Tolvanen scores in 3rd straight game, Kraken defeat Blue Jackets

SEATTLE --Eeli Tolvanen scored for the third straight game, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

"It means a lot. There were some rough patches at the start of this year," said Tolvanen, who was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Dec. 12. "Hockey wasn't that much fun. Just coming here and getting the trust from the coaches and getting the opportunity to play a lot, it feels really good."
Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for his first win since Jan. 10, and Morgan Geekie and Alex Wennberg scored for the Kraken (29-15-5), who were playing their last game before the All-Star break.
"It's a real good win for our team," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "It's a really good response coming off last night (a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames) and it's a great way to finish off the month of January."
The Kraken are 11-3-1 in their past 15 games, outscoring opponents 60-37.
"If you look at that on the schedule, if you look at the travel, the number of games, you'd expect a little bit of fatigue in this dressing room," Hakstol said. "To finish the month [11-3-1] coming out, so it's pretty good. This group should be proud of that."

Kent Johnson scored, and Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves for the Blue Jackets (15-32-3), who finished 1-2-1 on their road trip.
"Ran into turnovers in the first period," Columbus forward Johnny Gaudreau said. "Elvis saved our bacon there one too many times tonight. And then the second, we got a big goal from [Johnson] to make it 2-1, thought we pushed into the third, but they found a way to make it 3-1."
Geekie gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 8:40 of the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot off a pass from Brandon Tanev. It was Geekie's first goal since Nov. 3 (30 games).
Wennberg, who was playing his 600th NHL game, made it 2-0 at 8:33 of the second period. Jordan Eberle took the puck out from behind the net and sent a pass to Wennberg in front.
"I feel like we didn't use our speed last game," Wennberg said. "We talked about it, close that game and focus on this one. We take it game by game, and all we look at now is how we played today, and now we're going to have a little bit of a break and focus on the next game."

Johnson cut the lead to 2-1 at 18:58, scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot for his 10th goal of the season.
Tolvanen pushed it to 3-1 at 5:39 of the third period. Oliver Bjorkstrand broke up a pass in the neutral zone, and Tolvanen carried the puck into the zone and scored with a wrist shot from the high slot.
"We're all playing 82 games," Gaudreau said. "We're already in the middle of the season, and we all go through those stretches where you're playing a lot of hockey on the road, so we got to come prepared a little bit better."
NOTES: Bjorkstrand played 15:17 in his first game against the Blue Jackets since he was traded to the Kraken on July 22. … Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner played his 628th game, passing Cam Atkinson for second in their history behind Rick Nash (674). … Gaudreau and Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine each had his five-game point streak end. … Seattle is 17-for-17 on the penalty kill in its past seven games. … Columbus equipment manager Jamie Healy worked his 2,000th professional hockey game.