Washington Capitals drop first meeting ever to Kraken
The Washington Capitals road trip concluded with a thud in the sparkling new Climate Pledge Arena, home to the Seattle Kraken. The NHL’s newest franchise was on a six game losing streak until they came away with four unanswered goals in a 5-2 win.
The Caps struck first for their only lead of the night. Evgeny Kuznetsov stole the puck behind the goal along the boards. He found a charging Tom Wilson who finished it for his sixth goal of the season at 3:34.
The Kraken tied it on a goal from Jared McCann on the power play at 15:58. 1-1 was the score after one as the Kraken led in shots 14-11.
The Kraken added three goals in the second period. First it was Jaden Schwartz at 6:17. Then it was Adam Larsson at the seven minute mark. Finally Calle Jarnkrok joined the party at 13:51. 4-1 was the score after two with the Kraken leading in shots 9-5 in the second period.
Alex Ovechkin got one back at 3:09 for his 15th goal of the season. It came on a shot up the middle assisted by Dmitry Orlov and Wilson. It was his 745th of his career. He’s 21 away from number three Jaromir Jagr, 56 away from Gordie Howe, and 149 away from Wayne Gretzky.
The Kraken would put a cap to the scoring on a goal from Yanni Gourde at 19:31. 5-2 would be the final. The Caps outshot the Kraken 23-8 in the third period and 39-31 overall. They were simply beat by former Capital Philipp Grubauer as he made 37 saves. Seattle Kraken legend Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves.
The Caps had more complications than a loss. T.J. Oshie suffered a separate injury the night before against the San Jose Sharks and is now day to day with a lower body injury. Conor Sheary was also ruled out as day to day with an upper body injury. This came a day after his two goal effort in San Jose.
During the Caps 23 shot effort in the third period, Ovechkin played a whooping 10:42 in just the third period alone. Caps head Coach Peter Laviolette said that Oshie suffered his injury late Saturday night against the Sharks causing him to miss the final few shifts. As for Sheary, he took warmups Sunday night but something popped up as he was preparing for the game.
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The Caps are flying back from Seattle and will also have a scheduled off day tomorrow before their Thanksgiving Eve matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.