The Seattle Kraken finally played their most complete game of the season Tuesday night, while the New York Islanders once again failed to finish strong.
The Kraken will attempt to build a winning streak as the Islanders aim to solve their late-game woes Thursday night when Seattle visits Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams were off Wednesday after playing on the road Tuesday night, when the Kraken beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 and the Islanders fell to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1, in overtime.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Kraken, who fell once to Anaheim and twice to San Jose — the only teams not ahead of Seattle in the Pacific Division entering play Wednesday — while being outscored 17-9 during the skid.
But the Kraken opened a four-game East Coast road trip by never trailing against the Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs in each of the past six seasons.
Jaden Schwartz scored just 19 seconds after the opening faceoff and Eeli Tolvanen put Seattle up 2-1 with his goal at 5:56 of the second period. After Carolina pulled even, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev each scored in a span of fewer than five minutes during the back half of the third.
The Kraken outshot the Hurricanes 28-19 and surrendered just seven shots in the first two periods. Carolina entered Wednesday with the fifth-most goals (93) in the NHL and was second with 810 shots.
Tuesday marked the Kraken’s first win in a game in which they never trailed since Nov. 20, when the Kraken blanked the Nashville Predators 3-0.
“It takes a 60-minute effort to beat a Carolina team,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I thought the battle and compete all game long, giving that team (19) shots in the game — five in the first, two in the second, that’s not something that happens very often. That was probably our best 60 of the year.”
A rare uneventful and scoreless third period Tuesday was followed by a familiar result in the extra session for the Islanders, who suffered their NHL-leading seventh loss when leading in the third period.
New York center Bo Horvat couldn’t finish off a two-on-one opportunity moments before a pass into the crease by Canadiens center Nick Suzuki glanced off Horvat’s skate and back to Suzuki, who beat goaltender Ilya Sorokin with a backhand.
“He just shot it, hit my skate and it went right back to him,” Horvat said. “Yeah it (stinks). I was in the right spot to get the rebound and it just took a (expletive) hop on me and ended up in the back of the net. That’s the way it’s going.”
The Islanders have squandered a third-period lead in seven of their 17 losses. Tuesday marked the third time New York lost a game that was tied in the third period.
The Islanders have outscored their opponents this season 43-32 in the first two periods before being outscored 44-22 in the third period and beyond.
–Field Level Media