Last Saturday, the Seattle Kraken handed the previously undefeated Calgary Flames a 2-1 overtime defeat.
The Kraken will strive to hand another team its first blemish on Thursday when they host the Winnipeg Jets, who have won their first six games.
The Jets opened a three-game trip with a 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Kyle Connor scored for a fourth consecutive game, Cole Perfetti had three assists and Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves as Winnipeg extended the best season start in franchise history.
“That was a great road win,” Perfetti said. “A good way to start off the trip. There’s times where they made good pushes and we responded well. That was a great second period and we got some timely goals. It was a great effort by our group.”
Winnipeg scored all three of its goals in the second period. Nino Niederreiter’s power-play tally evened the game at 1-1 before Colin Miller and Connor tacked on to put the visitors ahead for good.
“I thought we were really good in the second,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We got out of our zone a lot cleaner going fast. We won a bunch of battles and obviously scored. We got a power-play goal and another goal. And then we got rolling again. We got them back on their heels a bit.”
Added Connor: “We just kind of stuck with it. Same plan (as the first period). Obviously frustrating not being able to capitalize on some of those chances with a lot of zone time. Stuck with it. Obviously, (Colin) Miller’s goal was huge for us to kind of get us going. Not getting frustrated was the biggest thing. I think we did a mature job to do what we do best.”
The Kraken had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 3-2 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Jared McCann scored his 100th goal with the Kraken, the first player in the franchise’s four-year history to reach that milestone.
“Obviously, it would have been a lot nicer with a win,” McCann said, “but I have a lot of people to thank for that. Obviously, being here with this organization has meant a lot to me and my family, getting an opportunity to stay somewhere and getting an opportunity to play.”
The Kraken were without defenseman Vince Dunn (upper-body injury), who was placed on long-term injured reserve Monday.
“Someone’s got to step up,” McCann said. “We’ve got to step up collectively. Obviously, (Dunn’s) a huge loss. He’s a big part of this team. But injuries happen in this league, and it’s an opportunity for a young guy to step up and make a difference.”
Defenseman Ryker Evans also scored for the Kraken on Tuesday, but his power-play tally came with 3.5 seconds remaining.
Seattle coach Dan Bylsma agreed with McCann that others need to fill the void left by Dunn.
“I think Vince is a guy who seems to be able to come up with the right play at the right time in both passing and shooting to get us set up to get a goal,” Bylsma said. “But we’ve got plenty of others on the back end to step in and do it. Monty (Brandon Montour) is that guy. Lars (Adam Larsson) is that guy, and Ryker is that guy as he was (Tuesday).
“But I think we need to become a little bit more determined offensive team if we’re going to score more goals.”
–Field Level Media
