Never Two Much in Buffalo

BUFFALO, NY - After a first period that saw the Kraken outshot 15-7, Brandon Montour spoke with Kraken Hockey Network’s Piper Shaw.

“Our energy level could be better,” Montour said. “We’re getting away from our game plan. We have to do what they are doing – throwing pucks and getting rebounds…play that the same way on their side. We will be better.”

And that’s exactly what the Kraken did. Battling through penalty kills, Seattle outshot the Sabres 14-9 and reset the game to evens with two goals of their own.

That was the confidence boost Seattle needed. They burst into the third period with three goals in 2:18 to set the score at 5-2 and added an empty netter to earn a 6-2 final.

The Kraken earned a league-leading sixth multi-goal comeback and eleventh overall. They remain undefeated at KeyBank Arena and the three-game regulation losing streak was officially over.

“(Bylsma) obviously made it pretty clear that (our first period) wasn't good enough, which I think everybody could agree with,” Oliver Bjorkstrand said. “We had to find another step in our game. I think we responded well. And we have to play hockey like that more often. So tomorrow, we have to find a way to start that way…get a lead and build off of that instead of coming from behind.”

Two Down

The Sabres got on the board first. They’ve been good at scoring first in games and they did it for the twenty-sixth time this season against the Kraken off a weird bounce.

Just over 2:30 into the game, Peyton Krebs got the puck to Sam Lafferty at the top of the right flank and he sank into the faceoff circle before firing what looked to be on the path for a bank pass off the back boards. But as Vince Dunn efforted to stop the pass, the puck re-directed off the Kraken defender’s stick and a flash screen by JJ Peterka took away Joey Daccord’s sight lines allowing Buffalo to establish a 1-0 lead.

When Buffalo got their first power play of the game, less than a minute in, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin moved the puck around his power play’s umbrella before sending it to Jack Quinn on the left flank. A one-timer put the puck in the net for the second Buffalo score. It was the third goal in two games for Quinn and the first power play goal against Seattle has allowed this month.

Two-two Fights Back

But as Montour was looking for his team to get tenacious, Oliver Bjorkstrand showed spark in his game.

With the Kraken working to respond, Bjorkstrand laid a hit on Dennis Gilbert along the boards. Play continued north, but Gilbert challenged the 2024 All-Star to a fight, and Bjorkstrand accepted. It was the third fight of the Dane’s NHL career, and it ended up drawing an extra roughing penalty by Gilbert. They would go on to deny four more Sabres power play bids.

“Good for him staying in there,” Chander Stephenson said. I think the guy he fought is known for fighting. (Bjorkstrand) did well and gave us a little bit of juice. Good for him.”

Two Responses

The second period hasn’t always been kind to the Buffalo Sabres. They own a minus-12 goal differential in the middle frame and the Kraken took advantage and responded.

The Kraken first got on the scoreboard just under 13 minutes in. Montour drove into the attack zone and then fought through a board battle as his team made a line change. The puck eventually shot out to Chander Stephenson in the left circle, who immediately sent a lateral pass to a pinching Ryker Evans. The defender’s quick shot had the puck on and off his stick and past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to make it 2-1.

But Seattle wasn’t done. With under a minute to play, Josh Mahura shot the puck from the point. He had support net front from both Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky. As Bjorkstrand tied up Dahlin, Burakovsky jumped on the rebound, pulled the puck across his body and then lifted it into the net off his backhand to make it 2-2.

Burakovsky was the player Bylsma mentioned when asked who stood out in the game.

“(He made a) lot of strong plays,” Bylsma said. “You see him skating up the ice. He's a dangerous player. (He made) a lot of good puck plays as well, and he doesn't get three assists, but he could very well.”

Two-Two Lights the Lamp

Oliver Bjorkstrand wasn’t done making an impact. Three minutes into the third period, against a team that has the second most blown leads in the NHL (14), the Maestro broke the stalemate.

Once again, parked net front, after Burakovsky shot towards the net, Bjorkstrand jumped on the rebound (remember what Montour said?) and got the puck moving in a way that it eventually trickled through Luukkonen.

Two More

The Kraken weren’t done. 38 seconds later, Kaapo Kakko got in on the action, firing from the right circle to make it 4-2. And then, 1:40 later, on the power play, Kakko struck again after Jared McCann sent the puck to him in the slot. This was the first multi-goal game for 84 since April 13, 2022, and with his two scores along with Bjorkstrands, the Kraken got three goals in 2:18, marking the 11^th and 12^th OWN-OWN response goals for Seattle this season.

(Kakko) has some different attributes that a lot of us don't have,” Bylsma said. “It’s great to see how he can skate and get up the ice, and he's a big body in and around the net. He has a has a great shot as well as a goal scorer’s shot ability. His rush goal is a little different than the net front kind of quick play on the power play…. But (Kakko’s) just adding that presence, adding that ability, the big body and the ability to hold on to pucks. It has made that line and made our team all that much better.”

Before the game was done, Brandon Tanev added an empty net score to set the score at 6-2. It was a remarkable comeback that preserves the opportunity to win the first three-game segment of the road trip. In support of the skaters in front of him, Daccord stopped 34 of 36 pucks fired at him in the game.

“It’s playoff hockey for us right now; we're trying to win as many games, collect as many points as we can,” Stephenson said. “It doesn't really matter who we're playing. We’re just trying to keep distractions away and just trying to focus on us.”

By The Numbers

• Bjorkstrand and Kakko scored 38 seconds apart, marking the fifth time this season the Kraken have tallied twice in under 40 seconds. The only other teams to do so as many times are Vegas (6), Washington (5), Boston (5), Vancouver (5), Buffalo (5) and Carolina (5).

• Kakko scored twice in a span of 1:40 and marked the fastest two goals by a player in Kraken history. Jaden Schwartz (2:04 on Feb. 12, 2023) previously held the record.

• The Kraken matched their franchise mark for most consecutive goals in a single game (6), following Nov. 22, 2023 and April 3, 2023.

• Eleven different players earned at least a point and four had multi-point games (Stephenson, McCann, Mahura, Kakko).

• The line of Schwartz, Matty Beniers, and Kakko was the best in terms of tilting the ice with 57.4-percent of all shot quality when they were on the ice in their 11:15 of play.

• Seattle had 16 high-danger scoring chances while allowing only ten.

Here’s a look at our data-driven Instant Analysis from Sportlogiq (Click HERE for how to read this graphic):