The Seattle Kraken knew what they were missing when defenseman Vince Dunn was sidelined for six weeks because of an upper-body injury.
In his first two games back, Dunn has reminded everyone else.
Dunn had a goal and two assists Thursday night as the Kraken defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 in Elmont, N.Y.
The Kraken will continue their four-game trip Friday against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
“Honestly, the points were great tonight,” Dunn said after the victory over the Islanders. “Missing a long time, it’s hard to get your legs going and your puck touches at first. So with the team playing so well, it just makes everything so much easier for me, and the bounces are coming my way. So, I’m very grateful.”
Dunn has played just seven games this season but is averaging a point per contest (two goals, five assists).
“You just get to play with the puck a lot more (with Dunn in the lineup),” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “He just has a ton of poise with the puck and usually makes a great and smart play with the puck. When you can do that, it’s a game-changer.”
Tye Kartye, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Shane Wright and Jaden Schwartz also scored for the Kraken on Thursday, and Adam Larsson had three assists. Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord made 27 saves.
Dunn assisted on Seattle’s two first-period goals, then scored himself at 3:55 of the second. The Kraken made it 4-0 on Wright’s power-play goal at 13:05 of the middle period and were never seriously threatened.
Bjorkstrand’s man-advantage marker at 16:58 of the first came when he redirected Dunn’s slap shot past Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
“It’s smart for the defensemen to look for sticks,” Bjorkstrand said. “It’s not always easy shooting from the point and beating the goalie clean, so you need to screen or direct sometimes. And (Dunn) obviously is a really good player, so I try to present the stick, and it’s on him to at least try to get it in the area, to try to hit it, so I can react to it. But that’s a nice play by him. It’s just a heads-up play.”
The Devils have been idle since a 5-1 road victory over the New York Rangers on Monday. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt combined for seven points, and goalie Jacob Markstrom made a season-high 38 saves.
“‘Marky’ was our best player tonight, and the (penalty kill) did a really good job,” said Hughes, who had two goals and an assist. “A lot of shot blocks. I know they gave up one (power-play goal), but a lot of shot blocks by our whole team. A really good effort in that sense, but ‘Marky’ was our best player and really held us in there.”
Bratt, who will play in his 500th NHL game on Friday, added a goal and three assists. Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist and Luke Hughes added two helpers for the Devils, who scored five goals for the third consecutive game and the fourth in the past five.
As impressive as the offensive outburst was a defense that blocked 27 shots, including 10 on the Rangers’ four power plays.
“When it was time to dig in and stand in front of shots and eat a few of those pucks, I thought the guys did a tremendous job of that,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “There’s a number of guys that took their wounds. … They stood their ground.”
–Field Level Media