With the Seattle Kraken out of playoff contention, the final stretch means a focus on young players that could be contributors in the future.
That means a lot of attention on Shane Wright, and so far he's thriving with it.
Wright scored 68 seconds into the first period for his fourth goal in four games since being called up from the AHL, Philipp Grubauer made 39 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the Seattle Kraken beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-0 on Tuesday night.
André Burakovsky, Justin Schultz, Brandon Tanev and Will Borgen also scored as the Kraken won for the fifth time in seven games.
But with the playoffs no longer possible for Seattle, most of the attention has shifted to its young players called up from Coachella Valley of the AHL and specifically Wright, who won’t turn 21 until early next year.
Seattle’s first-round pick in 2022 had 20 goals in 53 games in the AHL this season and has immediately carried that production into his limited stint with the Kraken. Wright had the first three-point game of his career in a 3-1 win over Anaheim on Friday and needed a little more than a minute to get on the scoresheet against Arizona.
“He just turned 20 years old and everybody wants to spin the clock ahead and fast forward. It doesn’t work that way," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "So huge compliments to Shane in the way he’s continued to elevate his game.”
Wright collected a pass from Jordan Eberle near the goal line and flipped a backhanded shot that caught Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka off guard and caromed into the net.
“I’ll take anything, any way I can get them. They all count the same on the scoresheet, that’s what I’m going to say,” Wright said. “Just tried to get it on net there and a lucky bounce for sure but we’ll take it.”
Burakovsky scored on the power play 66 seconds after Wright’s goal, his fifth power-play goal of the season — a career-high. Schultz added his seventh of the season early in the third period, finishing off a two-on-one pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Tanev and Borgen scored in the third period, ending long goal droughts. Tanev had just one goal since late January, while Borgen hadn’t scored since mid-February.
Bjorkstrand and Matty Beniers had two assists apiece.
Grubauer’s shutout was his second of the season after blanking Pittsburgh in late February, when Seattle still had playoff aspirations, and 22nd of his career. He was especially good in second period, stopping 18 shots, including several dangerous opportunities. He made a pair of stops on Alex Kerfoot in the final minute to preserve the shutout.
“It means a lot. We don't have too many home games left so we want to make sure we finish this homestand off strong,” Grubauer said.
Arizona was shut out for the second time this season, the last coming in the third game of the season in a 1-0 loss to the New York Islanders in October.
Vejmelka made 20 saves for Arizona.
“They got a goal early and then it was tougher for us to generate offense. We came back and generated a few at the end but Grubauer was solid,” Arizona coach André Tourigny said.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Kraken: Play their last home game of the regular season on Thursday night against San Jose.
