Kraken Share Scoring Wealth Again In Latest Win

Kraken forward Jared McCann has a theory about how teammates sharing their goal distribution so heavily can have a huge impact on confidence when the going gets tough.

McCann and company twice found themselves trailing at home Thursday night before erupting for four second period markers against the Philadelphia Flyers and their 6-foot-7 Finnish-born, Russian-raised netminder Ivan Fedotov. By the time this 6-4 victory was done, six different Kraken players had scored all their team’s goals for a second consecutive game to move them above .500 for the first time.

“I think when you have everybody going like we did tonight – the last couple of nights have been good – we’ve just got to be consistent with it,” McCann said after his tying second period slap shot goal ignited the latest Kraken scoring outburst and saw him add a pair of assists before it was done. “We’re not going to score six or seven goals every single game, but I think we can do a better job of just focusing and keeping the puck out of our net.”

They didn’t do that early on in front of 17,151 fans at Climate Pledge Arena hoping the Kraken could carry over some momentum from a successful road trip. But by second period’s end, goals by McCann, Brandon Montour, Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle and Shane Wright had negated the impact of two first period Flyers’ markers from Scott Laughton and chased towering goalie Fedotov from the game.

Then, after the Flyers rallied for goals by Cam York and Jamie Drysdale two minutes apart midway through the third, Oliver Bjorkstrand put things away by taking a Jaden Schwartz pass, moving in alone and beating newly-installed Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson. It was the second straight game the Kraken had managed at least six goals all by different players after seven of them scored seven times to beat Nashville two nights prior.

Only four teams managed at least six goals by six players in consecutive games last season. The last team to do it in three straight contests was the Toronto Maple Leafs from March 29 to April 2, 2022.

McCann said it’s no coincidence the confident Kraken are finding the net so often and overcoming deficits this early season in moving to a 3-2-0 record. He’d scored a tying goal late in a 5-4 shootout victory over Minnesota less than a week ago and agrees having so much balance up and down the lineup gives the team confidence they can prevail even when falling behind multiple times.

“I think I said this at the beginning of the year – there’s going to be ups and downs during a rollercoaster of a season,” McCann said. “We’ve got to stay with it no matter what happens. We’ve done a good job of that and we’ve got the leadership in here with (Eberle) and obviously (Montour) earlier got us off the backs of our toes.”

Indeed, Montour’s goal on a slapper between Fedotov’s pads from 52 feet out helped keep the Kraken in a contest they’d struggled to generate momentum in. It enabled the Kraken to hang around even after Laughton scored again in-tight on goalie Philipp Grubauer from the short side to put the visitors up 2-1 heading to intermission.

“I thought it was huge to get us the (Montour) goal,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said of the defenseman’s first goal in a Kraken uniform. “The first (period) hadn’t gone real great but we were able to get that goal on a big shift. And yeah, they scored at the end of the period to go up one. But I thought that (Montour goal) was kind of a huge wake-up call to get us back in the game.”

And the Kraken sure did awaken big time with McCann’s goal three minutes into the middle frame, followed by Tolvanen digging out the rebound of an Andre Burakovsky shot in close and putting the Kraken ahead to stay with just five minutes to go in that period.

The Kraken by that point were making Fedotov, tied with Ben Bishop and a couple of others as the tallest goaltender in NHL history, move around awkwardly in his crease with quick rushes and heavy pressure. He’d already looked shaky on the slap shot goals and couldn’t react quickly enough when the Kraken began throwing the puck around in close.

A pair of goals a team record eight seconds apart with just two minutes to go until intermission would bury Fedotov and pretty much his team despite the brief Philadelphia rally in the third. Eberle’s goal was a thing of beauty off a three-way passing play between him, McCann and Yanni Gourde.

Bylsma from the bench had been shouting at McCann to shoot, but he slung it over to Eberle at the last second for his team-leading fourth goal this early season.

“I think there’s a belief that the strength of the team is in our depth of our four forward lines and six or seven defensemen,” Bylsma said of the confidence shown by the Kraken in scoring five or more goals in three of their first five contests. “And that has just continued to show in our first five games here. Where we’re going to be as a successful team is in having a pack mentality. A group mentality. And everybody’s going to have a chance to chip in and do their thing.”

Wright did his thing right off the ensuing faceoff, scoring his first goal of the season off passes from Eberle and McCann to go along with an earlier assist. And for a team that’s struggled at home at times throughout its three-plus seasons of existence, the three-goal margin wasn’t one they were about to squander this time.

In their season opener at home, the Kraken blew a 2-0 lead to the St. Louis Blues and lost 3-2. Players before this one had discussed the need to use home ice more to their advantage on this five-game homestand – hoping to separate a bit from the .500 start.

“Home ice is important,” Montour said. “And the more we can feel good at home -- when the fans are on our side -- and the more we can collect wins on home ice, it makes us more dangerous.”

So does the ability to generate goals no matter who’s on the ice. Even against a towering goalie in Fedotov taking up more net than most Kraken players have ever seen.

“He’s a monster,” McCann said. “You don’t see much mesh with a guy that big in the net. So, sometimes you’ve got to get one off as quickly as you can.”

And have the confidence to know that if it doesn’t go in initially, a multitude of guys around you can finish the play off as well.