Defense to the Rescue in 4-2 Win

SAN JOSE – OK, enough of that. The Kraken snapped a four-game losing streak and registered just their second win in the last 10 games with a 4-2 third-period comeback win against the Sharks before a capacity crowd that went quiet and lost its festive spirit with a Seattle comeback. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren and Ryker Evans scored big goals, and Joey Daccord was stellar in goal, winning No. 1 star of the game honors for making 35 saves and facing 15 high-danger chances on the night.

The Kraken are 13-14-6, closing their gap to the Western Conference second wild-card spot down to five standings points. Anahim is next on Monday, and then a match-up in Los Angeles on Tuesday before the winter holiday break. Seattle has anywhere from one to four games in hand on every West team ahead of them in the wild-card race.

Chandler Stephenson now has a career-high eight-game point streak with a huge assist on the winning goal by Lindgren, plus an empty-net score to ice the game. He mentioned games in hand during his post-game remarks, but cautioned that winning the next game and then the next game is the only way to climb back into being a playoff contender.

“I know that there are games in hand and all that stuff that you can look at, but they don't really matter if you don't win games,” said Stephenson. “Right now, we're just focusing on a game at a time. Here tonight, it was TV timeout at a time, just trying to do little things to kind of get us going.” San Jose is a talented team with a budding superstar in Macklin Celebrini, so neither Stephenson nor coach Lane Lambert was surprised the Sharks controlled much of the second period, which nonetheless ended at 1-1.

“I feel like the guys battled all night,” said Stephenson. “Second period, they had a lot of momentum. In the third period, we just kind of shut things down. Joe played great. It was just a good team, greasy road win ... I think like the guys were just like, enough is enough. You could just kind of feel that we weren't letting that one get away.”

"There was a lot of commitment," said Lambert about the victory. "We spent some time in our zone in the second period, but we had a lot of commitment, a lot of blocked shots. I thought that we stuck with it even when we went down in the third. It was total, total team effort."

Third Period Dramatics From the ‘D’

Just 36 seconds into the third period here with the score at one goal apiece, San Jose rookie Collin Graf stole an outlet pass from Vince Dunn, who was starting a breakout from behind the Kraken goal. Graf’s first shot went off the post, but Joey Daccord couldn’t corral the puck, and it’s possible Adam Larsson’s skate put the puck across the goal line, or maybe it was Daccord’s leg pad. No matter, because it felt like a bit of doom had transpired.

But a minute and 19 seconds later, Ryker Evans continued his ongoing habit of putting long-range pucks on net. In this case, Evan deftly gloved the puck just inside the blue and zipped it far right side past SJS goalie Yaroslav Askarov, aided by an unintended screen by young Sharks defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin. Suddenly and silently, here in the Shark Tank, the score was tied.

Things grew even more hopeful when defensive stalwart Ryan Lindgren notched his first goal in a Kraken uniform, and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. Chandler Stephenson upped his point streak to eight games with a totally pro-move, veteran-savvy play to get the puck to Lindgren, whose shot was another pinpoint effort to the upper right corner. Stephenson added an empty-net score to snap a four-game losing streak and gives reason to think the Kraken can make up some ground in the wild-card race in back-to-back games at Anaheim and Los Angeles, Monday and Tuesday.

Tolvi Takes Advantage of Tie-up

The Kraken broke the seal on scoring mid-second period on a scoring play that started with suffocating defense by Seattle in the neutral zone. Three Seattle players were obstructing 19-year-old wonder kid Macklin Celebrini in the neutral zone. With Celebrini zip-locked, Eeli Tolvanen jumped on the ice for his shift, located and gathered the puck, then proceeded to carry halfway into the Sharks' zone. He wired a wrist shot past goalie Yaroslav Askarov to score his first goal in eight games and fifth of the season. Getting Tolvanen in high goal-scoring gear would be a welcome development for Seattle.

Tolvanen noted he and teammates have been in lots of tight games decided in the third period [seven of last 11 plus one game that went to extra time]. He said the win here can provide a fresh perspective.

“It gives you confidence when you can turn those games around,” said Tolvi, who is meshing effectively with Stephenson and Freddy Gaudreau. “But it starts from the group. I feel like today, you can see everybody was confident playing with the puck.”

It was palpable at Saturday’s pre-morning skate meetings and ice workout itself that players were loose. It didn’t feel like a squad that was 1-9-0 in the last 10 games.

“You get frustrated when you don't win games,” said Tolvanen. “We had little conversations over the last couple of days. Not that we have to turn it around. We were talking about how we’ve got to play loose, play our own game, play confident. I feel like everybody did today.”

But the third powerplay for San Jose was not the charm for the Kraken as the home squad evened the game on a rebound score by the well-traveled forward Adam Gaudette after Joey Daccord stopped Macklin Celebrini.

Winning Here Suddenly Much Harder

The proposition of defeating the division rival Sharks here Saturday loomed more difficult than visits past. It starts with sizing up the NHL standings with San Jose in the second wild-card position in the Western Conference. You then consider 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini scoring at an under-20 rate in his first 35 games that ranks him with all-time greats Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, and Kraken president of hockey operations Ron Francis; the 2024 No. 1 draft choice has 18 goals and 35 assists for 53 points. Another looming fact: Going into the night, San Jose was 10-6-3 at home.

Next, and not coincidentally, it is simpler, louder, and rowdier than these in what the locals and future Hall of Famer colleague John Forslund like to call the “Shark Tank.” The crowd roared with Celebrini’s introduction during the announcement of starting lineups. Similar decibels were showered on goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, who is co-leader in wins among all NHL goaltenders since Nov. 1. Attendance clocked in at a capacity crowd of 17,135, significantly more than previous crowd counts plus the seats were duly filled.

So getting off to a scoreless first period with the Kraken leading in shots on goal with 17 to 12 for the home squad seemed like a solid first 20 minutes. That’s especially true since Seattle had to kill two power plays in the first frame, allowing just two shots on the first man-advantage for the Sharks and a big zero on the second SJS power play. The Kraken didn’t score on their lone power play but did register three shots on goal.

Askarov was solid in the first frame while facing three high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick. But Joey Daccord was even better, making a couple of huge saves in the opening minutes. He faced six high-danger chances in the first 20 minutes, and the Sharks were credited with 11 overall scoring chances compared to five for Seattle. But by no means does that mean the Kraken shouldn’t keep putting pucks on net. Freddy Gaudreau took that concept to heart with five shots on goal in the first period, playing with Chandler Stephenson and Eeli Tolvanen.