Giordano scores three points, Kraken lose to Flames

SEATTLE -- Mark Giordano scored three points in his first game against his former team, but the Calgary Flames recovered for a 6-4 win against him and the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.

"[Giordano] was a great captain and I loved playing with him here," Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau said. "I was happy for him, but at the end of the day, it's another game against another team. But like I said, he's a great captain."
Gaudreau scored twice and had an assist for the Flames (16-7-6), who had seven games postponed and were playing for the first time since Dec. 11. Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves.
"I think there's guys that really led the charge," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "Johnny and [Milan Lucic) were really good for us tonight and they carried our team a lot. I think there were guys who showed rust. Some guys looked like they were playing an exhibition game but other guys carried them."
Giordano and Calle Jarnkrok each had a goal and two assists for the Kraken (10-18-4), who lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Wednesday.
"Our guys fought extremely hard and we battled hard on a night we were playing back to back," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "There's no excuses in the room, there's no consolation prizes that we're looking for, so there's no soft landing, but call it for what it is, our guys battled extremely hard and continued to fight back."

After Kraken forward Jared McCann deflected a pass from Giordano to tie the game 4-4 with 2:39 left in the third period, Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk scored 13 seconds later for a 5-4 lead.
"'Chucky' scored a big goal there to make 5-4," Gaudreau said. "Guys were capitalizing and that's a big way to respond there."
Noah Hanifin scored an empty-net goal at 19:40 for the 6-4 final.
"It's tough to swallow when we're able to find the back of the net four times," Hakstol said. "We are a team, the way we played that should be enough to come away with two points or to push it into overtime."
Giordano gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the first period with a wrist shot from the slot. Gaudreau tied it 1-1 at 9:46 after he received a cross-ice pass from Nikita Zadorov.
Jarnkrok put the Kraken ahead 2-1 nine seconds into the second period when he scored a power-play goal after McCann's shot hit the crossbar.
Gaudreau tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 3:54 on a wrist shot, and Lucic made it 3-2 at 14:56 with a quick shot from the circle.
"It's an important win for us," Gaudreau said. "Obviously, a division game for us. It's a big win for us that sets us up for January."

Yanni Gourde tied it 3-3 at 4:59 of the third period when he scored in the crease after Colin Blackwell made a centering pass.
Andrew Mangiapane gave Calgary a 4-3 lead with a power-play goal at 16:51.
"Obviously, we like the lead," Hakstol said. "We came back and had a push. Their power play was effective for them tonight. That being said, we got four tonight and that should be enough to come away with points."

The win for the Flames was their 12th on the road to tie the Carolina Hurricanes for the most in the NHL.
"We found a way to win and that's the important thing, getting back in the win column," Tkachuk said. "It was ugly, especially late. That's not the kind of team we are, giving up four. We should have been well-rested, and we had good days of practice. There was no excuse that we couldn't come in here and beat a team that played last night."
NOTES:Giordano played 15 seasons with the Flames, eight as captain. … Jarnkrok's goal in the second period was the fasted goal to start a period in Kraken history. … Seattle forward Jaden Schwartz was a late scratch and there was no update after the game. … Gaudreau scored the 29th multigoal game of his NHL career. … Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak played his 400th NHL game.