SUNRISE, Fla. – What looked to be a near-certain Kraken defeat turned in stunning fashion with under six minutes to play thanks to the team’s three top goal scorers.
Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle and Bobby McMann turned a three-goal deficit with 5:43 to go in regulation into a tie game in front of a stunned crowd at Amerant Bank Arena. Instead, they secured a key point in what became a 5-4 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers that at least keeps the Kraken on the periphery of their playoff chase.
Vinnie Hinostroza scored for Florida in the shootout while the Kraken were blanked on all three tries, taking the loss when McMann and Eberle, who’d both scored on breakaways to tie the game, couldn’t do the same against Sergei Bobrovsky in the final shootout stages.
The Kraken looked headed to certain defeat, which would have proved devastating to their Western Conference playoff chances after they’d entered the night trailing Nashville by four points for the final wild card spot with the Preds leading big against San Jose.
A shakeup of forward lines heading into this contest underscored how seriously the Kraken are taking these playoff-like games as they try to remain alive in the Western Conference playoff hunt.
They opted to go with only 11 forwards and an extra defenseman Tuesday night, making fourth line emergency winger Jani Nyman a healthy scratch rather than keep carrying his limited minutes in unproductive fashion. But the players they did deploy again struggled to generate offense most of the night in what was the 1,000thcareer game for Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson and the 2,000th coached by Panthers bench boss Paul Maurice.
Nolan Foote opened the scoring on a breakaway against Joey Daccord just 2 ½ minutes into the second period, his first NHL marker in more than two years. Eetu Luostarinen then doubled that margin five minutes into the second period when Hinostroza banked a backhand shot in off his knee after a scramble in the slot.
Just two minutes after that, Carter Verheghe banked one in off Daccord from the side of the net to put the home side up by three. Ryker Evans then finally got one for the Kraken with a shot that caromed off the end boards, hit Panthers goalie Bobrovsky in the skate and rolled over the goal line.
But Florida soon restored the advantage when Shane Wright tried to break up a pass with under eight minutes to go and had it deflect on by Daccord.
That looked to be it for the Kraken until Beniers got a puck in close, pulled a move on Bobrovsky and then scored while falling to the ice with under six minutes to go.
That got the Kraken close, but what really turned the tide was Eberle getting in all alone moments later and scoring his 23rd of the season to make it a one-goal game.
Then, on the ensuing shift, McMann got in alone on almost a carbon copy of Eberle’s goal and scored his team-leading 24th goal 12 seconds later to tie the game and send the home fans into a state of shock.
The Panthers were without several of the regulars that helped them to a second straight Stanley Cup title last season, missing Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marcharnd, San Reinhart and a host of others, but somehow limited the Kraken to only 13 shots the opening two periods.
Panthers goalie Bobrovsky wasn’t tested much in an opening period in which the Kraken held a 2-1 lead in shots at the 15-minute mark and ended with the teams deadlocked 4-4 at a scoreless intermission. The biggest save of the period came from Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen, who dove across the goal mouth to stop a certain goal heading into a deserted side of the net on an early Florida power play.
But then came the second period, when defenseman Jamie Oleksiak pressed in deep and tried to rim a pass along the boards to Beniers.
The puck took a hop and missed Beniers and Noah Gregor headmanned it to Foote for the breakaway. Foote never gained full control of the on-edge puck but still made a couple of deke moves and tucked it under Daccord for the game’s opening goal.
Bobrovsky came up big after that, making a nice kick stop off Brandon Montour from a dangerous spot in the right faceoff circle.
