Catton Scores Twice, Kraken Extend Streak To Nine

Kraken rookie Berkly Catton had done a fantastic job of keeping his innermost feelings about his goal drought a secret; until a puck finally went in for him Tuesday night and allowed some of the bottled-up emotions to pour out in a reaction of pure joy.

That joy was still evident postgame as Catton discussed not just the one goal, but an even prettier second one that happened for him late in the final period of a 7-4 win over the Boston Bruins. By then, the game had already been decided and both teams were just engaging in some back-and-forth stats padding, though with Catton and the offensively challenged Kraken in general, you can never truly take any goals for granted.

“Yeah, 100% it’s a lot of weight off the shoulders for sure,” Catton said after the Kraken extended their points streak to 8-0-1 with a fourth consecutive win. “But I’ve dreamed of that for a long time and so, it’s awesome.”

Catton likely didn’t dream it would take half a season to get his first goal, with the Kraken officially reaching the midway point in the schedule at 20-14-7 and in third place in the Pacific Division just one point out of the top spot. But it’s been only 28 games for Catton personally and besides, he’s far from the only Kraken player helping to spur this unlikely streak by starting to contribute beyond what had been done before.

Jared McCann, who scored arguably the game’s biggest goal in the second period with a left point power play slapper that just beat the intermission buzzer, had set Catton up deep in the left faceoff circle for a one-timer that beat goalie Jeremy Swayman off his blocker. Catton was smiling from ear-to-ear, arms raised in triumph for several seconds as McCann and Cale Fleury became the first of several Kraken players to skate over to hug him.

“They’ve been nothing but great to me,” Catton said of his teammates, especially veteran ones who’d been keeping him upbeat about his NHL progress despite a stat line stuck at five assists his first 27 contests. “A lot of the guys have gone through droughts. Probably not that long, but they’ve gone through them. And they just kind of told me to keep going and eventually it would go in. And lucky enough tonight it did.”

Catton wasn’t the only player having the puck bounce his way, though his second goal off a sensational Freddy Gaudreau feed that sent him in alone on Swayman for a nifty backhand move was far prettier than his first. The seven Kraken goals is their most in two years after beating Columbus back on Jan. 13, 2024, in a victory that was the final one of a franchise record nine-game win streak at the time.

One reason the Kraken this time around have been winning far more than losing the past three weeks has been contributions by players who weren’t doing much during a stretch of 10 losses in 11 games that nearly derailed the team’s season barely a month ago.

Primary among those is a fourth line now scoring nearly a goal a game – which is a major difference-maker on a team that had struggled to generate more than two goals per night on a regular basis. Ben Meyers put the Kraken ahead to stay late in the second period on a one-timer from the slot off a Tye Kartye pass just 96 seconds before McCann scored the team’s second of three power play markers of the night.

McCann wasn’t around much during last month’s spate of losses, getting hurt during the team’s only win that stretch. But he’s now got six points in six games since returning and his his slap shot goal with just 0.5 seconds to go in the second period – requiring video confirmation for several agonizing moments – tipped the scales decisively in providing the Kraken a coveted multi-goal lead.

Kaapo Kakko helped put things away with a pair of goals in the final period after going eight games without one and having scored just once in 17 prior contests. The Bruins got a pair of late goals from Mason Lohrei and Viktor Arvidsson on an otherwise sensational Joey Daccord with the Kraken already well in command at 6-2.

The late Bruins tally allowed Kakko to notch his second of the night on an empty net after Boston pulled Swayman in a desperate attempt at an improbable comeback.

Beyond the Kraken now getting goals from areas that weren’t contributing much a month ago, the team’s goaltending between Daccord and Philipp Grubauer has been playoff worthy. Despite the four markers allowed, Daccord looked unbeatable when the score still mattered from early in the second period onward following the second goal of the night by David Pastrnak to tie it up 2-2.

Daccord made several key point-blank stops in the latter half of the middle period, buying time until Meyers scored to put the Kraken back in-front. Then, with the Kraken ahead by two, Daccord made sure it stayed that way early in the third with successive stops off Pavel Zacha from 10-feet out and then a Charlie McAvoy boomer just seconds later from the high slot.

McCann’s late tally in the second was clearly huge for a Kraken team not used to leading by more than a goal upon entering the third period most nights. Rather than celebrating, the winger watched anxiously as officials converged to decide whether the Kraken would indeed enter the locker room up 4-2.

“As soon as I looked up, I saw the (green) light on so I didn’t know if I got it off on time,” McCann said. “So, I looked at the bench and everybody’s kind of looking at me dumbfounded. So, I didn’t know. And I don’t think they really did either.”

Fortunately, McCann had one-timed the Vince Dunn pass just a hair ahead of the buzzer for a goal that changed the course of the game. And allowed him and teammates to properly celebrate Catton’s first NHL goals by handing him the ceremonial F1 helmet in the postgame locker room.

“I said, ‘Finally!’,” McCann said of his first on-ice words to Catton. “He was working really hard. And we were due. Just keep plugging away. I’m really happy for him.”

So was head coach Lane Lambert, who didn’t quite know what to expect from the 19-year-old Spokane Chiefs junior hockey star, drafted No. 8 overall two summers ago. But after a solid training camp, then a season debut two weeks in, Catton has stuck with the team a lot longer than many predicted.

“I thought it was awesome,” Lambert said of Catton finally getting one. “And I’ve said a few times prior to now that once he scores, he’ll score a few. And obviously he scored another one tonight as well. A beautiful goal by the way. And it’s huge. He’s a well-liked teammate. He works, he’s learning he’s growing.”

Growing in confidence as well as finally in some goal stats. Lambert spoke about the team’s emerging confidence as a whole during this streak and the “swagger” he’s starting to see. But Lambert added that, as with Catton, it’s resulted from the work put in, evidenced by the energy level shown here for the third victory on the tail-end of back-to-back games in the last four tries.

The Kraken are 3-0-1 to finish off back-to-backs during this streak. Last season, they were 0-13-0 in such games.

“We don’t use anything as an excuse,” Lambert said. “I thought we battled.”

Just as Kraken rookie Catton has battled nightly to show the team was right to keep him even without pucks going in.

“We’re on a roll right now,” Catton said. “And we’re playing the way we know we can play. Obviously really good defensively. But that leads to great offensive chances that we’ve been burying. So, that’s our identity and we’re just trying to continue to do that.”