Kraken center Berkly Catton wasted little time adapting to his new linemate Wednesday night and it came at just the right moment for his team.
The Shane Wright trade last Sunday meant Mackie Samoskevich joined Catton’s line against the Calgary Flames and they teamed up for the first Kraken goal in nearly three periods to tie things late in the middle frame. After a scoreless final period, Matty Beniers took a Brandon Montour breakaway pass in overtime and sealed a 2-1 win by putting a shot just by the skate of goalie Dustin Wolf.
The Kraken improved to 9-5-1 with a Saturday afternoon game to play against the New York Rangers at home ahead of flying to Finland for next week’s matchups with Carolina as part of the NHL Global Series.
The final meeting of the season between these teams saw the Flames, winners of seven of 10 including over the Kraken last Friday, again looking far better than the squad that dropped its opening five games of the season. Two of those early losses were 6-1 drubbings at the hands of the Kraken, but the final two games between these squads were much tougher as the Kraken took the season series.
Things got heated in the third period as Kraken goalie Joey Daccord made several key stops to keep the game tied. That’s when Flames forward Martin Pospisil, who has some history of hits on Kraken players in recent seasons, barreled into Daccord as he played a puck behind his net.
Kraken defenseman Montour immediately went after Pospisil, who tried to cover up as the defenseman began pummeling him. It would be Pospisil getting the extra two-minute minor for the initial roughing on Daccord but the Kraken failed to score on the ensuing power play.
Catton nearly scored the tying marker with five minutes to go in the first period, taking a pass at the blue line, beating defender Yan Kuznetsov to the net front and putting the puck between goalie Wolf’s pads in close. But a video challenge by the Flames showed Catton had indeed crossed the blue line a half-skate ahead of the puck so the goal was overturned on the offside call.
It would be nearly a full period later that Catton made up for the missing goal, taking a dish from Samoskevich in full stride, gliding into the right circle and snapping the puck past Wolf for his fifth goal of the season.
That goal evened things up after Yegor Sharangovich put the Flames ahead just under 13 minutes into the game by deflecting home a point shot by Zach Whitecloud. It would be the only goal of the game allowed by Daccord, who otherwise kept his team in a tightly fought contest.
Just before Catton’s tying second period strike, Daccord had made a stellar save while on his back off an Aydar Suniev chance in close. Daccord stopped 25 of 26 shots overall for the victory.
In the final period, Kraken newcomer Matthew Wood, acquired in the Wright trade, looked to have his first Kraken goal as he went backhand-to-forehand in close and had goalie Wolf beat up high. But the puck rang off the crossbar and the game remained tied.
Just moments later, leading Flames point-getter Joel Farabee was sent in partially alone down the right side and tried a wrist shot on Daccord that the goalie swatted away.
As for Catton, his goal extended his career high points streak to seven games. He’s only two goals and five assists shy of matching his totals from all of last season.
