Kraken Cap Stellar Trip With Comeback Win

NEW YORK -- Kraken forward Brandon Tanev didn’t mince words in talking about how his team shifted gears both in this game and on a successful week long road trip now complete.

There weren’t many signs Sunday’s 7-5 win over the New York Rangers would yield the result it did with the Kraken down by two late in the second period. But Tanev got this comeback started with the first of three consecutive goals in rapid succession that put the Kraken ahead to stay by the second intermission and eventually gave them the franchise’s first ever victory at Madison Square Garden.

“I definitely thought we could have been doing more and I think we did more in the latter half of the game,” Tanev said after his team capped this East Coast trip by winning three of four games against some of the NHL’s tougher teams. “I didn’t like our start, being down 3-2, but we got a timely goal…and I think we understood what we had to do to get back in the game.

“That’s a good hockey team over there and we played hard, we played physical. And when we got our opportunities, we capitalized.”

Indeed they did, with Oliver Bjorkstrand’s tip-in goal with 23 seconds to go in the period — his second of the frame en route to a four-point game — joining earlier ones 88 seconds apart by Tanev and Eeli Tolvanen that turned the aforementioned 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 intermission lead. Vince Dunn and Shane Wright then scored valuable insurance goals in the third ahead of late comeback strikes by K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere to get the Rangers back within one with 5:03 to go in regulation.

But Yanni Gourde scored on an empty net in the final two minutes with Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick pulled for an extra attacker. And the Kraken headed home feeling a lot better about themselves than they had leaving on this trip seven days prior having dropped three straight contests against lowly San Jose and Anaheim.

The final game after a franchise first road victory over Carolina and another win against the New York Islanders ahead of a one-goal loss to New Jersey was not without some adversity. Projected starting goalie Joey Daccord fell ill, causing the Kraken to hastily sign a former college netminder named Michael Matyas, 33, who now works in Manhattan in the financial services industry, to a one-day amateur tryout contract on Sunday morning to serve as Philipp Grubauer’s backup.

Grubauer started the game, yielded an early goal by Reilly Smith, then took a blow to the head when steamrolled in his crease by Filip Chytill. The goalie stayed down several anxious moments, his ability to push through the blow all that was preventing Matyas from being forced into action.

Bjorkstrand tied things up on the power play in the second period, marking the third straight game the Kraken have scored with the man advantage. But the Rangers then struck for goals by Chytill and Vincent Trocheck soon afterwards and only some tough Grubauer saves kept the Rangers from running away with things.

“I think we knew we had to find a way to bounce back and create some energy," Bjorkstrand said. "So, we found it, which was good. But we were aware of the situation and kind of what we had to do."

What they did, as per Bjorkstrand's prior assessment, was create more energy pushing the puck straight ahead up ice and getting in behind New York defenders. That energy continued in the third with some strong wall play by Andre Burakovsky ahead of feeding Dunn for his one-timed slapper that put the Kraken up by two.

Dunn's return from injury a game before this trip has helped change the look of a Kraken team now far more adept at getting pucks out of their zone and pushing up ice in the aggressive manner they want. And changed some of the confidence level of a Kraken team now scoring goals both on the power play and at even strength.

"We're playing some good teams so getting three out of four is pretty good on the road," Bjorkstrand said. "So, we definitely feel good about ourselves, but we can't be too satisfied. We still have a lot of work to do so we know we've got to go home and keep going in that direction."

Kraken coach Dan Bylsma wasn't feeling all that confident about his chances early on with Grubauer down on the ice and not immediately getting up.

"I was actually wondering what Michael was thinking when Grubauer went down there," Bylsma said of emergency goalie Matyas, who once played for the University of Alaska-Anchorage. "I think (his) heart(beat) probably went to 180 immediately."

Matyas grew up knowing Kraken team services director Brennan Baxandall in Calgary and they'd since kept in touch, which is how the team found him on short notice Sunday morning shopping for baby formula for his two-week-old newborn.

But Grubauer toughed it out and his team toughened up and became more assertive as the game wore on. Bylsma said "a little change in mindset -- how we play, how we compete" was behind all three Kraken wins this trip.

"I think it's just a better and clearer understanding of how we're going to manage the puck," Bylsma said. "And how we're going to play with the puck that allows us to play fast, play on our toes and be the aggressor in the game."

And once Tanev got them going, converting a nice pass out front from Mitchell Stephens -- who collected his first Kraken point on the assist in his 100th NHL game -- the Kraken never really slowed down.

"We didn't like our last little bit before we came on the road here," Tanev said. "But that's three out of four, all against some good hockey teams. So, we've got some momentum moving forward and we've just got to continue playing the way we know how to play and keep pushing through."