Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Ben Chiarot blasted his fourth goal of the season past Joey Daccord 1:07 into the extra session, helping the Detroit Red Wings stave off the Seattle Kraken, 4-3 in overtime before a sellout crowd of 17,151 at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.
The matinee affair offered a massive window to get out of the day with a two point gap behind the wild card spot, after the Toronto Maple Leafs did the Kraken a solid, and hung a 4-2 win up on the St. Louis Blues (who hold the final spot). Instead, the Kraken let a valuable point slip away – and had to rally down a goal in the third period on Jaden Schwartz’s first goal in eight games to tie the score at 7:25.
They are within three points, but the opportunities lost are piling up, while Minnesota and Calgary also won to swell the cluster of four teams within three points or less of the Blues.
“The point’s a real important point,” said Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol. “It’s disappointing to lose the point in overtime. But the point we got was valuable. That’s the way it is this time of year - short memory. We gave them one puck back too many.”
Jared McCann scored twice and is ramping up his offense at the right time with a five game point streak. He answered Mo Seider’s one-timed blast with a power play goal, and snipe past Alex Lyon with 1:28 left in the first period, then answered Lucas Raymond’s 16th goal of the season by stashing a loose puck past Lyon with 9:09 left in the second.
“(Jamie Oleksiak) made a good play just to put it on net for me and I banged it in,” said McCann.
Former Kraken forward Daniel Sprong, making his first return to Seattle since leaving via free agency, made the moment count though with a wrister from the right circle, set up by Christian Fischer on a two-on-one break with 4:02 left in the second period for a 3-2 lead.
Schwartz made up for several squandered opportunities, including a hit post by Burakovsky in the second period, by slamming a cross-ice feed by Yanni Gourde to tie the game before the Kraken even had a chance to win it late in regulation, but Detroit killed off a cross-checking penalty to Olli Maatta to force overtime.
Lyon made 38 saves to get the win net and help Detroit split the two-game series, increase their padding to a four point lead in the east for the playoff cut line, and leaving the Kraken to struggle – almost in defiant manner – to keep their collective brain on the positive tracks with wins or points now in three straight games.
“We’re headed in the right direction but every single game is must win,” said McCann.
ONE BIG TAKE
It’s easy to view a game like this through a lens of salvaging a point. It’s certainly better than losing a valuable game in regulation. But the Kraken are facing a situation that’s growing urgent by the day, and each point lost is a daily deposit of a build-up that makes a big difference in their potential playoff fortunes.
On Monday, they were done in by the “close, but not close enough game.” They outshot the Red Wings, 9-3 in the first ten minutes and realistically could have built a 2-0 lead by the halfway point – using the energy of being back on home ice as a potential vehicle to a matinee victory.
“First ten minutes – pace and process of getting the puck to the bottom and the net was excellent,” said Hakstol. “They turned momentum for five or six minutes but we were able to push back.”
Producing scoring chances with a low ceiling of scoring power have continued to put an incredible amount of strain on the Kraken with their details and goaltenders, while illustrating their needs for additional scoring power – if they can hang in the playoff picture to make a trade by the deadline.
Time is running out to make a move.