Final Buzzer: Heartbreaker

The third period started here at Climate Pledge Arena with a 3-3 score and a trio of Pacific Division contenders already booking big wins Thursday night. For 38 seconds of play, it looked like the Kraken might join the winner's circle, but instead fell late to Ottawa, looking to squeeze into the eight Eastern Conference teams qualifying for the postseason.
Edmonton beat league-leader Boston after going down 2-0 after 20 minutes. It's one of only three home regulation losses for Boston and snapped the Bruins' 10-game winning streak. Division leader Vegas (beating Tampa Bay in OT) and Los Angeles (downing Colorado) also earned two standings points and are tied at 86 points each.

Some consolation as Kraken fans, coaches, and players alike process this tough loss: Seattle is still third in the division, tied with Edmonton at 80 standings points but with a higher win percentage and a game in hand to add one or two points. Plus, 10th-ranked Nashville lost to Arizona, keeping the Predators at 69 points to 80 for the Kraken. Calgary, the ninth-ranked squad, has 71 points. The Kraken are nine points to the upside of the eighth and final playoff spot.
The three other divisional wins Thursday didn't translate to a must-win situation for the division title or postseason qualification - there are 17 games remaining for the Seattle good guys - but let's agree Kraken fans peeking at the NHL scores and feeling urgency as the final regulation period unfolded. When early-third period Vince Dunn scored his 12th goal of the season on Yanni Gourde's second assist of the game, everyone was cheering and exhaling.

Veteran Giroux Dooms the 'W'

Just 38 seconds after the Dunn goal, 35-year-old veteran Claude Giroux fashioned a turnaround wrist shot past Philipp Grubauer to knot the game and some 17,000 stomachs inside the Kraken's world-class house. Grubauer held his net for most of the remaining third period, making memorable saves on Ottawa forwards Mathieu Joseph and Drake Batherson to keep it close.
But Giroux showed his hockey IQ with two-and-a-half minutes left in this hand-wringer. He kept the puck in the Kraken zone despite being outnumbered three to one. Ottawa players jumped on the ice for fresh shifts. The puck ended up on the stick of Ottawa's Alex DeBrincat, who moved the puck net-front. Will Borgen got his stick on it, but the puck slipped through Grubauer's leg pads to break a lot of hearts in the Kraken crowd.
For the Kraken's part in offensive near-misses, there were some last-minute SEA chances but the standout head-shaker was when Oliver Bjorkstand quick-released what looked like Goal No. 5 with 10:04 remaining, cleanly beating OTT rookie goalie Mads Sogaard but clanging off the crossbar instead of prompting pandemonium here.
It's a disappointing loss," said Dave Hakstol post-game. "We know that. Regardless of how the first 50-plus minutes goes, we're again in a position to earn that point [similar to the 6-5 late-goal loss to Boston on the last homestand]."
"In the third period, we weren't good enough on the wall and that cost us on our breakouts a couple of times, both on our puck play and our wall play. You've got a couple of hours to process it, and you've got to move on."
When asked how he and his teammates will process the heartbreak of a loss, defenseman Vince Dunn (a goal and assist to stretch his point streak to eight games) was both clearly disappointed and matter-of-fact.
"I think maybe just throw this one behind us," said Dunn, "There was a lot of good and we know where it wasn't so pretty. We have a big game on Saturday [home against Central Division leader Dallas, which beat Buffalo 10-4 Thursday]. "We're getting everyone's best game whether they're out of the race or not. Guys have a lot to show and prove right now. We can't take anyone lightly and we need to make this building a very hard place to play."

McCann 'Killing' It

Jared McCann was inserted into the penalty-kill unit at the first of the calendar year, joining a stellar group that includes Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, and Alexander Wennberg up front. Gaining the coaching staff's trust as a defensive forward in a shorthanded situation was another sign of growth in McCann's overall game. He has clearly delivered with shot blocks, takeaways, and zone clears on a PK unit that had snuffed 26 of the last 27 opposing power plays.
Of course, McCann's elite shot comes in, well, "short-handy" at times too. When key penalty-killer Jamie Oleksiak was whistled off for interference at 10:25 of the opening frame, McCann took off when the puck rimmed around the Kraken zone. Yanni Gourde joined the break and Ottawa skaters couldn't keep up. McCann fired on 6-foot-7, 200-pound rookie goalie Mads Sogaard, who made the stop but couldn't control the rebound which in rapid fashion caromed off an OTT defender trailing the play, redirecting the puck past Sogaard. The goal and some pivotal saves by Philipp Grubauer advanced Seattle to the first intermission with the game back in sight.

(Goal) Margin Call

After killing off a leftover first-period penalty, the Kraken quickly embarked on whittling Ottawa's two-goal lead. Vince Dunn extended his points streak to eight games when he took a pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand and sent the puck net-front, where Jaden Schwartz was muscling for position. Schwartz deflected the shot for his fourth goal in the last eight games and 16th of the season. It's just another of many instances of Schwartz leading by example. Dunn's shot was more lob than liner, but the veteran forward and Stanley Cup winner showed why he was a key scorer (12 goals) in the St. Louis title run in 2019. By the way, Dunn was on that team too, and has already topped his career-high for points in a season that he set with the Blues in 2018-19.

Getting Back To Even

Kraken alternate captain Yanni Gourde told ROOT SPORTS' Piper Shaw at first intermission that when Dave Hakstol called a timeout after the third Ottawa goal just eight-and-a-half minutes into the game, the message was simple: "Our game was not there, we gotta reset, let's go."
The reset was indeed accomplished by 8:11 of the second period (nearly 20 minutes of play later) when Daniel Sprong rejoined the action from the penalty box after the third OTT power play in the first 28 minutes (and then one more late second period). Penalty-killer extraordinaire Yanni Gourde found Sprong on the fly. The fourth-line wing fired a shot on net, which Ottawa goaltender Mads Sogaard stopped but left in the crease for Jared McCann to knock in for his second goal of the night and 33rd of the season.

'Special' for Kraken Penalty Killers

The Kraken survived and even thrived facing five Ottawa power plays on the night, making it 31 "kills" on the last 32 opposing power plays. All the more impressive is Ottawa's powerplay is ranked sixth overall in the NHL.

Chasing the Game

Ottawa decisively controlled the game's pace and scoreboard in the first nine minutes of Thursday's matchup with an Eastern Conference visitor looking to stay in the playoff hunt. Jakob Chychrun, Ottawa's big-chip acquisition at the trade deadline, scored a bit more than four minutes into the contest. It's Chychrun's second goal in four games since joining the Senators - after not playing for a couple of weeks as the Arizona Coyotes fielded offers for the standout defenseman. Ottawa's German-born star, Tim Stutzle, picked up his 36th and 37th assists to go with 31 goals for 68 points in 60 games. Then Ottawa scored twice in the third with rookie Shane Pinto notching one of the goals. Pinto has 17 goals, second only to Matty Beniers' 19 among all NHL rookies.