Philipp Grubauer makes 26 saves in return to lineup, Kraken win 2-1 in shootout over Islanders
ELMONT, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 13: Philipp Grubauer #31 of the Seattle Kraken makes a save against Mathew Barzal #13 of the New York Islanders to win the overtime shootout at UBS Arena on February 13, 2024 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI
Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves on 27 shots and was perfect in the shootout in his first action in over two months for the Seattle Kraken, and Tomáš Tatar delivered the winning goal in a 2-1 shootout win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Grubauer stopped shootout chances from Oliver Wahlstrom, Bo Horvat, and former Seattle Thunderbirds star Mat Barzal to snap a three-game skid for the Kraken, and give them their second shootout victory over the Islanders this season. Grubauer was also in net for a 4-3 shootout victory over the Islanders in December.
"He did a nice job being real settled and calm in net and our guys did a really good job in front of him," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "… That's a nice win for him coming back."
The victory was a critical bounce back effort for Seattle after a lackluster showing in a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday night. With a tightly contested race for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference, the Kraken could not afford to lose any more ground to the pack. The shootout result allows the Kraken to keep treading water in the playoff chase for now.
"That's a heck of a road game," Hakstol said. "That's the way you have to play. Playing teams that are in a fight for a playoff spot every single night or fighting for playoff positioning every single night, this is the type of game we have to play."
The effort on Long Island on Tuesday was far superior to the performance in Newark the night before. Tatar said the team was unhappy with their performance the last two games against the Devils and Philadelphia Flyers. They had a closed door meeting prior to Tuedsay's meeting to address the way they'd been playing.
"We talked about what we have to do better and I think this was a character win for us," Tatar said.
"It wasn't good enough the last two games so I think this was a way better turnaround for us. We did a lot of stuff right there and this is something we can build from."
Grubauer was back in the lineup for the first time for Seattle since Dec. 9 when he left a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower body injury. Grubauer was activated from injured reserve on January 23, but served as the backup to Joey Daccord for Seattle's prior six games entering Tuesday night.
The relentless effort of Matty Beniers allowed the Kraken to take an early lead. Beniers was checked hard into the boards in the corner by Islanders' defenseman Ryan Pulock and was noticeably reeling from the impact. The play had quickly moved down ice with Beniers still down in the corner. As Beniers started to make his way toward the bench, the puck came back to Beniers just outside the blue line on a pass ahead from Jared McCann. Beniers drove in on net and snapped a wrist shot by New York goaltender Ilya Sorokin for his seventh goal of the season and a 1-0 Kraken lead.
"It definitely hurt," Beniers said. "I was trying to just get off the ice and saw the opportunity and was like ‘ah, I’m not that hurt.' Didn't feel good but plays like that happen in hockey and he kind of just got me off-balance, went into the boards pretty hard. (McCann) made a nice play and I was fortunate to be there."
Jordan Eberle had gotten into Pulock's face after the hit to Beniers to express his displeasure and it resulted in Pulock being out of position for the resulting rush chance for Beniers.
"I don't think our battle level and compete was there the last two nights and that's kind of been our identity since the beginning," Beniers said. "So that was the big emphasis on tonight was we're not going to get outworked, we're not going to get out-battled tonight."
A four-minute double minor penalty for high-sticking against André Burakovsky forced Seattle into a critical penalty kill that was highlighted by a terrific stop from Grubauer on Brock Nelson from right in front of the crease. The successful kill allowed the Kraken to get to intermission with the one-goal advantage.
"It takes a little bit of time to get back into it, and I was saying to the guys, there's no better way than killing off a four-minute power play to get back into it. Overall a good job today, and we needed those points," Grubauer said.
Grubauer stopped all 22 shots he faced at even strength with Kyle Palmieri's power play goal serving as the only shot to beat him. It's the first time this season Grubauer has allowed fewer than two goals. The .963 save percentage is also a season-best. It was also the 150th victory of Grubauer's career.
It was then time for Sorokin to shine in keeping Seattle from extending their lead. Sorokin denied a prime look for Eeli Tolvanen on a chance off a Vince Dunn rebound. Sorokin came up with another big save against Oliver Bjorkstrand on a rush chance, and helped the Islanders survive an onslaught of an offensive possession for Seattle that saw Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov stuck on the ice for three-and-a-half minutes straight.
But despite the offensive push for Seattle, a questionable penalty call against Yanni Gourde gave the Islanders the opportunity to tie the game on the power play.
Gourde was called for a boarding penalty against Casey Cizikas for a hit against the wall. However, Cizikas turned at the last second, which led to Gourde's impact coming to the back of Cizikas. Gourde's protests were unheeded and the Islanders pounced on the chance. After Brandon Tanev had a short-handed breakaway look – where he clamored for a slashing call against Nelson – the Islanders came back into the Seattle zone with Palmieri finding space in front of the net for a shot that snuck through the legs of Grubauer.
Sorokin continued to shut down Seattle's efforts in the third period. Alex Wennberg had a redirect chance from in front of the net stopped, a Jamie Oleksiak shot hit Sorokin square in the mask, and a Will Borgen point shot tipped by Oleksiak was also swallowed up.
Sorokin made 29 saves on 30 shots in a terrific outing in net for the Islanders as well.
Grubauer made two big saves on Horvat early in overtime to keep Seattle in it. Palmieri tripped Vince Dunn to give the Kraken a 4-on-3 power play chance with under two minutes left to play, but a bad slashing penalty from Jaden Schwartz wiped out the advantage a minute later.
Tatar scored in the second round of the shootout on a really skilled move to get to his forehand with Sorokin over committing, and Grubauer's denial on Barzal sealed the victory.
"He put a goaltender that (was) real good tonight, that came close to stealing a game, he put him in a bad spot, and I loved his poise and loved his fire when he scored," Hakstol said.