Final Buzzer: Kraken Overwhelm Kings

• Kraken score in first 14 seconds on Alex Wennberg converting rebound chance, notch two goals less than 10 minutes into this rematch. Second goal is career-high sixth of the season for defensive standout Adam Larsson.
• The main storyline of GM Ron Francis' trade deadline work was stockpiling 10 additional draft picks. But the two players he acquired Monday, Daniel Sprong and Victor Rask, have now scored four goals in three games. Rask gets first Kraken goal to build 3-1 lead and Chris Driedger makes three quality saves late second period to keep two-goal margin at second intermission.
• After Driedger holds off LA pressure and quality shots early third period, Kraken score two insurance goals in 29 seconds and Sprong notches his third goal in as many games for 6-1 win.

LOS ANGELES -- After managing just four shots in the first period of Saturday's loss here in the city of Oscars dust-ups, the Kraken came out scrappy themselves Monday. They scored twice in the opening period, added a key third goal in the middle 20 minutes, then turned this rematch into a rout with three scores in the third period. The Kraken finish 2-1 on the road trip and are 4-2-1 in their last seven games.
"We came through the neutral zone with more speed in this game, quick up [the ice]" said Kraken alternate captain Yanni Gourde, comparing the win to Saturday's outcome. "We didn't let them set up in their structure."
Goalie Chris Driedger is not to be forgotten in the offensive onslaught. He made 36 saves and avoided all sorts of danger in a torrid 10-minute stretch that LA started late second period and continued into the third frame before Kraken scoring stalwarts Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann cracked this game wide open.
"I felt pretty good," Driedger said. "I felt patient. I felt like I was in good position for their point shots and meeting shots at the top of the crease. I felt like myself."

Tale of Two Periods

The Kraken put 13 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, scoring twice to establish a 2-1 lead, dominating on faceoffs and getting to the net for rebound chances plus creating the sort of net-front chaos opposing goalies despise.
"That's a key to this game," Gourde said. "If you want to score goals, you have to go to the paint [goal crease]. You go there to create chances and maybe not for you, it might be for linemates. You have to do that in this league for success."
Unlike more previous games than Kraken fans would care to count, Seattle notched an all-important third goal in the second period off the stick of new guy Victor Rask to start the final period with a two-goal cushion. Like Adam Larsson's go-ahead goal in the first period, the Rask score featured both Gourde and linemate Karson Kuhlman wreaking havoc in front of LA goalie Cal Petersen.

Driedger, who last played March 10 in Ottawa, protected the lead with three key saves late second period to snuff out any momentum for the Kings. Undeterred, LA came out shooting early and frequently in the third period.
To wit, the second period ended with the Kraken ahead on scoring chances, 17-13. Seven minutes into third frame, the Kings led in chances, 21-17, and Seattle had no shots on goal for the period.
"I like our entire game," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "A little bit at the end of the second period and a couple shifts at the start of the third, we weren't quite as hard on the puck. They're a good team, they're going to make a push."
Hakstol liked what he saw from his goaltender: "There's three saves at the end of the second period, big saves for our team. They get one there, it changes the complexion of the whole hockey game."

Goals Rush for Kraken

But the next two shots for Seattle were goals and game-sealers. Eberle disrupted a shot attempt on the defensive end, then gathered up the puck for a breakaway and an unassisted quick-release score. It was Eberle's first goal in 12 games, though his contributions are many and consistent on both ends of the ice.

Just 29 seconds later, Morgan Geekie and McCann reversed a Kings rush into one of their own. Geekie carried the puck into the LA zone, expertly slipped a pass to McCann, who used a skate to set it up on his stick blade to rip a shot for his 24th goal of the season.
Daniel Sprong added a sixth Kraken goal for a quality win over a division foe fighting for playoff position.

Getting the Third Goal

The first period ended with a 2-1 lead for the visitors. More net-front chaos extended the SEA lead to 3-1 when Gourde entered the offensive zone, passed to new linemate Rask, then proceeded to be his usual pain-in-the-neck opponent at LA's goal mouth. Fellow linemate Kuhlman joined the bodies near the crease while Rask, who has the sort of hockey IQ the Kraken front office covets, waited and waited a second more before ringing up his first goal in a Seattle uniform.
The shot from Rask, acquired from Minnesota Monday, was high-quality - and no doubt reminded Kraken fans of another eye-catching shooter. Namely, Sprong, who came to the Kraken in another Monday trade involving Marcus Johansson and two draft picks. Yes, GM Ron Francis and his hockey operations group were stockpiling draft choices - currently 34 total in the next three drafts with a preponderance of second-rounders - but the team's pro scouts get credit for identifying a couple of veterans with shooting skills.

For Starters

Seattle posted eight Grade-A scoring chances in the first period compared to two for the Kings, who need every standings point they can muster to stay in playoff position with Pacific divisional foes Edmonton and Vegas trending to the win column in recent weeks.
The end result was a 2-1 Kraken lead for the visitors. Alex Wennberg scored 14 seconds into the game, converting a Ryan Donato wraparound shot attempt that scrambled Petersen. Wennberg was quick to backhand the loose puck to score the game's first goal in this three-game road trip.