Final Buzzer: Kraken Win 7th Straight on Beniers OT Goal

The Kraken extended their franchise-high winning streak to seven and did it with more magic from rookie sensation Matty Beniers. He took the opening faceoff of overtime - good move from Dave Hakstol and his coaching staff - then when Andre Burakovsky won a 50-50 puck against Washington all-star defenseman John Carlson, the Kraken winger moved the puck to his rookie teammate. Beniers skated the loose puck into the Washington zone and shot it past goalie Darcy Kuemper seven seconds into overtime.

Beniers Streak Continues in Dramatic Fashion

Earlier Thursday, Vegas rookie goaltender Logan Thompson was named NHL Rookie of the Month by the league, in large part for Thompson's 8-2 record. The guess here is if November had 31 days instead of the standard 30, Beniers might have nudged past the Vegas goalie. Beniers is riding a six-game point streak with five goals and seven assists. That's 2 points per game. And that's just the last week of the month. For the season, he has 21 points in 23 games.
"I don't know if I've seen that before," said veteran forward Jaden Schwartz. "That happened quick ... I think I was grabbing water, looked up and [Beniers] was on a breakaway. They [Beniers and Burakovsky] were hungry off the faceoff there. We were ready and we're super happy for him."
[Matty] has been awesome for us. He's a hard-working kid and learns from other guys and he's hungry to win. He's hungry to score goals. It's nice to have that and definitely brings a spark to our team and excitement for us and excitement for the fans too."
While Schwartz looked up from a drink of water, Dave Hakstol said, smiling, his quick thought seeing the Beniers breakaway was "shoot it in the net."
I don't care if it's overtime ... or five on five in the middle of the game," said Hakstol, who broke out into a grin a few times during his media scrum. "It comes down to little battles like that, right? It's all about your battle level and your 50-50 puck wins."

Back to Their Best Look

After recent high-scoring games, the Kraken found their tight-knit defensive selves Thursday but took a bit longer to convert on the offensive end. After halving a 2-0 lead late second period, Daniel Sprong grabbed ahold of the puck, deked, and dangled laterally deep in the Washington zone to lift a backhand shot at Caps goalie Darcy Kuemper. The save was made but the rebound was fair game. Yanni Gourde rammed it past Kuemper for his third goal of the year and the game-tying.

"I thought we played like we're used to seeing how the Kraken win games," said Gourde. "This is exactly the type of game that we want to be in. I'm not saying down by two in the third [period] but a close game that's tight all the way through. We didn't give up too many chances. Grubi was phenomenal [when there were chances] and we just kept grinding away."

Second-Period Surge Lasts into Third

With seven minutes left in the second period, the shots on goal count was 18 total, with both teams in single digits with nine apiece. Per Natural Stat Trick, Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer faced five Grade-A scoring chances compared to one for Seattle against 2022 Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Darcy Kuemper (who signed with the Capitals after a championship season with Colorado).
In those next seven minutes, the Kraken added three Grade-A chances, including a power play score by SEA forward Jaden Schwartz, who converted a Vince Dunn bank shot off the back boards to cut the lead to 2-1. Andre Burakovsky earned an assist for starting the play and now has five goals and five assists in his last five games. He assisted on the OT winner too.

One shift later, Jordan Eberle took an elite pass from rookie star Matty Beniers and looked like he was about to knot this physical, taut game. Eberle's shot rung a goal post instead and Beniers couldn't collect the spinning, rolling puck on a rebound attempt.
The Schwartz goal clearly energized the Beniers line. Just seconds later, the puck was in the Kraken offensive zone and on the stick of third linemate Jared McCann. No goal ensued but the rest of the period was exciting for fans.

Grubauer's Night

The aforementioned end-of-second-period action might have been a little too exciting. Phillip Grubauer, facing the team that drafted him and with whom he won a Stanley Cup, made a huge net-front stop on Evgeny Kuznetsov with 70 seconds left in the period. It could easily have been a 3-1 score going into the second intermission with no blame on Grubauer on the would-be third goal.
Grubauer made a big stop toward the end of the first period, too, keeping the score at a manageable 2-0 deficit for Seattle after the opening frame. On that play, offensive-minded Caps defenseman Erik Gustafsson fired a shot from the left point that his defense partner and future Hall of Famer John Carlson expertly tipped outside the Kraken crease. Carlson was likely anticipating his eighth goal of the year (high for any NHLer at the quarter-mark, especially so for a D-man) but smothered the attempt.
More Grubi high points: He made two big saves on Alex Ovechkin during a second-period Caps power play, both one-timers from his "office" at the left faceoff circle. Grubauer really stretched on the second attempt. You just know those two had their share of showdowns in practice during Grubauer's time in D.C.
There were more timely saves for Grubauer during the third period, keeping the game and fans' hopes alive. Two games into his return from a lengthy stint on injured reserve, it appears the Kraken might be featuring a goaltender tandem that will keep their squad in the hunt for standings point most nights if not every night.
"Grubi was big," said alternate captain Schwartz. "He made some big, timely saves for us. There might have been probably a handful of close calls and he allowed us to get that comeback. I'm super happy for him with missing some time with injury."

Ovechkin Fuels Early Lead

The home crowd welcomed the Kraken back with loud cheers during the starting lineup introductions, but the rest of the opening 20 didn't satisfy. The visiting Washington Capitals scored first, with a foiled Alex Ovechkin shot bouncing right to teammate Martin Fehervary, who scored his second goal on year on a bullet train of a shot.
Ovechkin, who is nearing 800 career goals picked up his second assist of the first period with a secondary assist on a power play score by Conor Sheary. The tic-tac-toe goal started with Ovechkin, moved quickly to former Kraken forward Marcus Johansson, then to Sheary (eight goals on the year).
Washington's man-advantage goal came with Jordan Eberle whistled off for tripping inside seven minutes remaining in the period. Trouble is, Eberle was in the box sitting next to Yanni Gourde, who was serving a five-minute fighting penalty drawn in a lengthy scrap with Caps alternate captain T.J. Oshie. It certainly roused the Climate Pledge Arena full house, featuring fan-favorite Gourde trading blows with Mountlake Terrace native Oshie. Both benches reacted as if their guy won. It all started when Gourde took exception to Oshie dropping a hard hit on Kraken linemate Brandon Tanev.
"Awesome," said SEA defenseman Carson Soucy when asked by ROOT SPORTS' Piper Shaw during the first intermission about Gourde's fisticuffs. "He's sticking up for his teammate. He's a warrior night in and night out."