Kraken Secure Late Point In OT Loss

TAMPA, Florida – Kraken centerman Matty Beniers, fresh off his 200^thcareer point, suggested there was nothing mysterious about his team reversing this game’s momentum and nearly snagging a fourth straight victory on a nearly-done road trip.

Beniers had scored with just over four minutes to go in regulation, giving the Kraken their second tying goal of Thursday night’s final period after spending much of the game’s opening half looking mired in quicksand. But unlike prior games on this trip when they’d reversed momentum with quicker legs, they nonetheless took a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning when Victor Hedman split two defenders and beat a Philipp Grubauer poke check attempt with a backhand tap for the game winner.

Afterwards, Beniers described how the Kraken, now 3-0-1 on a trip that ends Saturday against Florida, were able to push back and at least steal a point in a game that seemed destined to head south on them in a hurry.

“They put us back on our heels a little bit and I don’t think that’s when we play our best hockey,” Beniers said. “I think the biggest change was just on our toes again. We started forcing them to make plays without a lot of time. We were in their face and we started getting the pucks in on them faster and more connected.”

And it finally paid off early in the third as Jared McCann took a net front pass from Jordan Eberle and tied things up on the powerplay. They nearly went ahead midway through the frame when Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy batted a puck out of midair to keep it out of his net and then moments later Ilya Mikheyev put Tampa Bay back in front on a goalmouth scramble.

But the Kraken never let up, pouring it on enough for Beniers to position himself net front and redirect a Vince Dunn wrist shot with 4:19 to go in regulation. 

“I really liked our bench, our attitude, guys picking each other up,” Beniers said. “So, when they scored that (Mikheyev) goal, I don’t think any guy flinched. I think it was, ‘All right, let’s get back to work.’”

Ryan Winterton also scored for the Kraken to open the game, but Brandon Hagel erased that with an equalizer late in the first period and then a go-ahead marker early in the second as the Kraken slowed noticeably. Hagel has had the Kraken’s number going on five-plus seasons now with the Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks prior, compiling nine goals and 10 assists against them in 10 career games. He also leads the Lightning with six goals on the season.

At one point, between Winterton’s goal and Hagel’s second of the game, the Lightning outshot the Kraken 17-6 that span. It didn’t help that defenseman Brandon Montour left the game in the second period with a lower body injury after appearing to get shaken up in the opening frame.

But Grubauer, as he did in prior wins over Detroit and Philadelphia on this trip, kept the Kraken close as the Lightning mounted their intense offensive barrage. The Kraken finally found their skating legs – with some verbal urging from head coach Lane Lambert – about midway through and then, with help from a string of power play chances, regained some momentum.

“Coach called us in and he said we’ve got to get faster, we’ve got to get more connected,” Beniers said. “And that’s what we tried to do. And I think we had a lot more success when we did that.”

McCann’s power play goal in the third, making it 2-2, gave him his team-leading eighth point alongside Chandler Stephenson, who drew a secondary assist on the play. Stephenson has now notched at least a point in a career high six consecutive road games.

And like Beniers, McCann agreed the change in fortunes hinged directly on the team starting to skate. Winterton’s opening goal five minutes in epitomized the Kraken’s work ethic throughout this trip, with Freddy Gaudreau forechecking behind the net, knocking the puck from Emil Lilleberg and poking it out front to Winterton to backhand into an open net with a surprised Vasilevskiy out of position.

But the Kraken didn’t follow through.

“I feel like we let off the gas early,” McCann said. “They were coming, they were spreading us out in the D-zone and they were making plays through us. That’s not like us. We’ve got to compete at all times.”

McCann said it was important the Kraken rallied to get a point against a formidable opponent now 5-2-0 on their season. The 5-2-1 Kraken had endured similar lulls the first three games of this trip, in the opening period against Detroit and in the third when beating Washington and Philadelphia. 

But they rallied all three times and did it again here.

“It shows the character we have in this room,” McCann said. “Obviously, our competitiveness comes out when we get down.”

Kraken coach Lambert was pleased his team rallied yet again, but would have preferred it to not have taken half a game for that competitiveness to show.

“We weren’t moving our feet and we weren’t making quick enough plays,” Lambert said. “So, when we don’t do that, we look very average. When we do it, we look above average.”

Lambert seemed willing to cut his team some slack, noting it was the fourth game of a long trip and “a little bit of fatigue” looked to have set in.

“That’s a good point for us to get,” he said. “Certainly being down like that in the third period.”

And the way in which the Kraken have gotten contributions throughout the roster has been encouraging. 

Winterton became the 10^th Kraken player to score at least two goals this season and Beniers the 11th, putting them ahead of Colorado for the most in the league after both teams entered the night with nine apiece. 

For Beniers, the way they’ve scored and secured points in games that haven’t gone perfectly bodes well once some things get cleaned up.

“We always talk about bending and not breaking,” Beniers said. “So, being able to withstand those and then give a pushback yourself, as a team that’s a great sign.”