Coronato has four points, Flames cruise past Kraken

CALGARY -- Matt Coronato had a goal and three assists, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Seattle Kraken 6-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

It’s the first four-point and three-assist game for the forward in his fourth full NHL season.

“I think in the second and third (periods), we were really playing our game the way we want to,” Coronato said. “As a group, I thought everyone was doing the right things and everything was going our way. If we can just stick to that simple game and keep playing like that, I think things are going to be good.”

Joel Farabee had a goal and two assists for the Flames (6-7-0), who won their fifth straight game at home and fifth in their past six. Morgan Frost and Matvei Gridin each had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Wolf made 20 saves.

“It’s just what you do the next day, so you have a loss and just get right back out there,” Farabee said of the Flames, who lost 4-0 at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. “I thought we came out with a great effort and this team has kind of owned us the first two times we played them, so we wanted to come out with a good effort and I thought we did that.”

Mackie Samoskevich had a goal and an assist for the Kraken (8-5-1), who defeated the Flames in their home opener on Oct. 1 and again at home in Seattle three nights later, each a 6-1 win.

The teams will face off against each other for the fourth and final time this season on Saturday, playing the second game of their home-and-home series at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

“They really stepped up lately,” Kraken forward Frederick Gaudreau said of the Flames. “Honestly, there are those games to start the season. Sometimes it happens. Teams are trying to find their identity or whatnot or trying to get connected together, but we weren’t thinking that they were not going to be good.

“They’re a really good team. We knew that, but somehow they were better than us tonight.”

Philipp Grubauer stopped 10 of 14 shots he faced before being replaced in net at 10:40 of the second period by Joey Daccord, who made 11 saves in relief.

“I would say probably the worst 40 minutes I’ve been a part of since I got here,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said of the final two periods. “Losing battles, turning pucks over, mistakes on the wall, allowing power-play goals. List goes on and on.”

Frost put the Flames up 1-0 with a power-play goal at 2:32 of the first period on the first shot of the game for either team. He took a pass from Farabee and snapped a shot from the left circle over Grubauer’s glove.

“The power play was good,” said Calgary coach Ryan Huska, whose team went 2-for-2 on the power play. “That helps, for sure, when they’re feeling like they are right now.”​

The Kraken tied it 1-1 at 11:34. Samoskevich's backhand pass found Gaudreau in front, and his initial shot rebounded off Wolf before Gaudreau collected the loose puck and backhanded his own rebound past the goalie.

Aydar Suniev one-timed a pass from Frost past Grubauer at 5:45 of the second period to put Calgary up 2-1.

“He can score,” Huska said of Suniev. “(When) he puts himself in areas where he gets the puck, he can rip it. That’s what he’s done all the way growing up from junior (hockey) to the American (Hockey) League.”

Gridin made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:43 when his shot from the top of the right circle deflected off Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans’ skate and past Grubauer.

Set up by a Mikael Backlund backhand pass, Farabee scored on a wrist shot from the slot through Grubauer’s legs at 10:40 to make it 4-1.

“Everyone’s confidence is just a little bit more than it was before,” Farabee said. “A couple guys score and everyone’s feeling good on the bench.”

Samoskevich cut Calgary's lead to 4-2 on the power play at 18:15. He one-timed a pass from Kaapo Kakko, who won the puck in a battle along the boards.

“Kaapo just made a nice play there, put it on a platter for me, so it definitely felt good and it was a big goal at that time,” Samoskevich said.

Just 39 seconds into the third period, Coronato broke into the Flames offensive zone and snapped a shot from the slot past Daccord’s glove to make it 5-2.

Ryan Strome chipped a pass from Gridin up and over Daccord at 18:14 for the 6-2 final.

NOTES: Seattle forward Berkly Catton drew the secondary assist on Samoskevich’s goal to extend his career-long point streak to six games (two goals, five assists). … The Flames won their 61st consecutive game when scoring four-plus goals in a game, which tied the Boston Bruins (61 from Jan. 18, 1927 to Nov. 24, 1931) for the second longest streak in NHL history. The only team with a longer run is the New York Rangers (65 from Oct. 31, 2011 to Nov. 5, 2014).