Remain undefeated in regulation at home and extend their points streak to five games with victory over the Chicago Blackhawks that saw them afforded a multi-goal lead for one of only a few times this season
Seeing Matty Beniers convert a three-way scoring play with his linemates just ahead of this game’s midway point gave the Kraken something they haven’t enjoyed a whole lot of this season.
That would be a multi-goal lead, which the overtime-inclined Kraken rode to a 3-1 win Monday night over the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a Climate Pledge Arena crowd that’s still yet to see the home side drop a regulation game. Beniers snapped home a nifty backhanded feed from Jordan Eberle to the slot on a second period play that originated with a pinpoint pass from atop the right circle by new linemate Eeli Tolvanen.
The goal itself came on the power play, though the threesome also were playing together on an even strength trio as the Kraken shuffled their lines in a bid to generate more shots and offense overall. Former Kraken winger Andre Burakovsky, playing his first game back since his trade to Chicago over the summer, cut the lead in half by snapping Joey Daccord’s shutout bid with just 11:33 to go in regulation.
But Eberle restored the multi-goal advantage with under four minutes to play, carrying the puck in 2-on-1 and firing it home.
The Kraken had responded to all the pregame line shuffling by putting together half as many shots in the opening four-plus minutes as the dozen they managed all night in regulation Saturday against the New York Rangers, though any scoring had to wait until Jamie Oleksiak chipped a long shot from the right point past Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom a few minutes into the middle period.
It was only five minutes later that Tolvenen hit Eberle with a pass at the side of the Chicago net and watched the Kraken captain fling it backhanded to Beniers for the one-timer and multi goal cushion. That gave Daccord some needed extra cushion after Burakovsky cut the lead in half by scoring with just 11:33 remaining in the final period.
Daccord had been that much time away from his second shutout in fewer than two weeks, the last one coming when he also was afforded a multi-goal lead in Winnipeg – albeit courtesy of some empty net goals the final two minutes.
Multi-goal leads had been rare indeed for the Kraken ahead of the Beniers strike. Out of just under 688 minutes of regulation play this season to that point, only a little more than 46 minutes had been spent leading by more than a goal.
That helps explain why the Kraken, now 6-2-4 on the season, entered play Monday on pace to play 44 overtime games – which would shatter the league record of 30 set by the 2004 Boston Bruins. Not that it’s a bad thing to have picked up an additional eight points already this season by extending games beyond 60 minutes. The issue becomes the difficulty in constantly playing in one-goal or tied games in every third period night after night with little margin for error.
Kraken head coach Lane Lambert has said his team needs to feel comfortable in tight situations and they certainly appear to have taken him very literally at times. But Lambert recently has also lamented the lack of shooting by his squad and a decline in the particular kind of gritty net front offense that paid dividends for them the opening couple of weeks.
“The last couple of games we’ve talked about shot volume and shots creating other shots,” Lambert said after Monday’s morning skate. “Just putting more pucks to the net. You’ve got to score ‘greasy’ goals in this league. We’re not going to be able to pass it into the net.”
The Beniers goal wasn’t particularly “greasy” more than it was a nice set of passing, though Eberle did get down low to receive the Tolvanen feed to a well-positioned Beniers in the dangerous slot area. Oleksiak’s goal looked like a golf chip that somehow made its way through a maze of players positioned at the net front and past a partially screened goaltender.
Which was sort of Lambert’s point all along: Get pucks through to the net with players ready to do some dirty work and good things can happen.
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