The Seattle Kraken played their best game of the season on Tuesday, while the New York Islanders struggled once again to finish strong.
The Kraken will look to build on their victory, while the Islanders will try to fix their issues with closing games when they meet on Thursday night in Elmont, N.Y.
Both teams had a day off on Wednesday after playing on the road the night before. The Kraken defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2, while the Islanders lost to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in overtime.
The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Kraken, who had lost once to Anaheim and twice to San Jose—teams that were behind Seattle in the Pacific Division standings entering play on Wednesday. During that losing streak, the Kraken were outscored 17-9.
However, the Kraken started their four-game East Coast road trip strong, never trailing against the Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs for the past six seasons.
Jaden Schwartz scored just 19 seconds after the game started, and Eeli Tolvanen gave Seattle a 2-1 lead with a goal at 5:56 of the second period. After Carolina tied the game, Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev each scored in a span of less than five minutes late in the third period.
The Kraken outshot the Hurricanes 28-19 and allowed just seven shots in the first two periods. Carolina entered Wednesday with the fifth-most goals (93) in the NHL and was second in shots (810).
Tuesday’s win was the Kraken’s first victory in a game where they never trailed since Nov. 20, when they shut out the Nashville Predators 3-0.
“It takes a 60-minute effort to beat a Carolina team,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I thought the battle and compete all game long, giving that team (19) shots in the game — five in the first, two in the second, that’s not something that happens very often. That was probably our best 60 of the year.”
For the Islanders, a rare uneventful and scoreless third period was followed by another tough loss in overtime. This was their seventh loss when leading in the third period, which is the most in the NHL.
Islanders center Bo Horvat had a chance to finish off a two-on-one opportunity, but a pass into the crease from Canadiens center Nick Suzuki bounced off Horvat’s skate and back to Suzuki, who scored on a backhand to beat goaltender Ilya Sorokin.
“He just shot it, hit my skate and it went right back to him,” Horvat said. “Yeah it (stinks). I was in the right spot to get the rebound and it just took a (expletive) hop on me and ended up in the back of the net. That’s the way it’s going.”
The Islanders have lost a third-period lead in seven of their 17 losses. Tuesday marked the third time they lost a game that was tied in the third period.
New York has outscored its opponents 43-32 in the first two periods, but they’ve been outscored 44-22 in the third period and beyond.
