CALGARY, Alberta – Getting into a test of power plays wasn’t exactly the game plan the Kraken had in mind against an opponent sporting one of the NHL’s hottest man-advantages these days.
While the Kraken have seen their own power play unit vault well into the league’s upper half, the surging Calgary Flames have an even better one and converted their only two opportunities here. Ultimately, that proved the difference in a 6-2 loss Friday night in which Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer wasn’t at his best and got pulled midway through.
Grubauer allowed four goals on 14 shots, three of them in a second period flurry that saw Matvei Gridin fire in the second Flames power play goal off the skate of Ryker Evans to break open a tight game. Flames points leaders Joel Farabee then capped a three-point night by putting a puck between Grubauer’s pads to send the goalie to the bench.
Mackie Samoskevich made it a closer 4-2 game with his sixth of the season, also on the power play, right before the second period ended. But Matt Coronato then picked the short side on newly inserted Joey Daccord from the high slot just 39 seconds into the final frame to restore the three-goal cushion.
Ryan Strome capped things off on a net front pass from Gridin with under two minutes to play.
Freddy Gaudreau had scored his team-leading seventh goal – equaling his total from all of last season – to draw the Kraken even in the opening frame after Morgan Frost had scored on the power play just 2:42 in.
Grubauer had been 5-0-1 his last six starts but took his first regulation defeat since a 3-1 loss in Edmonton the team’s second game of the season. These teams meet again Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena, then the Kraken, now 8-5-1, play the New York Rangers at home ahead of flying to Finland for a pair of matchups against Carolina.
Calgary has now won five of its last six games after dropping five straight to begin the season, including a pair of 6-1 defeats to the Kraken. But it’s a different Flames team these days, spurred on by a power play that entered as the league’s fifth best with a 29% efficiency rate.
The Flames have now scored 11 of their 32 goals overall via the man advantage.
As for the Kraken, their struggling penalty kill entered tied for 26th overall with Vegas at 67.6% and got put to the test almost immediately when 6-foot-9 Curtis Douglas took an extra roughing penalty during a first period fight with Adam Klapka. Calgary went to work and Frost got down low in the right faceoff circle before putting a shot past Grubauer to the short side on the first Flames shot of the game.
The Kraken still were dominant through much of the period at even strength. They looked poised to take control after Gaudreau evened things up at the 11:34 mark, taking a Samoskevich pass at the net front and eventually slotting home his own rebound.
But then three second period goals allowed by Grubauer did the Kraken in. It began with a turnover deep in the Kraken end that saw Aydar Suniev left all alone in front to one-time a Frost pass behind Grubauer for a goal that put Calgary ahead to stay.
