Three Rallies Fuel Shootout Thriller

ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a game that included a Minnesota disallowed goal because time had expired in the first period and second period Kraken goal that stood after review and despite home-crowd sentiment, the final score here was decided by a shootout that didn’t need any further audit. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jordan Eberle scored in the shootout, and Joey Daccord stopped two of three attempts for coach Dan Bylsma’s first win.

There was lots more to this game. Seattle staged not one, not two, but three comebacks in this Saturday's sendup of the first Dan Bylsma win as Kraken coach. The third rally came just seconds after a delayed penalty call enabled goalie Joey Daccord to skate to the Seattle bench for an extra attacker. D-man Ryker Evans got the puck to shoot-first Jared McCann, and that he did from quite a bit atop the right faceoff circle, sending a laser past Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury. The goal was scored with three-and-a-half minutes left in regulation.

The Kraken’s third comeback was necessary after a high-slot score by Minnesota forward Ryan Hartman on his sixth shot on goal of the game. A scoreless (and sort of breathless) overtime prompted the shootout drama. Minnesota’s Mats Zuccarello, who scored the game’s opening goal in what seemed like forever ago, beat Joey Daccord with highlight-reel moves. But Bjorkstrand maestro’d his own dance music to even matters at 1-1. After Kirill Kaprizov hit the post, Eberle nailed his attempt against Marc-Andre Fleury. Daccord stopped Matt Boldy, another of the night’s goal scorers, to start the Kraken celebration on the ice and into the locker room.

“I don't think you want to get in the habit of having to do that [staging three comebacks to win a game in a shootout],” said Bylsma post-game. “But it was good for our team to respond ... We got a huge power play goal to get us back [down] to one. It was the story of the game. We got to 2-2, they get another one. We got it back with a great goal by the Karts line [Tye Kartye shot off Yanni Gourde's faceoff win and Brandon Tanev's puck battle win]. Then they scored again, and we had to come up with one late to claw ... it's just Jared McCann, a great shot there.”

Captain Eberle Leading By Scoring

When an early second-period shot from Minnesota’s Matt Boldy slithered through Joey Daccord’s attempted glove jab-save on the Wild powerplay, the 2-0 no doubt raised some dread among fans watching the Kraken Hockey Network back in the PNW. Boldy notched his second goal of the season with another assist racked up the Kirill Kaprizov.

But newly appointed captain Jordan Eberle and crew responded with a goal just 40 seconds after the two-goal margin was established. Brandon Montour showed one of the many reasons why Seattle signed the summer free agent by rapidly transitioning the puck from defense to offense, sending the puck to Jared McCann in the neutral zone. McCann carried it to the right side into the Wild zone, then maneuvered toward the top left faceoff circle to fling a shot that Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury stopped with his leg pads but couldn’t control. Both Eberle and new linemate Shane Wright had crashed the net with four Wild defenders doing their best to knock them down or out of the crease or both.

Montour and McCann earned assists (first of the year for both) on the score, which effectively was a scrum of players positioning crease-front in what looked a lot like wall or corner puck but inches from the goal line instead with Wild goalie and future Hall of Fame Marc-Andre Fleury prone on the ice. Eberle, truly a lead-by-example veteran and more vocal in the locker room than many fans might assume, held his upright posture and hacked and whacked enough—three times by this count – to get stick on puck past the goal line. Wright occupied a couple of foes to allow Eberle’s heroics.

Minnesota fans didn’t like the crease invasion, of course, but they were even more enraged by the Kraken’s second goal to tie the game eight-plus minutes into the middle period when Eberle was at the far goalpost, and Andre Burakovsky’s shot-pass found the captain’s skate and deflected into a gaping net with Fleury otherwise occupied. The Toronto situation room reviewed the play but quickly confirmed Eberle did not intentionally redirect the puck with his feet.

For his part, Eberle was certainly happy about his two official goals (the shootout goal doesn’t “count" in player stats) but equally pleased and impressed with the mix of close-in, net-front goals and the third-period lasers coming off the sticks of Kartye and McCann.

"I mean, he’s a good goalie over there,” said Eberle about the Wild’s Fleury. “He's obviously one of the best of all time. You’ve got to find ways to beat him. Karts had an unbelievable shot. If you find him anywhere, he's going to put it in. Same with Canner. Those guys can shoot the puck.”

The captain in Eberle acknowledged the “character win,” then acknowledged a tough Dallas squad awaits the Kraken’s arrival for warmups and opening faceoff just 20-some hours after Saturday’s shootout thriller ended and the team boarded a late flight to Texas.

“We just gotta continue to move forward,” said the captain, who was awarded the new belt that will be part of selling locker room wins this season while Joey Daccord and his 34 saves – plus two more unofficial but huge stops – were feted with the game puck.

Third-Period Valleys and Peaks

When Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov scored his first goal of the new season less than two minutes into the third period, a sense of uh-oh likely replayed among the Kraken faithful. The winger was sort of a one-man wrecking ball Saturday, assisting on the first two Minnesota goals.

But a minute later, Brandon Tanev won a puck battle in the corner and sent the puck to linemate Tye Kartye. The young undrafted forward launched a snapshot from the left faceoff circle to beat the Wild’s Fleury clean. Yanni Gourde notched the secondary assist with the faceoff win (he was great on the dot all night, noted Bylsma). The Gourde line that started the game for Seattle and post-game Bylsma said he was happy to see the hard-working line produce a goal. Another Kraken comeback completed with one more to go.

Keeping It Close in the First Period

The Kraken were saved by the bell, well, buzzer at the end of the first period to keep the score 1-0 after a first period that tilted heavily to Minnesota. The raucous Saturday crowd in this self-proclaimed “State of Hockey” went high-decibel when it appeared Kirill Kaprizov had scored from a bad angle on the Wild’s second power play. But replay doused the noise because time had expired.

The shot total was 14-10 in favor of the home squad, but Grade-A scoring chances were three-nil in favor of the Wild – and it felt like more. While Joey Daccord gave up the game’s first goal mid-period, he showed resiliency to make several quality saves and eight total. The goal was scored by Norway native Mats Zuccarello, his second of the season (he scored the game-winning in Minnesota’s 3-2 home opener victory) and the 200th of his NHL career that started after his star turns at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Kaprizov earned the primary assist, threading the puck to Zuccarello, who went high corner on the glove side in a bang-bang play. The Russian-born Kaprizov had two dangerous shots after the goal and a near-miss just before the disallowed score.