Kraken Come Close, But Can’t Finish In Late Loss

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Kraken forward Mason Marchment lamented postgame about missed power play chances and looks not converted after his first multi-goal effort of the season appeared to position his team to pull another victory out late.

Alas a somewhat depleted Kraken squad, which nonetheless managed to fire 35 shots at the Utah Mammoth, took a 5-3 loss here at Delta Center on Friday night when not enough of those blasts found paydirt. Marchment’s second goal of the game off a cross-ice pass from defenseman Ryan Lindgren had enabled the Kraken to tie it in the third for the second straight game, but onetime Seattle Thunderbirds junior forward Dylan Guenther notched the decisive power play marker not long after to put Utah ahead to stay.

“We were getting some good shots in from the point tonight – we did a good job of that,” said Marchment, who scored his team’s first two goals to double his season output. “There were a handful of shifts there where we kind of had them hemmed in and got a bunch of good looks. We were getting pucks to the net and diving through seams. That’s how you’re going to score goals in this league. So, I thought we did a good job of that.”

Not so good? The Kraken power play went 0-for-4, failing to score with a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:42 in the third period still trailing by one ahead of Marchment’s tying marker. The Kraken then had another power play with 4:36 to go in regulation shortly after Guenther’s go-ahead goal but couldn’t generate enough offense for the tying strike.

“We’ve got to score on some of those to help us win,” Marchment said.

JJ Peterka and Lawson Crouse added empty net goals after that with goalie Philipp Grubauer pulled for an extra attacker. Kraken injury call-up Ben Meyers scored on a bang-bang play in close in the final minute with the game out of reach.

The Kraken entered the day announcing winger Jared McCann would miss three weeks with a lower body injury suffered the final minute of a 3-2 comeback overtime win Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kraken scored with 25 seconds to go in that game after being awarded a power play on the sequence in which McCann was tripped and injured.

McCann is the latest forward out multiple weeks, joining Jaden Schwartz and Berkly Catton and forcing the Kraken into some creative shuffling to balance their lines.

Tolvanen was moved up to the top line left wing spot while Freddy Gaudreau was elevated to the second line at right wing. Beyond the injuries, the Kraken have had several players battling through illness, which likely played into some of the line decisions.

Nonetheless, the Kraken peppered Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka throughout the contest. Marchment, added to the second line with Gaudreau and Chandler Stephenson, opened the scoring four minutes into the second period by splitting the defense and getting in alone before making an impressive backhand move in-tight on Vejmelka.

“I just felt like I had the (defender) on my back on the left side so I tried to get a shot off from the right side on my backhand and I’m lucky it found a hole,” Marchment said.

But as quickly as Marchment scored, he gave a goal back by coughing the puck up to Nick Schmaltz just inside the Utah zone. Schmaltz raced the length of the ice before beating Grubauer with an impressive set of quick hand moves. Spokane native and onetime Kraken forward Kailer Yamamoto then scored a disputed go-ahead goal before the second period ended to put the visitors up 2-1.

Yamamoto’s goal was initially waved off due to a goaltender interference call against Mammoth forward Liam O’Brien. But the Mammoth challenged the call and got it overturned after replays showed O’Brien was outside the crease when making slight contact with Grubauer.

Things were looking bleak in the final period with Utah still leading by a goal and having just fended off the 5-on-3 power play. Eeli Tolvanen might have had the best chance at a goal, winding up for a slapper from the high slot only to see the puck hit Vejmelka and deflect out of play.

But the Kraken weren’t done and not long after Tolvanen’s miss, Lindgren had the puck near the left point and spotted Marchment standing open in the right circle. Lindgren fed Marchment the pass and the forward didn’t miss with the one-timer.

“He gave me a nice little ‘no-looker’ there,” Marchment said of ordinarily defensive-minded defenseman Lindgren looking him off as he called for the pass. “Once I saw him not looking at me anymore, I didn’t think I was getting it. But he put it right on a tee for me.”

Lindgren said he spotted Marchment “out of the corner of my eye” and made the play he needed to. He added that players have stepped up all season in the face of injury absences and will need to keep doing so.

“We were able to create some chances,” Lindgren said. “We just need to find the net more.”

Somewhat akin to Marchment giving a goal back right after creating his team’s opening tally, it was Lindgren taking the cross-checking penalty that led to Guenther’s eventual go-ahead power play score. Lindgren wasn’t happy with either the call, feeling Utah defenseman John Marino went down too easily, nor himself after the game.

“There’s a fine line there,” he said, adding: “You can’t do that at that time of the game. So, yeah, looking back on it I obviously wish I didn’t do it. But that’s the game I try to play -- physical and hard to play against. But yeah, you’ve got to find that line for sure.”

Much like the fine line the Kraken keep straddling in games where they’ve found themselves tied in the final period. They pulled one out two nights earlier but took a third regulation defeat in four games here in which they surrendered the decisive goal in the third.

“That power play in the third period was a difference,” Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said, adding that while Guenther converted for Utah his own team could have used a man-advantage reply late.

“We had a lot of chances again,” Lambert said. “I thought their goaltender made some big saves when he had to, especially on the five-on-three (power play. For the most part, I thought our guys were good. But I thought we could have gotten more out of that last power play.”