Vince Dunn scores goal, adds two assists as Kraken get first win, 7-4, over Hurricanes
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 19: Vince Dunn #29 of the Seattle Kraken celebrates his powerplay goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena on October 19, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers
SEATTLE - Vince Dunn scored a goal and had a pair of assists and the offense of the Seattle Kraken finally managed to break out in a 7-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night for their first win of the season.
The Kraken chased Carolina starting goaltender Antti Raanta early in the second period after scoring four goals on 17 shots.
The Kraken scored as many goals in the first period against Carolina as they had in their first four games combined entering the night. And the goals came in all situations; even strength, short-handed, and on the power play.
In total, 13 different skaters got on the scoresheet for Seattle.
"I think as a whole we look at that game and we realize that we need everyone on board to win games," Dunn said. "That's by no means an easy team to beat. The result like that really shows that we can compete with the best and if we stick together we can get through things."
The Kraken were able to benefit from Carolina being without two of their best stars. Sebastian Aho missed the game with an upper body injury while Andrei Svechnikov is still working back from a torn ACL sustained last March. But there aren't any asterisks in the standings and the Kraken needed a win to get their season moving in positive direction.
"We knew (the offense was coming)," Jared McCann said. "We just had to stick with it. We weren't going to get down on each other. We're going to pick each other up and be positive."
Yanni Gourde tipped home an André Burakovsky shot attempt just over seven minutes into the game to give the Kraken the 1-0 lead. The shot was wide of the net, but Gourde managed to angle the shot into the net for the early advantage.
However, it would last just 19 seconds before the Hurricanes answered.
Jaccob Slavin's shot from the left circle quickly deflected off the left pad of Daccord and into the skates of Jesper Fast, which redirected the puck into the Kraken net to bring the game level at 1-1.
The Kraken then made the most of special teams opportunities to gain control of the game. Jaden Schwartz corralled a deflected Dunn shot in front of the net and slipped the puck under the left pad of Raanta for a power play goal to give Seattle a 2-1 lead. Then with Adam Larsson in the penalty box for a holding penalty, Seattle found a short-handed goal to extend their lead.
Carolina tried to catch the Kraken in a line change after a clearance attempt hit a linesman in the neutral zone. However, Seattle reset quickly and sprung a break chance the other way. Dunn's shot kicked directly to Pierre-Édouard Bellemare off Raanta's left pad as he hammered in the rebound for a 3-1 lead.
Joey Daccord was really strong in net for two periods for Seattle before Carolina managed to find a few goals in the final period. One of his biggest saves of the night came with four seconds left in the first period as Martin Nečas had a backhanded chance from Daccord's right that he was able to stop with the left pad to keep the two-goal advantage at the break.
"Joey was incredible tonight he made a lot of big saves to keep us in it and keep the momentum our way," Dunn said.
Daccord finished with 33 saves on 37 shots from Carolina.
Dunn then notched his first of the season on the power play early in the second period. The Hurricanes defense collapsed briefly as Burakovsky gained the offensive zone and Dunn was left open in the middle of the ice. His half slap shot beat the glove of Raanta to give Seattle a 4-1 lead and end Raanta's night in net.
Pyotr Kochetkov finished the game in net for Carolina.
The rest of the second period was fairly quiet before the game ramped up once again. Seth Jarvis was left unmarked and caught Daccord on the wrong side of the net for a goal that cut Seattle's lead to 4-2 just 1:08 into the third period. Less than five minutes later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi caught Daccord looking the wrong way and snuck a puck past the near post to cut the Kraken lead to just one.
But the Kraken had a response to put the game away. Larsson and Oliver Bjorkstrand combined to win a puck battle behind the Carolina net as Bjorkstrand found McCann crashing toward the net. McCann snapped a shot by Kochetkov to extend Seattle's lead to 5-3.
Just 21 seconds later, rookie Tye Kartye drove to the net and finished a pass from Matty Beniers for the first regular season goal of his career. Kartye scored three goals in the playoffs for Seattle last year, but did not appear in a regular season game until last week.
Kartye was back playing alongside Beniers and Jordan Eberle for his goal as Jaden Schwartz missed the third period due to an injury. Kartye was paired with that duo for most of his playoff time last year.
"It feels really good and obviously, that we won, too, and we got off the schneid a little bit there. It feels really good," Kartye said.
Hakstol was pleased that his team was able to successfully respond to the Carolina rally.
"Actually I really liked that test for our group because we passed that test," Hakstol said. "We were able to push back. From there we didn't give up very much. We pushed back. We had some great shifts, some great sequences and momentum shifts, and then we're able to re-extend that lead. Those are the things that I like the most out of tonight's game for our hockey team."
Bjorkstrand added an empty net goal with 3:09 left to play for Seattle's final goal as he joined Dunn with a goal and two assists on the night.