Yanni Gourde scores twice, Kraken roll to 6-2 win over Flyers
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - FEBRUARY 16:Yanni Gourde #37 of the Seattle Kraken tips the puck beyond Carter Hart #79 of the Philadelphia Flyers to score a goal during the first period of a game at Climate Pledge Arena on February 16, 2023 in Seattle, Washin
SEATTLE - Yanni Gourde scored a pair of goals and added an assist as the Seattle Kraken dominated a scattered Philadelphia Flyers team in a 6-2 victory on Thursday night.
Matty Beniers snapped a 10-game scoring drought and Jared McCann added a short-handed goal for his team-leading 26th of the season.
"It's good to get some confidence," said Gourde, who hadn't scored a goal in his last 14 games. "It's good to shoot the puck and get the puck going and it's always good to to score a few goals going forward. But at the same time, don't change the way you play. Just play hard, play into your game and good things happen usually."
It was a strong performance across the board for a Kraken team that had a lackluster road trip coming out of the All-Star break. Seattle went 1-3-1 in fives away on the road and fell out of the lead in the Pacific Division. However, they dominated play in the first quarter on Thursday night as they out-shot the Flyers by a 12-1 margin in the opening frame, which is a new franchise record for fewest shots allowed in a period.
"We were on our toes, we played quick, we got the puck going north, we got in behind them," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Other than the first, you know, 3-4 minutes of the second period we didn't allow them to gain a whole lot of momentum."
It didn't seem like it would be a great start for Seattle. Ryan Donato was called for a hooking penalty less than three minutes into the game that put the Kraken immediately on the penalty kill. But the Kraken found a way to flip the mistake into an early lead.
After blocking a shot earlier in the penalty kill, McCann picked the puck off the stick of Kevin Hayes and beat Hart with a snipe over the glove side for a short-handed goal.
Gourde's first of the night came on a tipped shot in front of the net on a point shot from Justin Schultz that increased the advantage to 2-0 before the break.
That's usually where goals are scored," Gourde said. "There's a handful that are going to be shot from a distance where there's a great play, but majority of the goals are going to be rebounds, tips, and that's what our unit should be more like, just get those dirty goals."
Philadelphia tried to push back early in the second period. Five of the first six shots on net in the frame belonged to the Flyers as they found some grit to even out the quality of play.
But a hooking penalty on Scott Laughton blunted the push by the Flyers as Seattle capitalized on the power play. Schultz scored on a slap shot from atop the right circle to make it a 3-0 game.
"Probably the biggest goal of the hockey game in my mind was Schultz's, the power play goal," Hakstol said. "They came out with good energy. You knew there was going to be a response after the first period. They had a response and that power play goal, it settled things down for us and it pushed the momentum back in our favor into the second period.""
Oliver Bjorkstrand then sprung free on a breakaway off a backhand feed from Gourde that beat Hart glove side again to make it a 4-0 game. Flyers coach John Tortorella pulled the former Everett Silvertips standout after the fourth goal and gave way to Samuel Ersson in net for the rest of the night.
The Seattle power play came through for a second time on the night as Gourde beat Ersson off a pass from Jaden Schwartz that made it a 5-0 game at the end of the second period.
"He does it all every game all year," McCann said of Gourde. "You know, there's a reason he's got back to back Stanley Cups and that's the guy we need to watch and need to learn from."
Travis Konecny scored 14 seconds into the third period to get the Flyers on the board as he deflected a Noah Cates shot by Philipp Grubauer.
Beniers bounced back from taking a big check behind Seattle's own net from Nicolas Deslauriers and quickly stole a puck from Konecny to spring a breakaway of his own. Beniers beat Ersson to make it a 6-1 game and score his first goal since January 14 at Chicago.
"Felt good. He's a big boy, so you definitely feel that one," Beniers said.
"I mean it feels good to help the team win and get some under your belt. You know, they come in waves and you're not always going to get them but when you do it's definitely nice."
Konceny added a second goal after a Seattle turnover led to a Cates shot that bounced back off the end boards for a chip in tally to make it a 6-2 final.
"Definitely it was probably our worst game of the year, I'd say," Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk said. "Didn't do a lot of good things at all and really left our goalies out to dry a few times."
The Kraken host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, who are coming off a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night as well.