On a December afternoon a little more than three months ago in Vancouver, the Kraken handed their Pacific Northwest rivals their most shocking loss of the season.
The Kraken added another victory over the Canucks on Wednesday night that likely served as the final blow to keep Vancouver out of the Stanley Cup playoffs just like its neighbors to the south.
Consider it a little added victory for the Kraken on top of the two points earned in the standings.
“We were just worried about us tonight. We weren’t looking at the standings or anything like that,” forward Jared McCann told reporters. “We wanted to come out with a full 60-minute effort. That’s something we kind of missed this season was consistency with that and I feel like tonight was a better effort.”
Mikey Eyssimont, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright, Andre Burakovsky and Adam Larsson all scored, Jared McCann handed out three assists and Joey Daccord made 25 saves in Seattle’s 5-0 win over Vancouver on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.
“Obviously a shutout is a team result and (we) came up with big plays and good sticks, big blocks from our team tonight. The penalty kill, just incredible. It was fun to watch out there,” Daccord told reporters.
The Kraken (32-38-6, 70 points) snapped a two-game losing streak and capped their most successful season to date against their closest rival. The win also left Vancouver eight points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference with only seven games remaining. The math isn’t in the favor of the Canucks and in the bigger picture of the season the Kraken had a role in making that happen.
The Kraken finished the season 3-0-1 against the Canucks, earning a point in all four matchups. The record-setting comeback in December will be the game that’s most remembered when the Kraken rallied for three goals in the final five minutes to force overtime before Vince Dunn scored the winner in the extra session. While Vancouver pulled out a shootout victory in early January, the Kraken followed up with a dominant 6-3 win at Climate Pledge Arena in March and capped the season with Wednesday’s performance.
After watching the Canucks win the first six matchups since the Kraken joined the NHL, seven of the past nine have gone in favor of Seattle. And what once was a burgeoning rivalry dominated by the team north of the 49th parallel has moved decidedly south.
The Kraken survived some dangerous living spending more time than preferred on the penalty kill in the opening minutes of the game. And once through those shaky opening minutes, the Kraken mostly dominated.
Eyssimont scored his third goal in 14 games since being acquired by the Kraken at the trade deadline. His first-period goal came off a turnover at center ice by Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk and like previous games gave the Kraken an early lead.
This time, they extended that advantage.
Stephenson finished off a 3-on-2 rush midway through the second period with his 12th goal. McCann and Burakovsky picked up the assists and Stephenson beat Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko with a spot-perfect shot over the goalie’s shoulder and into the far corner of the goal.
Later in the second period, it was Wright’s turn with a shot directed at almost the exact same spot as Stephenson’s goal. McCann picked up another assist, dropping the puck to Wright and beating Demko over his glove shoulder for his 18th goal.
Burakovsky’s goal midway through the third period came off a terrific play by McCann as he held the puck long enough to draw the defense and absorbed a hit while feeding Burakovsky to finish his ninth goal into the open net.
And the capper came from Larsson with 3:36 remaining into an empty net for his seventh goal. McCann had three assists in a game for the third time in his career, all three coming in the past two seasons.
“Jared is known for his shot, but his playmaking ability has been there for us all season long,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said.
At the other end of the ice, Daccord was tremendous with his second shutout of the season, the other coming back in November against Nashville. Daccord’s best stop may have come when Seattle was on the power play but surrendered a short-handed chance to Drew O’Connor in front of goal. Daccord made a quick reaction and snagged the glove save to keep the game scoreless.
“Tonight was a good result for the team and I’m proud of the effort,” Daccord said.
Seattle’s impressive victory came without its two leading goal scorers. Both Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen did not play due to undisclosed injuries. Bylsma said before the game both players were day-to-day.
