Seattle Kraken end losing streak with shootout victory over Blackhawks
The losing streak didn’t go easily.
The Kraken entered Monday’s game having lost nine straight games, including 12 of their last 13. They left with a 3-2 shoot-out victory over the Chicago Blackhawks — the first overtime and shootout victory in franchise history.
It was a game Seattle mostly dominated, finishing with 37 shots to Chicago’s 27. But a tremendous performance from Blackhawks goalie Marc Andre-Fleury — he finished with 35 saves — meant the Kraken faced an uphill battle to earn their first victory since Dec. 14.
“Sometimes when things get tough,” said Seattle forward Ryan Donato, “you kind of forget what it feels like to have good things happen like that. Now things are great and hopefully, we can get some steam off that and keep it rolling.”
When the Chicago Blackhawks took an early lead, and then a one-goal advantage into intermission, it seemed almost inevitable that the slide would reach 10 games.
But the Kraken put a stop to it instead.
Two minutes into the third period, a Donato goal evened the score at 2-2. Jared McCann then had the opportunity to give Seattle the lead with a penalty shot, but Fleury got the stop to preserve the tie.
The game headed to overtime, a period that hasn’t treated Seattle well. This time, though, the Kraken peppered Fleury with quality shots. One of the last was an attempt from Alex Wennberg that bounced off the post.
That brought up the Kraken’s first shootout. While Seattle goaltender Phillip Grubauer didn’t allow a goal, Donato and Joonas Donskoi each got the puck past Fleury. Donskoi’s goal sealed the victory for the Kraken, giving them their first point since an overtime loss to Philadelphia on Dec. 29.
“It hasn’t gone our way lately and we’ve been losing a lot of games,” Donskoi said. “I think just the will and everybody wanted to win. Everybody had been wanting to win for a long time now. Going to overtime and shootouts, you could feel everybody wanting to get the win out of the way.”
The victory is certainly worth a celebration — but the big question now is whether the Kraken can build off of it.
Seattle went through a six-game losing streak earlier in the season, one it snapped with a victory over the Washington Capitals at the end of November. Entering the game, the Kraken had lost eight of their last nine.
They followed that victory by winning four of their next six games, their best stretch of the season. But they’ve only won back-to-back games three times, a stat that’s prevented them from climbing out of last place in the Pacific Division.
“Every time you lose a game it’s not fun,” Grubauer said. “The more you lose, the more frustrating it is. We’re in a winning business. We need points. We need wins. … We were really close in the last couple of games but didn’t get that bounce. Today we got that bounce.”
Head coach Dave Hakstol said the Kraken have had some “tough mornings” during the most recent losing streak.
“We’d need a little bit of time to regroup and kind of gather ourselves,” Hakstol said. “But we’ve always come back renewed, whether it’s coming back to practice and getting our work in or coming back on the next game day. That’s a real credit to our players.
“It’s not fun. You go through tough stretches where things are not going well. Nobody’s ducking that. It’s not a lot of fun, but tonight was a hell of a lot of fun.”
The Kraken are now two games in to a six-game homestand. They’ll return to the ice against San Jose on Thursday in the hopes of earning their first back-to-back wins since November.
“I think when you keep losing games, it gets frustrating,” Donskoi said. “I don’t know, sometimes during that streak it felt like no matter how hard we tried we were not able to get wins and the pressure starts building. Getting that win out of the way it’s a little bit of a relief. I’m sure we’re going to get some energy from this moving forward and try to build a winning streak from now on.”
Noteworthy
For the second time in as many games, the Kraken’s game day experience included an exciting debut. On Saturday, it was an new pregame presentation. On Monday, it was a four-month old husky mix named Davy Jones.
Davy Jones will serve as Seattle’s team dog, making appearances at games and practice. In partnership with Canidae Pet Food, the Kraken will share Davy Jones’ journey as he trains to become a therapy dog.
