Kraken defeat Sabres for fourth win in five games

BUFFALO -- Jared McCann and Mason Appleton each scored two goals for the Seattle Kraken in a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Brandon Tanev had a goal and two assists, and Morgan Geekie and Yanni Gourde each had two assists for the Kraken (8-13-1), who have won four of their past five games. Chris Driedger made 32 saves.
"The more you win, the more you trust the system," Appleton said. "Whether that is how your line plays, how the team plays, whatever that is, a win gives you belief in many different ways. I thought we did a good job for most of tonight's game. We hit a couple walls here and there. But at the end of the night, we got the points. And that's what matters in this league."
Jeff Skinner scored twice, Brett Murray had a goal and an assist, and Kyle Okposo had two assists for the Sabres (8-11-3). Dustin Tokarski made 25 saves.
"There were some good things in the game, but we didn't have a sense of urgency at the start with respect to details," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "That was obvious. We allowed too much, too easy, and then fought obviously the rest of the way as a result."
Carson Soucy scored the first shorthanded goal in Kraken history for a 1-0 lead at 5:47 of the first period. Gourde picked up a loose puck after Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin fell behind the Buffalo net and passed to Soucy in the high slot.
Tanev scored a second shorthanded goal when he poked the puck away from Dahlin at the Seattle blue line and held him off to score on the rebound of his own shot to make it 2-0 at 14:40.
"That's just good, hard work," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "Good instincts on the first one, 'Gourdie' gets up ice and creates a turnover. He could kind of sense that, and he got up and got on top of it, and the second one is just great individual effort."

McCann extended it to 3-0 when he was left uncovered to the left of the net and scored off the rebound of a point shot from Jamie Oleksiak at 19:04.
Murray scored his first NHL goal to cut it to 3-1 at 1:53 of the second period, jamming in the rebound of Okposo's shot at the left side of the net.
"It was a pretty special feeling," said Murray, who played his sixth NHL game. "It's something that you've worked your whole life for. For it to finally happen is amazing. Even more amazing that I was able to have my entire family in the stands there. It makes it even more special."

McCann put the Kraken ahead 4-1 at 7:59 when he skated into the slot uncovered to tap in a pass from below the goal line from Geekie.
Skinner cut it to 4-2 on the power play when he spun around at the goal line and banked the puck in off Driedger's left pad at 17:27.
Appleton scored 42 seconds later, pushing in his second attempt at the rebound of a Will Borgen shot to make it 5-2 at 18:09.
"You look at how goals are scored in the NHL, and a lot of them are right around the net," Appleton said, "It's easy offense. Obviously, there's pretty goals to be had. But those count the same as the gritty ones."
Skinner cut it to 5-3 37 seconds into the third period when he scored after picking up a rebound in front of the net. It was his eighth goal of the season in his 22nd game, one more than he scored last season in 53 games.
"Last year was a challenging year, obviously not how I would have liked to contribute to the team," Skinner said. "You like to contribute to the team so they win. So, personally, it's nice to get going. Hopefully we can keep it [going]. I think as a line (with Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson) we're playing pretty well. … But yeah, part of my job is to generate offense and to capitalize on opportunities, and I'm going to try and keep doing that."
Jaden Schwartz scored on a one-timer from the right face-off circle on an odd-man rush at 13:44 for a 6-3 lead.
Dylan Cozens tipped in a shot by Okposo to make it 6-4 at 18:27.
Appleton scored into an empty net with 25 seconds left for the 7-4 final.
Kraken forward Jordan Eberle left the game at 11:57 of the second period with a lower-body injury. Hakstol did not have an update.
NOTES: Borgen's assist on Appleton's second-period goal was his first NHL point. The defenseman was selected by the Sabres in the fourth round (No. 92) of the 2015 NHL Draft. … Gourde's assist on Soucy's shorthanded goal was his 200th NHL point. ... Dahlin got his 100th NHL assist on Skinner's first goal. … Buffalo defenseman Will Butcher was back in the lineup after four games as a healthy scratch. He was plus-1 in 21:14 replacing Jacob Bryson, who was out with an undisclosed injury.