ST. PAUL – The first two-and-half minutes of this road game featured solid Kraken shifts that generated offensive-zone puck possession and a strong handful of shots on goal. The next two minutes? Not so much. Western Conference wild-card leader Minnesota scored three goals on six shots in two minutes and two seconds. Dizzying numbers, were enough for Seattle coach Dan Bylsma to use his one allowed timeout with 4:29 elapsed on the clock.
From there, matters settled with the Kraken, who cranked nine more shots on goal in the opening frame while holding the home squad to just two shots on goal. And that included two penalties expertly snuffed by the Kraken PK units in the last 10 minutes of the period. But those three Wild goals scored on Philipp Grubauer and his teammates pretty much salted the outcome of this game.
The eventual 4-0 Minnesota win prevented Seattle from winning on the second night of back-to-back for the first time in 11 attempts. The Kraken travel next to Edmonton for a Saturday matchup. To make matters sting a bit more, Kraken leading scorer Chandler Stephenson left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury, not to return. There was no update from coach Dan Bylsma after the game.
The outcome strengthened Minnesota’s hold on the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference and closed the gap behind division foe Colorado to two standings points with the Avalanche and their seven new trade acquisitions losing in Toronto Tuesday. The Wild are playing without key skaters, most particularly star scorer Kirill Kaprizov who has missed 31 of his team’s last 34 games yet was leads in goals with 23. Young star winger Matt Boldy tallied his 22nd score of the year to make it 2-0 just four minutes into the game, then scored an empty-net goal to tie Kaprizov for the team lead.
A half-minute later, American Hockey League callup Liam Ohgren scored his second goal of the year in 24 appearances while the first Minnesota goal came off the stick of veteran center Ryan Hartman, who has now scored three goals in his eight games back after an eight-game suspension for slew-footing (using a foot or leg to knock an opponent’s feet out from under him.) in the faceoff against Edmonton star Leon Draisaitl.
Second Period, Third Period Chances
The second period unfolded as what Kraken coach Dan Bylsma calls “low-event” with the home team effectively managing and protecting a three-goal, but in the middle period rather than waiting for the final 20 minutes. The Kraken totaled nine shots on goal in the middle stanza, a third of which were Grade-A scoring chances as per Natural Stat Trick. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson was up to the task on his way to his fifth shutout of the season. It should be noted Philipp Grubauer made several solid saves to keep the Kraken from sinking any deeper than the three-goal deficit.
The final 20 minutes, unfortunately, was more of the same with some solid Seattle scoring chances halted Gustavsson to the end.
