The Seattle Kraken certainly don’t want to make a habit of falling behind by two goals in the first period.
But for the past two games, it’s turned out well for them in the end.
The Kraken rallied for a 5-2 victory against visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday after getting past the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime last Friday in the opener of their six-game homestand.
Seattle will look for a better start Thursday night when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town.
Kraken fourth-liners Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde and Tye Kartye have sparked each of the past two victories.
Tanev tallied twice and Kartye added an assist against the Golden Knights, then they scored back-to-back against the Blue Jackets to start a four-goal rally in the second period. Gourde added an assist Tuesday, and the trio has a plus-5 rating over the past two games.
“It’s obviously not the start we wanted,” Tanev said after the Kraken were outshot 18-6 by Columbus in the first period. “But I think we found a way to make some plays, and good things will happen when you’re playing the right way.”
Tanev’s goal, which tied the score at 2-2, came on a two-on-one rush with Gourde. Tanev skated the puck down the right wing, cut laterally through the slot and scored on a wrist shot.
“My goal doesn’t happen without Yanni driving the net and clearing space for me,” Tanev said. “So there are a lot of good things, simple things that make the game easier for others and especially our teammates. When we’re playing that way, the game becomes easier for us.”
Ten seconds later, Eeli Tolvanen scored a power-play goal to put the Kraken ahead for good.
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma called a timeout after the Blue Jackets tallied twice in a 22-second span in the first period, and Columbus didn’t score again.
“I think the attention to our game plan and the attention to the way we wanted to play wasn’t nearly good enough,” Bylsma said. “The message after the first was, ‘‘Get your heads up and play.'”
Added Tanev: “It was simple — (the first period) wasn’t good enough. It was some lazy, sloppy hockey. But I think at the end of the day, we had 40 minutes to figure it out, and I think we definitely did that.”
The Blackhawks are coming off a 2-1 overtime victory Sunday against visiting Minnesota, snapping a 12-game losing streak against their division rivals dating to 2020.
Philipp Kurashev scored the winner at 1:50 of overtime and Petr Mrazek made 32 saves.
“Yeah, I think it has been tough for us all year to play a full 60 minutes. So we have to find a way to, even if the game is tied, stay in it and not let teams back in it,” Kurashev said. “We got away with it (Sunday), but we’ve got to learn from it.”
Jason Dickinson also scored for the Blackhawks, who snapped a two-game skid.
“(Mrazek) was really dialed in and definitely the best player on both teams (Sunday), for sure,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “I thought we played a really solid game, but he was there all game when we needed him. The third period, they kind of turned it on and we stopped making plays, and they had the puck too much and Petr was excellent and kept us in there right to the end.”
–Field Level Media