Kraken shut out Sharks in last home game of inaugural NHL season

SEATTLE-- Chris Driedger made 24 saves for his first shutout of the season to help the Seattle Kraken to a 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks in their home finale at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday.

It was the first home shutout for Seattle. The Kraken finish their debut NHL season Sunday at the Winnipeg Jets. It was the last game of the season for the Sharks, who did not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I thought it was super loud," Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. "The cheering in tonight's game, it was amazing, the energy in the building and after was phenomenal. They've been great to us the whole season and we really appreciate the support. Even for some times when it was tough and some tough losses. … they stuck with it and they stuck with us, and they were amazing tonight again."
Gourde scored his 21st goal for the Kraken (27-48-6), who won the season series with the Sharks 3-1-0. It was the fifth NHL shutout for Driedger, his first since May 10, 2021, for the Florida Panthers against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"Coming out in this building going crazy like it was, was pretty special," Driedger said. "To send it off at home, to finish off the year [with a shutout] is pretty cool too. So, they'll remember this one … guys were patient with shot blocks and just let me see the puck."

Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves for the Sharks (32-37-12), who finished their season with three straight losses including 5-4 in overtime at the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
"We know tonight wasn't our night," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "We didn't start very well at all, never really found our game you know, we looked like we're tired, a team that's on a back-to-back and it'll look like just a lot of frustration after the 81 games leading up to this game tonight and we didn't find it."
Gourde gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 6:17 of the first period after Karson Kuhlman passed back to him and he scored from the slot. It was the fourth goal for Gourde in his past six games. Defenseman Dennis Cholowski had an assist for his first point with the Kraken.
"We did what you're supposed to do when playing a team on a back-to-back," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We didn't give up very much defensively and the three or four chances on 5-on-5 that we gave up, Driedger was real solid on."
Seattle made it 2-0 at 18:31 when Adam Larsson one-timed a shot from the top of the left circle on a pass from Jamie Oleksiak. Larsson set a career-high for points in a season with 25.

The Kraken outshot the Sharks 12-4 in the first. San Jose was 0-for-2 on the power play including 1:12 of 5-on-3 in the second period.
"I thanked everybody, and I thought that for the most part, we were a team that's been in a lot of games and [has] pushed hard together," Boughner said. "Whether we failed some nights and others went better but just that I appreciated everybody in there. We got a bunch of good people. We're not happy where we're at. We were not satisfied. We know we got a lot of work to do, but we just talked about working with everybody and spending time with everybody and talking about how many good people we have in that room and how I thought it was a tight group that played hard for each other."
Victor Rask scored an empty-net goal at 19:08 of the third period for the 3-0 final.
"For me, it's about that connection with the fans," Hakstol said. "It's nothing about any of the individual stuff whatsoever. That's [what] we've talked a lot about, … working to build the foundation in a lot of different areas. And for sure that connection with the city with the community with fans is a real important one."
NOTES -- Matty Beniers had an assist to extend his home point streak to five games (2 goals, 3 assists). The first draft pick in Seattle history (No. 2 in the 2021 NHL Draft) has points in eight of his first nine NHL games (seven points; three goals, four assists). … Kahkonen had won two of his three previous starts.