Canadiens score twice in seven seconds, defeat Kraken

SEATTLE -- Shane Wright scored his first NHL goal, but the Montreal Canadiens scored twice in seven seconds in the second period in a 4-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.

Wright, the No. 4 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, scored in the first period in his eighth game for Seattle after being recalled by Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League on Sunday.
"It feels good to finally score one, feels good to finally hit the back of the net," Wright said. "Anytime you can score to help your team out during the game always feels good. Maybe a little bit of relief. I think more so it's more excitement and you know, happiness, joy and all that."

Cole Caufield scored his 15th of the season, and Johnathan Kovacevic got his first NHL goal for the Canadiens (13-11-2), who lost 7-6 in overtime at the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. Jake Allen made 31 saves.
"It was a great win and [coach Martin St. Louis] was really happy with us because we were kind of in a similar situation as last night," Montreal forward Rem Pitlick said. "We had some momentum and we lost it, so we had to find out a way to win when it was against us."
Jared McCann scored for the Kraken (15-7-3), who have lost two in a row after a franchise-best seven-game winning streak. Martin Jones made 12 saves.
"We've got to clean up a couple of things that we know were blatant and obvious," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "What we do need to do is get in a little bit better sync with the button. That's where we weren't efficient enough in terms of getting through the neutral zone, getting out of our zone through the neutral zone and being cohesive with the puck. So, defensively, we know what those issues are. That's a quick cleanup. But our play with the puck after it has to get a little bit more organized and a little bit more cohesion to it."
Kovacevic scored his first NHL goal with a wrist shot from the left point at 12:56 of the first period to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
Wright tied it 1-1 with his first NHL goal in his eighth game on a one-timer from Oliver Bjorkstrand at 15:30.

The Canadiens responded with the two fastest goals on the road in their history. Caufield one-timed a feed from Nick Suzuki at 2:05 to make it 2-1, and Josh Anderson gave Montreal a 3-1 lead at 2:12 when he buried a cross-ice feed from Christian Dvorak.
"It's an opportunity to face the same scenario, give up the late goal in the second, take a two-goal lead in the third, same scenario as last night," St. Louis said. "It was something we really addressed today, talked about and had a discussion about it. Glad we had that opportunity. There's a progression in how we want to play as a team.
"Teaching the brand and teaching to win are two different things and you can't really address it at once, you need circumstances and scenarios, examples and you gradually get better at winning."
Pitlick made it 4-1 at 18:40 on a one-timer from Joel Edmundson, but McCann cut it to 4-2 when he redirected Andre Burakovsky's feed in the final second of the period.
Allen made 14 saves in the third period.
"He's the best, he's an amazing goalie, he's a great guy," Kovacevic said. "How hard he works, everything about him is a picture of solid, a true pro, and he stands on his head for us. We're so lucky to have him. There's going to be mistakes back there and he's had our backs all season."
NOTES:Pitlick's goal was his fourth at Climate Pledge Arena; he scored a hat trick here with the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 13, 2021. … Wright is the youngest player to score a goal in Kraken history (18). He surpassed rookie forward Matty Beniers (19).