Final Buzzer: Kraken Thriller

CALGARY - What a night for the Kraken here in Alberta. After Alberta-native Carson Soucy scored his first goal of the season, the 5-2 Flames stormed back on a night when the town was expecting snow to make it 2-1 mid-second period. Morgan Geekie tied it up before second intermission.
Calgary scored two goals in 17 seconds in the first two minutes of the third period. Then magic happened. The Kraken stormed back with three goals of their own to win a thriller. Joey Daccord, the team's No. 3 goalie earned his first victory with the Kraken with several huge stops in the final minutes to seal the win.

Standing Tall

This week's road trip started with a tall order: Fly into Calgary to face a 5-2 home team that is reworked with star centers Jonathan Huberdeau and Stanley Cup winner Nazem Kadri plus promising stalwart defenseman MacKenzie Weegar. Oh, and get a road win with both of your regular goaltenders not with the team.
For the first two periods, it appeared Seattle was up to the task, scoring first on defenseman Carson Soucy's first goal of the year, then weathering two Flames goals when Morgan Geekie tallied the equalizer later second period.

But the shots-on-goal count after two periods proved a harbinger of how this game turned early third period. After the Kraken outshot Calgary 10-7, the host squad fired 20 shots on net in the second period, finishing with a 27-18 advantage. The final SOG margin for the night was 40-26 in favor of the defeated home team. Daccord was a difference-maker, facing 10 Grade-A saves.
"Over the last couple games, we've found timely saves," said Dave Hakstol post-game "If you look back to the Pittsburgh game, and certainly tonight from Joey, the job he did. Not just the save on a [late] two-on-one, on the power play that he made in the third.
"But you can go back to the start of the game [four minutes left first-period] and save on [Dillion] Dube. We hadn't given up much at all through the first period but we give up that point-blank opportunity and Joey was there to make that stop."

Momentary Lapse

In the first two minutes of the third period, Calgary did something a bit too familiar to Kraken fans. The Flames scored two goals in 17 seconds to go up 4-2. From there, Seattle was chasing the game.
And they chased valiantly ­- and successfully. With 11:29 remaining and the Kraken on a power play, Alex Wennberg at net-front flicked a pass over to a wide-open Daniel Sprong. The fourth-line winger with an elite shot that merits power play time, quick released the puck past Calgary goalie Dan Vladar. The Kraken had closed it to 4-3.

When Calgary went on a power play with nine minutes remaining, the inevitable happened: the way-overdue Yanni Gourde scored his first goal of the season. Of course, he did so shorthanded to tie this game at 4-4. His relentless forechecking paid off when he poked a puck away from the Flames' aforementioned big-time free agent signee and took the puck on a short breakaway. He confidently rapped a shot Vladar couldn't even move in response. Kadri skated away with his head down.

Gourde's goal came on the fourth penalty kill of the night for the Kraken. They snuffed all four and scored a "shorty themselves."
"Our PK was awesome all night guys, blocking shots, making my life easy," said Daccord, who contributed key saves on the PK as the cliched by true axiom that the best penalty killer needs to be the goalie. "Then to get a short-handed goal from Gourdo was huge ... I'm just happy to be part of it."
"Last year was last year," said Gourde when asked about the chatter and determination on the Kraken bench with the team suddenly down by two goals with 18 minutes left. "This year we have something in this group. We know we can rally back. We know we have the skills to do it.
"It's a matter of putting one shift together and another shift and then the next line is up. You just feel the ice a little bit and then once they feel that pressure, they start turning the puck over. You feel good about your game and you can make plays."

Speaking of Making Plays...

Exactly two minutes later, the Kraken chase became a run-past when a 3-on-1 break created by more Kraken forechecking featured Jordan Eberle taking the puck into the Flames offensive zone with Adam Larsson (!) in the middle and Matty Beniers waiting on the right wing. Eberle waited for the right moment, then passed to Beniers deep, near the goal. The 19-year-old, who will turn 20 later this week, one-timed what is becoming a trademark goal: Lifting a puck up and over the scrambling goaler from a right-side bad angle. He practices the shot every practice and is any Kraken fan surprised?

"I was fired up," said Beniers. "I was like smiling and skating on the ice because, he's [Eberle] dangerous with the puck, whatever he's gonna do. He ended up making a perfect play and gave me a wide open look on the backside."

Geekie-ing Out

Young center Morgan Geekie scored his third goal in the last four games and added a highlight-reel assist in the fifth game back. As future Hall of Famer John Forslund called on the broadcast, Geekie playing like a guy who wants to stay in the lineup.
Geekie's goal tied matters at two goals apiece 13 minutes into the second period after the Flames had neutralized a 1-0 Seattle lead after 20 minutes with a pair of goals in the middle period. Daniel Sprong - another forward playing like he wants to stay in the lineup - started a breakout from the defensive zone that subsequently led to defenseman Jamie Oleksiak moving up ice with the puck.

Oleksiak, who scored earlier, held Calgary goalie Vladar's attention enough that when the D-man passed, Geekie shot right side and Vladar couldn't move over fast enough