Final Buzzer: Another Game, Another Win

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Powered by a three-goal first period, the Kraken defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 7-4 Monday night. Five different Seattle skaters put the puck in the net (Jared McCann was kind enough to do it twice), and 12 players earned points in the victory. It was the second win in as many games for the Kraken, who have now also won four of their last five matchups.

"It's a big vote of confidence for a lot of guys and shows our depth scoring," Mason Appleton said. "You (have) an expansion team, you got a lot of similar players on the team like that. And you know, we got 12 guys that could put the puck in the back room on different nights. So yeah, we're happy with our offensive production."
After Carson Soucy, Brandon Tanev, and McCann established the first period lead, the Kraken were able to hold strong against a Sabres team that surged in the second. Buffalo did score twice in the middle frame, including one power-play goal by Jeff Skinner that ended the Kraken's four game streak of not allowing any scores while playing a man down. But the second saw the Kraken score some more, too. McCann added his second of the game and Appleton added a goal to maintain the three-goal lead for the visitors. Jaden Schwartz added a sixth Seattle score, but Buffalo would keep it interesting. Skinner got on the board one more time in the third, and Dylan Cozens added a fourth tally for the home team with 1:33 to play, but Seattle held strong and a second score from Appleton sealed the victory for the Kraken.

Let's look at the takeaways from the win.

Short but Strong Handed

Going into this game, the Kraken had yet to score a shorthanded goal. But once the team got one, they came in bunches. Of the three first period goals, two came while on the penalty kill. First up, just 16 seconds after Haydn Fleury's tripping penalty, Yanni Gourde jumped on the forecheck and outworked Rasmus Dahlin to feed Soucy in the slot. Soucy's shot beat Dustin Tokarski high for the first shorthanded goal in Seattle's history. Gourde's assist was also the 200th point of his NHL career.

Just under nine minutes later, the Kraken found themselves back on the penalty kill, but again, the team created opportunity. Tanev's characteristically tenacious play resulted in a takeaway from Dahlin 26 seconds into special teams play. The Seattle forward rushed down the ice, and while his first shot was stopped, Tanev jumped on the rebound and finished off a tight-angle shot for the 2-0 lead for Seattle.

The first priority on any penalty kill is defensive play, of course, but head coach Dave Hakstol also has given his team the green light to play more aggressively (and offensively) when they see the opportunity exists.
"Your overall mindset is to try to do your job and kill the penalty," Tanev said. "(We had) opportunity to take a puck to the net and so you try to (do that) and create a scoring chance and I was fortunate enough to get a great balance and have the puck go in the net."

The McCann-Do Attitude

McCann has been a
versatile and important player for the Kraken
this season and that performance continued in Buffalo. McCann scored the third and fourth goals of the game for Seattle. And boy was that second goal a beauty. The line of Morgan Geekie, Tanev and McCann has found some real chemistry and it shone through on this score. After Tanev efforted to get possession in the offensive zone, Geekie showed some masterful passing to feed McCann in the low slot.

McCann now has 12 points in his last eight games (7 goals, 5 assists).

A Night of Firsts

A shorthanded goal wasn't the only thing that happened for Seattle tonight. Appleton scored his first (and second) goal as a Kraken player. His first ultimately became the game winner. It was a gritty goal built on Appleton's ability to get into the dirty areas and jump on the rebound of a shot from the top of the zone.

Speaking of that point shot, it came off the stick of Will Borgen. When Appleton scored, that shot became an assist and the first NHL point of the defenseman's career. If that wasn't enough firsts for you, Borgen's first point came against the only other NHL team he had played for. The Sabres drafted Borgen 92nd overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
"It was nice," Borgen said succinctly, but the blue liner did admit to having "a little bit" of money on the board (this is when players offer up pre-game incentives within the team ahead of games that are important to them).

Noteables and Quotables

The Game by the Numbers