CALGARY, AB — Jared McCann had a goal and an assist to help the Seattle Kraken beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Monday night for their third win in four games.
Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Adam Larsson also scored for Seattle, which is 6-2-1 in its last nine. Philipp Grubauer stopped 35 shots as the Kraken pulled even with the Flames in the Western Conference playoff chase, seven points back of idle Nashville for the second wild card.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored twice for Calgary, which snapped a five-game winning streak. Jacob Markstrom finished with 26 saves.
Kuzmenko has 13 goals on the season and five in 10 games since being acquired from Vancouver on Jan. 31 as part of the trade that sent Elias Lindholm to the Canucks.
After going more than two months between starts, missing a bulk of that due to a lower-body injury, Grubauer has been excellent since his return to the crease on Feb. 13, going 5-1-0 with a .943 save percentage.
With Seattle up 3-1 after Larsson’s goal 21 seconds into the third period, Calgary cut the deficit in half on Kuzmenko’s second of the night at 7:46.
The Flames then got consecutive power plays in an attempt to pull even. However, after failing to score on the first, it was the Kraken that scored on the second.
Rasmus Andersson had the puck stripped off him by McCann at the blue line and he raced in on Markstrom, scoring short-handed for his team-leading 26th goal with 7:31 remaining.
Less than a minute later, Calgary rookie Martin Pospisil was given a major and a game misconduct for drilling Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn into the end boards from behind. Visibly shaken up but leaving the ice on his own, Dunn went to the dressing room and didn’t return.
After a listless first period in which Calgary fell behind 1-0, the Flames were better in the second period, tying it at 7:50 on a crafty effort from Kuzmenko on the power play. The 28-year-old Russian faked going behind the net, prompting Grubauer to look over his other shoulder, only to cut back and jam it inside the near post for his 100th career NHL point.
Seattle reclaimed the lead less than five minutes later when poor defensive coverage by Oliver Kylington left Bjorkstrand open in the slot and he one-timed McCann’s centering pass behind Markstrom. Bjorkstrand’s third goal in the last four games gave him 16 on the season.
Seattle was the better team by a wide margin in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the home side 11-2 and scoring the only goal.
At 4:04, Dunn’s point shot hit a couple of players in front where it was corralled by Gourde and whipped behind Markstrom for his eighth.
Seattle center Alex Wennberg did not play, nor take the morning skate with the team, for what coach Dave Hakstol said earlier in the day was “trade-related issues.” A pending UFA at season’s end, the 29-year-old Swede has nine goals and 25 points in 60 games.
UP NEXT
Kraken: At Winnipeg on Tuesday night to finish a two-game trip.
Flames: At Tampa Bay on Thursday night to open a three-game trip.
