Final Buzzer: Grubauer Outduels Fleury

This was the game Kraken fans have been waiting for. And the goal Joonas Donskoi has been waiting and waiting and waiting 38 games for.
Donskoi beat future Hall of Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on the Kraken's third shootout attempt, clinching a 3-2 Seattle victory over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks. It's officially not Donskoi's first goal of the season, but no doubt he doesn't quite care about that technicality.

The score by Donskoi, plus similar shootout success by No. 1 star Ryan Donato, provided the winning margin because Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer turned away two more surefire Hall of Famers, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, on Chicago's first two shootout tries.
The noise every fan who has entered Climate Pledge Arena would expect to hear when the Kraken posted their first home shootout victory was Seattle-decibel worthy and then some. It was a matinee game filled with enough drama for day and night.
"We earned it today, we played a full 60 minutes," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We had the poise to make plays. Grubi made big saves and we made those plays in the shootout.
"We answered on a couple goals to [twice] tie the game. Grubi looked as calm and confident as he has all year, especially what he did in the shootout against a couple of pretty experienced shooters."
Hakstol, of course, was asked about breaking the nine-game losing streak during the post-game media Zoom scrum.
"We've had some tough mornings, where we needed a little bit of time to regroup," Hakstol said. "It's not fun, you go through those tough stretches ... It was a helluva lot of fun [today] and it was great to do it in front of our own fans, who were unbelievable."

Donato Wears Special Tie, Shoots, Scores

After Fleury stopped Kraken All-Star Jordan Eberle on the first shootout attempt, Donato took the puck for his team's second try. He skated patiently from center ice toward Fleury, starting to wind one way, then another.
When he reached Fleury's vicinity, Donato kept the dangle going in an effort to force Fleury to make the first move. It worked. Fleury flopped downward to block all low opportunities, but Donato calmly lifted the puck high over Fleury.
A post-game reporter queried Donato about his strategy to get his shot past Fleury.
"I just say a prayer and hope for the best," Donato said.
Donskoi apparently scouted his teammate's shootout goal. His winning shot was also high, beating Fleury on the glove side. Any fan watching Monday's thriller knows Fleury used that glove several times to make spectacular saves that even Chicago teammates thought were headed to the back of the net.
As first reported by Kraken colleague and ROOTS SPORTS Northwest TV analyst JT Brown, Donato arrived at Climate Pledge Arena Monday wearing a game-worn tie of Colby Cave, his former Boston Bruins teammate who died at 25 from a sudden brain bleed in April 2020. Cave's wife, Emily, attended Monday's game and had given the tie to Donato.
Donato smiled when asked about the tie: "It was special. I was wearing Colb's tie. He was a close friend of mine. Emily was here today. I think he was here with me, too."

Fleury's 'Grade-A' First Period

Fleury stayed on the ice up until the end of warmups before Monday's matinee, standing in his crease facing breakaway attempts from the Blackhawks' most dangerous scorers.
He got turned around on one of the breakaways but instead of fuming he did a full spin inside his net, looking like a kid leaning into a curve at the water park. The 37-year-old, fresh off a third shutout of the season Saturday, is clearly still having boyish fun in his 18th NHL season.
That is not the norm for starting NHL goalies. Most conserve their energy for the game, taking a modicum of pre-game shots, then stretching and resting.
Turns out Fleury had plenty of zip left for Kraken shooters.
The first period ended scoreless thanks to eight saves by Fleury, half of which were Grade-A saves as per NaturalStatTrick.com. Alexander True, Calle Jarnkrok, Donato and Eberle fired that quartet of shots with Fleury mixing veteran positioning and still-formidable athletic moves to stop them all.
The best chance of the first period for Seattle was Eberle's multiple dekes to get around Chicago defenders and wrist a point-blank inside shot on Fleury.

Dunn Ties It, Fleury Can't Eye It

The Kraken finally solved Fleury 15 minutes into the second period. Defenseman Adam Larsson (eighth assist of the season) and Riley Sheahan (4th assist) cycled the puck in the Chicago zone. Sheahan passed to Kraken D-man Vince Dunn, who unleashed a shot from inside the blue line in the center lane.
The shot zipped past one Chicago defender but deflected off Blackhawks defenseman Riley Stillman who was jousting net-front with Donato. It was just even annoyance and shifting to hit Stillman high and redirect the puck past Fleury, clang the crossbar and drop in for the tying score.
Fleury was head-bobbing in an effort to track the puck. But no chance of that until the goal light was already on. When Dunn was asked by ROOT SPORTS Northwest's Jen Mueller during the first intermission how to beat Fleury, he suggested "take away his eyes a little bit more."

Donato Double-Duty

After helping distract and screen Fleury on the Dunn goal, Donato scored his ninth goal of the year on a rink-long rush of speed that he finished with a shot on the Chicago goaltender. Fleury was holding his ground but worried about Kraken forward Mason Appleton, who had joined Donato for a 2-on-1 attempt.
Fleury made another terrific save on the first shot. As Fleury and his defenseman collided, Donato followed with a shot and an unassisted goal.

Grubauer's Afternoon

Grubauer matched the goose eggs for the first 32 minutes of this contest at Climate Pledge Arena. He stayed with it after Chicago went up 1-0 and 2-1, making big saves and keeping Seattle in the game.
During the second period, Chicago and its band of talented scorers peppered Grubauer with 16 shots. Highlight saves included stops on Kane and Eric Gustafsson.