Kraken rally with 6 straight goals to defeat Sabres

BUFFALO -- Kaapo Kakko scored twice, and the Seattle Kraken rallied with six straight goals to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 at KeyBank Center on Saturday.

The Kraken have six multigoal comeback wins this season.

“It's the response of being able to believe in each other, believe in the group, believe if you keep playing the right way, you can come back in games,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “… The confidence in each other and the and the ability to stick with it has led us to be able to get back in games and win hockey games.”

Chandler Stephenson, Josh Mahura and Jared McCann each had two assists for the Kraken (18-22-3), who had lost four in a row (0-3-1). Joey Daccord made 33 saves in his first start since Dec. 22; he relieved Philipp Grubauer in a 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, his first game after missing five with an upper-body injury.

“Just all-around team effort,” Stephenson said. “Joey played well, penalty kill was good for us, power play. I think just kind of no quit, showed some resiliency and kind of just a formula that we need every night.”

Sam Lafferty and Jack Quinn scored, JJ Peterka had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves for the Sabres (16-22-5), who had won two straight.

“I thought the second period, [it was] embarrassing the way we played,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said.

“We had [offensive] zone time, didn’t get to the inside, didn’t get pucks to the net, passed the puck around the perimeter, looked for the pretty play, and eventually it caught up to us. And to give up a goal in the last couple minutes on the play, unacceptable. Just embarrassing, actually.”

Lafferty gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period when his wrist shot from the right wall deflected off the stick of Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn and over Daccord’s left arm.

Quinn made it 2-0 on the power play at 17:17. His one-timer from the left face-off circle went in off Daccord’s blocker.

Ryker Evans cut it to 2-1 at 12:48 of the second period when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the leg of Sabres forward Jason Zucker and over Luukkonen’s left pad.

“I think it gave us hope and life,” Bylsma said of the goal. “I think we were playing much better at the start of the second period and continued and [had] maybe a little bit of a feeling that … to see one get by [Luukkonen] and get that goal just kind of continued the hope.”

Andre Burakovsky tied it 2-2 at 19:12. Luukkonen stopped Mahura’s point shot, but Burakovsky was at the right post to shovel in the rebound on his backhand.

“We’ve seen it too many times this year where we give up one and it’s just a disaster,” Sabres center Dylan Cozens said. “And then they get another and then another. I don’t know why it keeps happening, but we’ve got to figure it out and find a way to not let that happen.”

Oliver Bjorkstrand put Seattle ahead 3-2 at 3:08 of the third period when his shot from in front bounced up and went in off the glove of Buffalo defenseman Jacob Bryson.

Kakko scored to the far side from the right circle 38 seconds later to push it to 4-2 at 3:46, then was alone in front to snap a shot past Luukkonen on the power play and extend the lead to 5-2 at 5:26.

The forward has seven points (three goals four assists) in 10 games since the Kraken acquired him in a trade with the New York Rangers on Dec. 18.

“He's got some different attributes than a lot of us don't have,” Bylsma said. “… Adding that presence, adding that ability, the big body (6-foot-1, 215 pounds) and the ability to hold on to pucks has made that line (with Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz) and made our team all that much better.”

Brandon Tanev scored into an empty net at 16:25 for the 6-2 final.

“Young players have to learn,” Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “As soon as you start feeling good in this league, it’s over. You have to remind yourself it’s hard every single shift out there. You cannot take any shifts off.”

NOTES: Bjorkstrand’s goal and Kakko’s first goal marked the fifth time this season Seattle has scored twice in under 40 seconds. … Stephenson has six points (two goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Bylsma coached against the Sabres for the first time since he coached them for two seasons from 2015-17. … Dahlin extended his assist streak to five games for the fifth time in his career, passing John Van Boxmeer (four) for the second-most such streaks by a defenseman in Buffalo history, behind Phil Housley (nine).