Wild Finish to the Season

ST PAUL, MN - The final game of the season for both Seattle and Minnesota was made up of calls and responses. First, each team scored on a power play in the opening period. Then, took three penalties racked up on both sides, each team scored on a breakaway. But one of those goals was a short-handed score by Yanni Gourde, and after Tye Kartye established the first lead of the game for the Kraken, Gourde would get his second shorty of the night.

And while the Wild pushed late, pulling within one, the Kraken held on to end the season on a high note with a 4-3 win.

“Sometimes these games are hard to play,” Dave Hakstol said. “But I like the way our guys showed up, played from the drop of the puck. (The) second period was a good period to turn the momentum our way and put ourselves in a good position and then obviously a little bit of a crazy third, but, a good way to close it out… I just told our guys I appreciated their will to continue fighting and battling, including right down to the wire tonight.”

How did it all go down? Let’s dig in.

Killing Time

Just two-and-a-half minutes into the game, Oliver Bjorkstrand took an uncharacteristic penalty (just his sixth of the season) after a collision with Ryan Hartman net front that sent the Minnesota forward into Marc-Andre Fleury in net. With Bjorkstrand in the box, the Kraken PK sent the Wild out of the zone a couple of times. But with just 26 seconds remaining in short-handed play, a board battle resulted in a Kraken attempt to clear the puck. That pass ended up on Kirill Kaprizov’s stick, and the Wild’s leading scorer capitalized on the space given to him to notch goal number 46.

Return the Favor

The Kraken don’t typically draw many penalties in a game (21^st overall) – but a Wild team that takes the sixth most in the league gave Seattle that many chances in the second period, alone. The first power play for the Kraken went through a feeling-out process, but the second chance – after former Kraken player Marcus Johansson tripped Jordan Eberle – capitalized.

Quarterbacked by Justin Schultz, the Kraken got into the offensive zone and challenged the Wild penalty kill with shot attempts and movement not just among players along the top of the umbrella but with swaps between the bumper and the net front player. First, Schultz fired a puck from up high that Fleury stopped, but twenty seconds later, he shot again from the other side of the zone, and with support from a Jared McCann flash screen, Matty Beniers was able to redirect the puck into the net tying the game 1-1. With the secondary assist on the goal, Bjorkstrand set a new career high in points (58).

Breaking Away

It was the Kraken’s turn to spend time in the box in the final 20 minutes of regulation. They were called for two penalties that overlapped for 16 seconds of 5-on-3 play, but before the Wild tried to capitalize with two extra skaters, Seattle took over on the scoreboard.

Declan Chisholm was retrieving the puck at the blue line but couldn’t keep a handle on it. Brandon Tanev jumped on the loose puck and immediately sent it north to Yanni Gourde, who received the pass in stride before going on an uncontested breakaway and beating Fleury to make it 2-1.

But Minnesota responded with a breakaway score of their own when just under five minutes later, Matt Boldy fed Mats Zuccarello to re-establish the tie at two goals apiece.

Breaking the Tye

Play bounced back and forth with key saves from both Joey Daccord and Fleury, but with 2:40 to play, off the cycle, McCann sent the puck high to Bjorkstrand in the zone. A quick release sent the puck net front where Tye Kartye was set up to tip the shot into the net for his eleventh of the campaign.

“The way he's been playing lately the last 10-15 games, he has been getting good looks on different lines and every time he rises up to the challenge,” Gourde said. “He's physical, he's winning puck battles, he's doing the right things, he’s reloading, skating heart. Those are big, big things he does and it puts him in a great position for next year.”

In the final minutes, Seattle took a fourth penalty, but Gourde decided to repeat history, adding a fourth goal for the Kraken when he got through the power play and sent the puck into an empty net as Minnesota tried to score with a two-skater advantage.

“(Gourde) plays so hard every single night,” Hakstol said. “I was just happy to see him get rewarded for that. The (first) shorty was obviously a huge one. . . To see him get rewarded with a couple tonight is fitting for him.”

The Wild continued to skate with an extra player and Brock Faber added a second power play goal for his team, but it wasn’t enough to come all the way back and take the win away from the Kraken.

Bellemare Plays 700

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played in his 700^th NHL game tonight. In a nice nod to the 39-year-old who has played ten seasons across five organizations, Hakstol tapped the center to take the opening faceoff – which he won, by the way.

More Milestone Moments

Bjorkstrand, Jamie Oleksiak and Will Borgen all played in all 82 games this season. That’s an impressive feat made even moreso when you consider Oleksiak and Borgen did it together, playing on the same pair.

“Anytime you can play all 82 games I think that's just a testament to those guys and how they take care of their body and how they prepare every single night,” Joey Daccord said. “They're great pros and awesome people as well. They're a treat to play with and it's fun to have them here every single game.”