CALGARY - The beginning of Matty Beniers' NHL career delivered dividends here at the home of the Pacific Division leader. He won his first faceoff, earned a primary assist 14 minutes into the game, won puck battles against veteran centers and even drew a penalty to give the Kraken a chance to tie the game late (and Beniers almost scored with a one-timer shot on the ensuing power play).
But first-place Calgary found a way to win with three goals in the third period to take the lead, then Matthew Tkachuk earned his hat trick with an empty-netter for a 5-3 final.
Turning heads just a handful of shifts into his NHL career, Beniers faked a shot inside the left-point blue line, threading a perfect pass to Ryan Donato, who quick-released it for the opening goal of the game. Smiles all around for Beniers and teammates.
Meeting with the media post-game, Beniers first expressed disappointment in not getting the win.
"I thought our line could have had a couple more," said Beniers, who was clearly comfortable on the ice all night, particularly after "getting some puck touches" on early shifts. "We were all over 'em."
To prove the polished rookie's case, his linemate Jordan Eberle hit a crossbar during a second-period shift featuring extended offensive zone time in part because Beniers was checked hard by Calgary D-man Noah Hanifin but didn't lose his feet and kept the puck in play for his linemates.
"Both guys so easy to play with," Beniers said. "They make the right plays, they're smart."
"Play with good players, good things usually happen," Donato said. "Matty's a good player."
Adam Larsson, who jumped into the offensive play several times in the first half, was finally rewarded with his seventh goal of the game to make it 3-1. Larsson, who simply makes few mistakes in the defensive zone, is building on his career-high for goals.
Chris Driedger got the nod in net for Seattle. His second period wasn't busy in terms of shots on goal - Calgary went 14 minutes at one stretch with no shots. But the Flames picked up the pace later middle period with Driedger stopping Calgary's Elias Lindholm twice close-in and then with seconds remaining, the Kraken goaltender kept the two-goal margin by stopping Johnny Gaudreau net-side. Lindholm, sitting on 38 goals, is looking for his first 40-goal season. Gaudreau entered the game with 99 points, hunting his first 100-point campaign.
Unfortunately for the Kraken, Gaudreau posted that 100th point early third period, notching the top assist on Tkachuk's second goal of the night and 36th of the year. Two-plus minutes later, Calgary's Andrew Mangiapane tied matters at 3-3 with his 31st score of the year.
After that tying goal, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol called a timeout. He said he wanted to get his team settled down.
"I thought before the third goal ... 'hey, stuff happens all over the place,'" Hakstol said in the post-game scrum. "But the game was being called pretty close tonight. I felt an obvious call was missed and that led directly to that [third] goal."
Hakstol didn't go into any details about the sequence but watching a replay of what led up to the third goal, it can certainly be argued that the goal scorer, Mangiapane, could have been whistled for dropping Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn behind the goal line, taking Dunn out of the play while Mangiapane and the Flames kept possession and subsequently scored.
When asked about what happened in Calgary's four-goal third period, Donato said, "A lot of stuff, I don't know where to begin."
"We took too many penalties," he continued. "But I don't think necessarily it was our own fault. We're competing and both emotions ran high with the refs and us. It had a big impact on the game. We just have to get ready and come back for the next game."
Noah Hanifin scored the go-ahead goal, another former Ron Francis draft choice showing why the Kraken GM and his scouts know how to evaluate talent. If Beniers was proof enough Tuesday, then Hanifin supports the case.
