Oliver Bjorkstrand scores two goals as Kraken romp to 6-1 win over Canucks
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 25: Oliver Bjorkstrand #22 of the Seattle Kraken scores against Spencer Martin #30 of the Vancouver Canucks during the first period at Climate Pledge Arena on January 25, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Cham
SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken's first ever win over the Vancouver Canucks came in style.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a pair of goals and Jared McCann added his team-leading 23rd goal of the season in a 6-1 romp on Wednesday night.
The win gave Seattle more victories (28) than they had the entirety of their inaugural season (27). Their 61 points on the year also surpassed their total of 60 from last year and the season has still yet to hit the All-Star break.
Seattle moved back into a tie with the Vegas Golden Knights for the best mark in the Pacific Division, though the Kraken have played two fewer games.
"Last year was not fun, right?" head coach Dave Hakstol said. "So if you want to talk about no fun, that was no fun, but you got to go through those hard times in order to work and build. And you know, there's a lot of guys in this room that went through that and stayed with it, and are finding a little bit of success right now."
The Kraken were 0-5-1 against the Canucks in six prior matchups with their regional rival entering Wednesday night. However, it was clear from the opening minutes that the Canucks weren't going to provide much resistance this time around.
"That's a great win for our club. We definitely owed them," said defenseman Vince Dunn, who had a pair of assists on the night and set a new career-high in points with 36 and still 35 games left to play in the season.
"They never give up. We've been up in a lot of those games and we've sat back and they've taken advantage of us. So tonight was a complete game for us."
Just three days into new head coach Rick Tocchet's tenure on the Vancouver bench, the Kraken hammered the throttle down to race by the Canucks.
Bjorkstrand tossed a rebound by Vancouver goaltender Spencer Martin to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the first period. Alex Wennberg's power play goal just seven seconds into an Andrei Kuzmenko slashing penalty made it a 2-0 game at the first intermission.
"To see Ollie get a couple tonight, that's really important for us," Hakstol said. "He's such an important piece to the puzzle for us and he's played really, really well, especially with that group over the last couple of weeks. So, you know, It's nice to see him get a couple."
The Kraken out-shot Vancouver 18-7 in the opening period and didn't look back, finishing the night with a 35-20 advantage. Martin's play actually kept Seattle from making the result far more lopsided.
The one negative on the night for the Kraken was an early exit for star rookie Matty Beniers.
Beniers did not play for the Kraken in the third period after taking a big blindside check from Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers just inside the 15-minute mark of the second period. Myers drilled Beniers from behind and Beniers' head appeared to bounce off the ice as he landed. Beniers was slow to leave the ice but did briefly return to the game to finish the period.
"He wasn't available for the third period," Hakstol said.
Myers got an interference call for hitting Beniers without the puck and it gave Seattle another power. McCann delivered as he fired home a cross-ice pass from André Burakovsky that made it a 3-0 game.
Eeli Tolvanen then delivered his sixth goal in 13 games with the Kraken off a one-timer from Yanni Gourde as the rout was on.
Bjorkstrand added his second of the night from the right circle to notch his first multi-goal game with Seattle and the 15th of his career. His last came just over a calendar season ago in a 4-3 win for the Columbus Blue Jackets over the New Jersey Devils on January 8, 2022.
"It feels good, better," Bjorkstrand said. "I think I'm creating more things and just as a line we're playing really well together with (Tolvanen) and (Gourde), so it's definitely nice seeing it go in."
Conor Garland tipped a rebound chance from Curtis Lazar by Martin Jones to avoid the shutout for Vancouver with just 7.2 seconds left in the second period.
Ryan Donato added a backhand finish over Martin for his 12th of the season in the third period to give the Kraken their fifth game this year with at least six goals scored.