Gourde was approaching 18 minutes of time on ice even before the game's referees called two penalties within seconds to set up a 5-on-3 situation for nearly two minutes. Coach Dave Hakstol and assistant Paul McFarland, who runs the power play, kept Gourde out for the two-man advantage.
With patient work by veterans Gourde and captain Mark Giordano, the Kraken set up Jared McCann for extended seconds with the puck. McCann gathered in a spinning puck to put a laser upper-left corner shot, beating Bernier on the short side. Gourde earned his first point of the season with a secondary assist.
A late push with goalie Joey Daccord on the bench for an extra attacker didn't yield the tying goal all Kraken fans were seeking. Instead, New Jersey sealed it with an empty-net goal with 19.7 seconds left.
But Mark Giordano told a post-game media scrum he appreciated "fight and pushback" in the squad he captains.
"It was a different night," said Giordano referring to the 6-1 loss in Philly Monday. "It was way better ... the third goal hurt ... they did a good job clogging the neutral zone, we couldn't find a way to get inside. We have a lot of areas to clean up."
Hakstol agreed: "We battled hard tonight. That was one thing that was missing last night [Monday]."
Giordano was not offering excuses, including any buy-in that the Kraken have played the most games of any NHL team - five in eight days - to start the season.
By comparison, Tuesday was the Devils' second game of the season. That fact was noticed but no one on the Kraken side leaned into it as a reason for falling short in what was effectively the fourth one-goal game of the trip.
"They came out a fresh team," Hakstol said. "They were a lot quicker than us. But I could see us getting our legs in the second and third periods."