Canucks hand Kraken fourth straight loss

VANCOUVER -- Tyler Motte had a goal and an assist for the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena on Monday.

Juho Lammikko, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each had two assists, and Thatcher Demko made 25 saves for the Canucks (24-22-6), who bounced back from a 7-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday during which they fell behind 5-0.
As a result of that performance, Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau decided to start the game with his fourth line of Motte, Lammikko and Matthew Highmore because he trusted them to "hound the puck if they got it in deep," which is exactly what they did.
Motte scored 11 seconds into the game to put Vancouver ahead 1-0. After the puck hopped over Seattle goalie Chris Driedger's stick behind the net, Highmore passed down the boards to Lammikko, who fed Motte for a quick shot at the left edge of the crease.
"We play simple, we play hard and fast, create a few turnovers, and we're going to continue to generate a little bit of offense," Motte said. "For us, it's making sure we're taking care of the [defensive] side of it, too. We're not giving them much there. Contributing offensively is obviously huge for our group. We don't want to put too much pressure on our top guys to score every night."

Driedger made a season-high 41 saves for the Kraken (16-32-4), who have lost four in a row.
"We had a rough night with the puck all night," Seattle captain Mark Giordano said. "We usually break the puck out a lot cleaner, don't spend time in our zone and they were desperate. We knew they're going to be desperate coming off a bad loss, you can tell right from the start."
The bounce over Driedger's stick and early goal didn't help.
"Definitely not the start we were looking for," Driedger said. "I go back and that one bounces on me and then the next one bounces on me and I realized that there's an inch high bump in the ice, so that's tough. Obviously, want to still make the save there, never good to start a game down 1-0 11 seconds in."
Jared McCann tied it 1-1 at 3:12 of the first, converting a pass from Marcus Johansson on a 2-on-1.
Giordano then gave Seattle a 2-1 lead at 14:26 when he received a lob pass from Joonas Donskoi and scored on a breakaway. It was his 11th career shorthanded goal, the most among active NHL defensemen.
Travis Hamonic tied it 2-2 at 3:45 of the second period with a one-timer off another pass from Lammikko from below the goal line. It was Hamonic's first goal this season and 200th NHL point (41 goals, 159 assists).
Vasily Podkolzin scored his first goal since Jan. 1 (17 games) to put Vancouver back in front 3-2 at 16:41, capitalizing on a rebound at the top of the crease.
"I was so happy for him," Boudreau said. "He tries so hard and works so hard. When you get into a bit of a prolonged slump, scoring a goal makes you feel an awful lot better."

The Canucks outshot the Kraken 18-4 in the second period.
"They won the races, they won the puck battles, and because of that they had the majority of the zone time," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "You end up spending your energy playing defense and there's not much left to go in the other direction. The second period made the difference in this hockey game."
Bo Horvat scored 35 seconds into the third period with a one-timer from the left hash marks during a power play to make it 4-2. It was his second goal in nine games since returning from NHL COVID-19 protocol, which caused him to miss five games.
"There's no doubt he's been struggling since he got back," Boudreau said. "It's the monkey off your back type scenario, and it just alleviates a lot of pressure that you're putting on yourself, and hopefully that's what happens with him."
Pettersson, who had the secondary assist on Horvat's goal, has scored 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his past 15 games, including seven (one goal, six assists) in his past three, after beginning the season with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 36 games.
"I feel great. I think I'm creating a lot. I feel like myself out there. I'm playing with fun," said Pettersson, who missed the final 30 games of last season because of a wrist injury he said was still being taped up to start this season. "Definitely it was a slow start for me. It took me way longer than I wanted to this season, but in the last few weeks I feel like myself again."
Tanner Pearson shot into an empty net with 1:32 left for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: McCann, who was selected by Vancouver in the first round (No. 24) of the 2014 NHL Draft, played his 400th NHL game. … Giordano trails Mark Howe (28), Paul Coffey (20), Ray Bourque (16), Bobby Orr (16), Chris Chelios (13) and Red Kelly (12) for the most shorthanded goals by a defenseman in NHL history. Kelly scored 15 career shorthanded goals, but three came as a forward.