Kraken survive eight-round shootout for 4-3 win over Islanders
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 16: Kailer Yamamoto #56 of the Seattle Kraken scores a goal in a shootout against Semyon Varlamov #40 of the New York Islanders at Climate Pledge Arena on November 16, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambe
SEATTLE - Kailer Yamamoto scored the game-tying goal on the power play in the third period and delivered the game-winning goal in the eighth round of a shootout against New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov to give the Seattle Kraken a much-needed 4-3 win on Thursday night.
Yamamoto beat the glove of Varlamov to give the Kraken their first shootout win since April 16, 2022. The Kraken had lost their last six shootouts, going 0-4 last season and losing both shootouts they've faced this season against the St. Louis Blues and Arizona Coyotes.
"Oh, it's awesome. You know, to be able to obviously get a shootout win, but just a win in general. It was just good," Yamamoto said.
The eight-round shootout is also the longest shootout in franchise history.
"It's a skills competition so it's really unpredictable what's going to happen," defenseman Vince Dunn said. "I mean obviously we haven't been as successful as we wanted to in the past in those and today we showed we can show up and close the game for us to get a win."
The Kraken converted three chances on the power play to force overtime for a second straight night. After falling 4-3 in Edmonton to the Oilers on Wednesday night, the Kraken managed to do just enough to get a critical two points against a struggling Islanders team.
"We've had nights where we haven't been certainly happy with with our overall effort and play," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Coming out of last night, that was that was a disappointing loss because we felt like we did so many really good things there. But, you know, true to the group in here, we addressed a couple of things that we felt like we could do better and then we just said let's turn the page. You know, we get two (points) tonight. That's three out of four and a back-to-back and that's a real successful two-game run. And that's where our focus was coming into tonight."
Power play opportunities carried the scoring in the first period for both teams.
With Brandon Tanev in the penalty box on a high-sticking call, Anders Lee out-muscled Brian Doumoulin for positioning in front of the Kraken net and managed to redirect a pass from Bo Horvat by Philipp Grubauer to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
Scott Mayfield took a pair of penalties for delay of game and slashing to give Seattle two power play chances in the period. Matty Beniers worked hard to maintain control of the puck up against the boards and was rewarded for the effort. He was able to drive in from the left circle and snapped a wrist shot into the top corner over goaltender Semyon Varlamov to tie the game at 1-1 at the midway point of the period.
With less than two minutes left in the period, Alex Wennberg scored his second goal in as many nights to give the Kraken the lead. This time it was Oliver Bjorkstrand winning a puck battle against the end boards to create an opportunity. Bjorkstrand found Wennberg on the back door of the goal as Seattle grabbed a 2-1 lead with another power play goal.
The Kraken are now converting on 26.8 percent of their power play opportunties for the season, which is among the top units in the league. Seattle was in the bottom half of the league last year, ranking just 18th overall at 21.1 percent.
"I think just the way we work, you know, to be able to retrieve pucks and those little plays in tight," Yamamoto said of the power play success. "Obviously Matty had an unbelievable shot tonight."
A scruffy line change in the second period led to New York's tying goal. Casey Cizikas got lost just inside the blue line and former Seattle Thunderbird standout Mat Barzal hit him with a pass driving to the front of the net. Cizikas beat Grubuaer through the legs to tie the game at 2-2.
Shortly after killing off a Yanni Gourde penalty to open the third period, the Kraken wouldn't be as lucky when Vince Dunn was called for holding Oliver Wahlstrom. Noah Dobson's slap shot from the point cleanly beat Grubauer to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead.
But Yamamoto and Seattle's power play answered back just three minutes later. An extended offensive zone shift for Seattle left the Islanders penalty kill struggling and Yamamoto was left unmarked in front of the Islanders' net. He beat Varlamov with a move to his backhand to tie the game at 3-3.
The Kraken had to kill off a late hooking penalty from Yamamoto to reach the extra period. Grubauer then came up with two big saves on Dobson and Horvat in overtime, and a poke check on a pass looking for Sebastian Aho that would have yielded a great shot chance for New York.
"OT was maybe one we'll want to burn the tape on," Hakstol said. "But, you know, in saying that, we got through it and we, you know, we won it in the shootout so, you know, kudos to Grubi on that."
Horvat scored for New York in the second round of the shootout and Bjorkstrand answered in the third round to extend the shootout. Jordan Eberle and Wahlstrom each scored in the sixth round and Yamamoto scored in the eighth. Grubauer then stopped Dobson to give the Kraken the win.
"I think tonight we came in with a good attitude," Dunn said. "We had a good first period that I think we were able to create momentum with throughout the game and the guys showed up in the shootout. That was really big."