To make it even more fun, 18-year-old Shane Wright, notched his first NHL point on the Donato goal, picking up the secondary assist. Only fitting, because early in the game Wright was hit and leveled by veteran Blues forward Ivan Barbashev. Donato immediately challenged Barbashev, drawing a double minor for roughing with Barbashev getting two minutes.
Wright's assist was added by the NHL official scoring crew but made for a nice moment when it was announced during the opening minute of the third period with parents Tanya and Simon Wright in attendance and making a cameo on the twin video boards. After the game, reporters showed Wright photos of his parents on the video boards with the son insisting, "Yeah, he's crying" when answering his own question of whether his father was emotional.
"Getting his first point is awesome," said Dave Hakstol about the 2022 first-rounder and center, now officially the youngest Kraken player to register a point. "He deserved to score his first goal tonight (hitting the post on an impressive shift in the third period(. That line (Wright between Donato and Tanev) did everything right out on that shift."
Hakstol appears eager to pick up some pace in Wright's development: "Now, I've got to get him on the ice for a couple more minutes a night and just continue letting him grow. I liked his game tonight. I liked the confidence."
It should be documented that Martin Jones made 10 saves in the second period, several Grade-A and one acrobatic on veteran scorer Brandon Saad, to keep this game close after 40 minutes.
Hakstol credited his goaltender with being the best penalty-killer on the ice during a late first-period St. Louis power play ("top two or three in the NHL with the two units they put out there") that could have effectively salted the lead beyond comeback range.
"I thought [Jones] was key in the first period on the [three] penalty kills," said Hakstol. "In the second period, he had two big saves, one that was a bit of a desperation save and he got across and got a piece of it ... I felt like in that period he matched the guy (Binnington) at the other end and gave us a chance to continue digging out and getting it back to even."