Kraken score 3 goals in 3rd period for 1st win over Flames
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Daniel Sprong, Yanni Gourde and Matt Beniers scored in a five-minute span of the third period and the Seattle Kraken beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Carson Soucy and Morgan Geekie also scored as the Kraken beat the Flames for the first time. Oliver Bjorkstrand had a pair of assists and Joey Daccord stopped 36 of 40 shots for the win in his first start of the season.
“We’ve got so much more confidence in this group,” Gourde said. “Last year was last year. We know we can rally back and we know we have the skills to do it.”
Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist for Calgary to reach 400 career points. Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zadorov and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Flames, who led 4-2 early in the third.
Elias Lindholm added a pair of assists. Dan Vladar stopped 21 of 26 shots in the loss.
“We kept turning the puck over and eventually it was going to bite us,” Toffoli said. “That’s what happened.”
Calgary was up 2-1 against Edmonton on Saturday but lost 3-2.
“We’re not happy. We’re an older group and we know good teams don’t do that,” Toffoli said.
Calgary scored twice in a 17-second span starting at 1:34 of the third period for a 4-2 lead, but Seattle responded with power-play, short-handed and even-strength goals to pull ahead.
“Just finding timely plays and sticking with things, that’s how you come out of these types of games with two points,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
Beniers scored on an odd-man rush off a feed from Jordan Eberle at 13:26. Gourde stripped Kadri of the puck in the neutral zone for a short-handed breakaway at 11:26. And with Calgary’s Brett Ritchie serving an interference minor, Alex Wennberg at the side of the net fed Sprong for a one-timer at 8:31.
“A couple tough breaks that were kind of self-inflicted,” Kadri said. “Having a two-goal lead in the third period, you should be able to close it out, but give them credit. They pushed back.”
NOTES: Kadri, signed as a free agent in the offseason, has a team-leading 10 points (five goals, five assists) in eight games for Calgary. … Ritchie’s assist on Lewis’ goal extended his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). With three goals and three assists in eight games, Ritchie surpassed his point total from last season. … Beniers extended his point streak to five games (four goals, one assist). … Hakstol has taken a page from Calgary coach Darryl Sutter’s book in not naming a captain this season. The four Kraken alternates are Eberle, Gourde, Adam Larsson and Jaden Schwartz.
UP NEXT
Seattle: At the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Calgary: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
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