Final Buzzer: Shane Wright’s Talent On-Display In Kraken Win

This almost-full-dress-rehearsal for next week’s opening day Kraken lineup wound up morphing into a coming out party of sorts for Shane Wright to put an exclamation point on his strong preseason.

Wright as a professional in the AHL and a handful of Kraken games the past two seasons has earned the reputation of a solid, hardworking centerman gradually learning the art of positioning himself to put pucks in the net. But it was Wright’s dazzling second period goal in Wednesday night’s 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers that reminded folks why he was long projected as a consensus No. 1 overall pick who fell to the Kraken at No. 4 just two-plus years ago.

With Oliver Bjorkstrand racing hard for a puck in the right corner, Wright positioned himself net front, took the ensuing pass and pulled a spin move to his backhand before depositing a shot between the legs of Oilers goalie Olivier Rodrigue. The Climate Pledge Arena crowd, witnessing a close battle between the home side and the defending Stanley Cup finalists, erupted at the initial goal and then kept gasping outwardly with each scoreboard replay shown.

“You don’t specifically work on handling pucks behind you, or whatever it was,” Wright said afterwards with a slight grin. “But yeah, you’re just ready for where the puck may be and trying to make a play with it after.”

And quite the play was made.

“(Bjorkstrand) made a great play,” Wright said of the pass. “He just kind of made a chip to the area and then I was able to find a little spot in the middle. Tried to kind of spin around and get it on net and was able to go five-hole.”

After the Oilers rallied from two down to tie it that period, free agent pickup Brandon Montour would score his second Kraken goal late in the period on a booming slapper from the right circle that was partially stopped by Rodrigue before trickling on by him into the net. Then, just 35 seconds later, it would be Wright cruising into the top of that same circle and putting a pinpoint 41-foot wrist shot past Rodrigue over his blocker for his second goal of the night.

“(Eeli) Tolvanen did a great job of taking the (defenders) and I had a lot of space and was able to walk in and finish it off there,” Wright said.

That goal also capped a bizarre period in which the Kraken were badly outshot 15-5 but wound up scoring on all but one of their attempts. Jaden Schwartz and Will Borgen added third period markers to help the Kraken finish the preseason 2-3-1, beating an Oilers club boasting stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl along with most of their high-scoring regular season crew.

The Kraken, meanwhile, entered the night with a full complement of their own minus an injured Tye Kartye and then Jared McCann as well after he was a late scratch with a lower-body injury said not to be too serious. But they rallied when needed and got strong goaltending from Philipp Grubauer with the team’s regular defensive pairings in front of him, enabling the netminder to find puck angles and clear views of shooting lanes somewhat more easily.

“Yeah, I think it’s nice to have a full lineup in there and get one under the belt before we play (for real) because…there’s not much time to get used to each other,” Grubauer said after stopping 28 of 30 shots. “We do have a couple of new guys. Everybody did an amazing job today. I think we settled into the game and it made it easier for me to see the puck.”

Kraken defender Ryker Evans had his shot from the left point deflected home by Brandon Tanev to open the game’s scoring at 5:52 of the middle frame. Wright’s dazzling first goal would come just under two minutes later, lifting the crowd from its seats.

For Wright, his two-goal outing gave him three in his past two games along with strong performances in two prior contests.

“I just think it speaks to the maturity of his game over the last two years,” said Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma, who had Wright full-time at AHL Coachella Valley last season and for part of the prior campaign as well. “I don't think there was any doubt, question, about skill and skate ability and his shot, but he's now gaining the confidence to show and use it more and more often.

“Both goals are an example of that,” Bylsma added. “But I think there have been multiple examples here in preseason where he's showed it off. It's great to see him cash in and get some goals. But that, I think, shows the maturity of this game, even 20 years old.”

The Kraken had Wright centering a third line with Tolvanen and Bjorkstrand. A third line combination of some sort is where Wright is also expected to begin the season next Tuesday against St. Louis.

Bylsma said earlier in the day that the lines used in this contest wouldn’t necessarily be identical to his season opening forward groups. But the thought of Wright becoming the team’s third center behind Matty Beniers and Chandler Stephenson is rooted in him needing time alongside playmakers rather than fourth line checkers to unleash the gifted offensive skills he’d displayed so often in major junior hockey. He’d been working toward it the past two years since the 2022 NHL Draft by bulking up his body training in the summertime with Kraken consultant Gary Roberts and spending his hockey winters learning to find more time and space with the puck.

The creativity shown on Wednesday’s initial backhand goal is exactly what the Kraken hoped to see once Wright found ways to not only get to pucks, but have the confidence to hold them a tad longer.

“Any time you can get a little time and space like that in this league you’ve got to take advantage of it,” Wright said. “Opportunities like that don’t happen too often so it’s nice to get that one tonight.”

And nice for Wright to put a capper on landing himself a well-deserved full-time NHL role come next week.