Defenseman Adam Larsson had a goal and an assist as the Seattle Kraken defeated the host Washington Capitals 4-1 Thursday night to tie the franchise record with an eighth consecutive victory.
Tye Kartye, Alex Wennberg and Justin Schultz also tallied and Brandon Tanev had two assists for the Kraken, who extended their franchise-best point streak to 12 games (10-0-2). Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord made 25 saves.
Oft-injured Max Pacioretty scored his first goal for the Capitals while playing in just his fourth game since being signed as a free agent in the offseason. Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 of 23 shots as Washington lost for the seventh time in the past nine games (2-5-2).
Larsson picked up a secondary assist on Seattle’s first goal and scored the last. On the latter, he joined a three-on-two rush and took a pass from Tanev before beating Kuemper with a backhander between the pads at 12:02 of the third for a 4-1 lead.
Kartye and Wennberg scored first-period goals, and the Capitals never caught up.
Kartye opened the scoring at 8:50 on a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle after taking a drop pass from Jared McCann.
Wennberg made it 2-0 at 18:12 following a Washington turnover at the offensive blue line. Tanev got the puck and fed Wennberg just shy of center ice. Wennberg skated over the blue line, used a defender as a screen and beat Kuemper with a wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circles.
Pacioretty got the Capitals on the board at 5:47 of the second. Trevor van Riemsdyk sent a stretch pass to Alex Ovechkin, who skated the puck over the blue line on the left wing and sent a backhanded pass to Dylan Strome. With two defenders converging on him, Strome stepped over the pass and let the puck continue to Pacioretty, whose one-timer from just inside the right faceoff dot left Daccord little chance.
With the assist, Ovechkin extended his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists).
Schultz tallied at 18:20 of second. He drove the puck down the right wing, worked a give-and-go with Eeli Tolvanen and then centered a pass for Yanni Gourde at the top of the crease. The puck bounced off a skate and Schultz continued to head for the net, lifting a backhander just inside the near post.
The Kraken also won eight consecutive games in January 2023.
–Field Level Media
