Burakovsky, Kraken Keep It Close But Take Road Loss

NEWARK, NJ – Kraken winger Andre Burakovsky stood in a visibly frustrated visitors’ dressing room after Friday night’s first loss of this road trip discussing confidence from both a team and individual perspective.

His opening goal in this 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils was a personal confidence-generator in which he gathered the puck near his own blueline, carried it into the opposing end and then unleashed a blistering wrist shot top shelf. It’s the kind of goal a Kraken team showing renewed overall confidence on this road trip could use more of from a player who’d scored only once in 25 prior games ahead of getting benched his last two.

“I’d been feeling confidence in previous games,” Burakovsky said. “There were a lot of looks where I could have scored or made plays. So, my confidence has been good. But it’s hockey. I’ve made some mistakes that I just need to clean up.”

With that, he said his “head is in the right place,” and he “felt excited” coming into the game.

“You don’t really want to be in that situation when you’re playing in your 11^th year in the league,” Burakovsky said of the benching. “I mean, there have been a lot of games that have been good and a lot of games where I haven’t felt my best. The puck hasn’t really bounced my way – I think – this year.”

Whether the two games he was scratched led to better results, goal-wise remains to be seen. The Kraken could certainly use the production of another top-line winger to replace the loss of Jordan Eberle for the next few months.

Burakovksky’s early goal -- the third straight game in which the Kraken have opened the scoring -- definitely seemed to further the confidence with which they played.

All three Devils goals in this one came with a bit of luck attached to them.

Timo Meier snapped a 2-2 tie just 53 seconds into the final period when Philipp Grubauer failed to corral a loose puck. Vince Dunn tried to play the puck, but it went off his stick, hit the post and then rolled dead center into the Kraken crease where Meier easily swatted it into the open net.

Ahead of that goal, the Devils had gotten a tying first period marker from Luke Hughes, who took a pass from his brother Jack in the left circle and ripped a shot that struck Grubauer in the mash went in off Grubauer’s mask short side.

Then, after a Shane Wright power play goal restored a Kraken lead in the second period off, it would be Jesper Bratt tying it up in his 500^th game. Bratt didn’t actually put the puck in, but his shot was swatted away by Grubauer with his blocker only to deflect into the net off defenseman Adam Larsson’s foot.

That the Kraken were so upset afterward over letting this one get away speaks volumes of how much more confidence they’ve gained in a short time where they now head into these contests expecting to notch the upset win.

Between Burakovsky dashing up the ice in dangerous fashion and goalie Philipp Grubauer looking at times like his playoff self of two years ago, the Kraken withstood a lethal Devils offensive surge for two periods before New Jersey pulled it out in the final frame. This has been a different-looking Kraken group, now 13-14-1 overall, during a road trip that ends Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden with a game against the New York Rangers.

It was evidenced again here at Prudential Center, where the Kraken have never beaten the Devils nor scored more than two goals in any game. But despite being outshot 38-19 overall and rather unluckily helping score as many goals on their own net as their opponent’s, they kept pressing to the end.

Brandon Montour barely missing tying it up in the closing minutes on a puck that rolled tantalizingly through the crease with Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom down and out.

“Definitely we had chances and good looks,” Burakovsky said. “It just didn’t bounce our way at the end there.”

Despite the lopsided shot disadvantage, the Kraken did, as Burakovsky mentioned, create several strong scoring opportunities – including a second period 3-on-1 break led up the right side by Burakovsky with the score even.

Burakovsky went high with his shot once again, but the puck this time sailed just over the net.

Still, the Kraken went toe-to-toe with a team that entered tied for the Eastern Conference lead and twice stymied the NHL’s top-ranked power play unit. They also got the power play goal of their own from Wright – his fourth such tally in a week – off a nifty corner pass from Eeli Tolvanen and spent much of the night playing as if they belonged.

“We gave ourselves a chance, even though it was a back-to-back (games situation),” Tolvanen said. “I felt like all the guys showed up today.”

Tolvanen said the power play goal he assisted on was the result of strong work against the side wall by Burakovsky and Montour. He knew Wright had “a hot stick right now” so he looked to get him the puck as soon as he got open.

And just like Wright, who Tolvanen feels is back to showing the “swagger” he had in training camp, he feels the team is also playing with more of it.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “We weren’t happy with what happened those couple of games (last week) against San Jose and Anaheim. But we showed up to Carolina and then yesterday and again today. I think we just have to keep it simple and work hard.”

Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said much the same thing, appreciating the effort turned in particularly by Burakovsky in his return game.

“I thought it was a good response,” Bylsma said. “Obviously, he grabbed the puck, showed speed up the ice and he made a great play – snapped it in the back of the net. It was great to see.”

Bylsma was also impressed by how Burakovsky’s wall play helped generate the 3-on-1 break later on. And, especially with Eberle now out, he could use more such efforts.

“His scoring ability and his playmaking ability is part of what makes us a good team,” he said. “And we’d like to continue to see it.”