtime to Canadiens

SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken rallied from a 3-0 deficit over the final 12 minutes to force overtime, but Cole Caufield's goal in the extra period gave the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.

Caufield carried the puck behind the goal and tucked it behind the skate of Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord, before hacking it across the goal line for the overtime winner just 44 seconds into the period.

Caufield also scored the overtime winner in a 5-4 Canadiens victory earlier this month in Montreal.

Brandon Montour tied the game with 1:43 left to play with his second goal of the night with Daccord pulled for an extra skater with his second goal of the period for Seattle.

The wild finish flipped what had been a pretty forgettable 40-plus minutes of hockey earlier in the night.

"I'm pretty sure that the players have probably talked about the fact that we weren't very good, certainly in the first period," head coach Lane Lambert said. "There's no excuse for it. You know, we'll have to be better. We've started games pretty well consistently so far in this season, but this was not one of them. And, you know, you can't afford to do that."

A turnover in the offensive zone for Seattle led to scattered play and the Canadiens taking a 1-0 lead. 

A backhand shot from distance from Noah Dobson was redirected on net by Nick Suzuki right in front of Daccord. Suzuki picked up the loose puck and found Caufield on the backside of the goal for a wide open finish and a 1-0 Montreal lead.

A Ryan Lindgren cross-checking penalty led to a Canadiens power play goal to extend the lead before the end of the first period. A quick passing play from Caufield to Suzuki to Juraj Slafkovský set up a clean look that beat Daccord to extend the lead.

"I think we were just off tonight," said Shane Wright, who scored Seattle's second goal. "Just weren't making plays, weren't handling pucks well and just weren't created much offensively. And then, you know, kind of got desperate there in the last 10 minutes. And, yeah, just kept pushing, keep grinding away and able to tie it up there."

The two teams combined for just 22 shots through the first two periods, with Seattle managing just five shots a period before the second intermission. Montreal then added to their lead with a power play goal with 14:05 left to play for a 3-0 lead that put the Kraken in a major hole.

An extremely soft tripping call against Jaden Schwartz early in the third period led to another power play goal and a three-goal advantage for Montreal.

A Kirby Dach shot chance bounced off a skate to an open Alex Newhook as he fired a shot by Daccord for a 3-0 lead with 11:03 remaining.

But the Kraken finally were able to get something going as they mounted a comeback.

With Jayden Struble in the penalty box on a hooking penalty, Montour fired a slap shot from the blue line that deflected past Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobeš off the stick of Alexandre Carrier to cut the Montreal lead to 3-1 with 11:03 left to play.

Seattle then created some additional fuel for themselves as Jani Nyman jumped Montreal's Kirby Dach after a bad hit of Ben Meyers into the end boards. Meyers quickly got to his feet to get after Dach as well, with both Nyman and Dach sent to the box for roughing penalties.

"I think it was fantastic," Lambert said. "We have to be team tough and when one of our teammates gets hit, which we consider to be a dirty hit, we have to stand up for him. And I thought it was a good momentum turner."

With play at four-on-four, Montour set up Wright – who had been left completely unguarded in the slot – for a snap shot by Dobeš to make it a one-goal game with 4:43 remaining.

"I think we were just off tonight," Wright said. "Just weren't making plays, weren't handling pucks well and just weren't created much offensively. And then, you know, kind of got desperate there in the last 10 minutes. And, yeah, just kept pushing, keep grinding away and able to tie it up there."

Daccord took a seat on the bench with 2:38 left with Seattle getting an offensive zone face-off as the Kraken were looking for the tying goal. 

Montour delivered again, ripping a slap shot by Dobeš as he was screened by Carrier to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:43 left to play. 

"Just getting the shot," Montour said. "I mean, I don't even know at that time, we might have had 12 shots on net, 11 shots on net. Didn't give that goalie much work tonight, but Schwartzy, guys in front of the net, just try to get it there and kind of find a lane. Nice to see them go through."

The goals were the first two of the season for Montour, and his assist on Wright's goal was his fifth of the year. He's got seven points in six games despite an injury in training camp and missing a week with the team due to the death of his brother, Cameron, last week from ALS.

The goal that forced overtime also served as the 300th point of Montour's NHL career.

"It's pretty amazing to see," Wright said of Montour. "You know, what he's been through the last couple of weeks here, to even just be here, let alone, you know, playing as well as he is, and perform at a level he always performs that day in, day out is really special."

The comeback nearly didn't see overtime, however. Daccord was needed to make one more key stop on a Josh Anderson chance inside the final five seconds to send the game to the extra period and secure a point from the contest.

"I thought we passed up too many shots, or opportunities, I guess, to shoot in the first little bit," Lambert said. "We found ways to get a few more pucks to the net and get them in, obviously. We did a really good job six-on-five. Our power play scored a big goal for us to get us going and again, it's just another shot. There was power plays at the start of the game where we just passed it around. We've got to get pucks to the net."

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