Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th goal this season and also helped a goal as the Seattle Kraken defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Monday night.
Jared McCann, Matty Beniers, and Shane Wright also scored for Seattle, and Jordan Eberle provided an assist to mark his 700th NHL point. Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves to secure the win. “Everyone contributed well,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol commented. “Each player played a role, and that’s positive.”
Fabian Zetterlund scored a goal and contributed an assist for San Jose, which suffered its 19th loss in the last 21 games. Klim Kostin also scored for the Sharks, and Mikael Granlund’s assist extended his point streak to five games. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 28 saves.
“You need to be physically involved to give yourself a chance, and we didn’t do that in the first 20 minutes,” San Jose coach David Quinn remarked. “It improved in the last 40, but not to the level we need.” Beniers opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the first period, marking his third consecutive game with a goal.
“It’s a great way to start the game, especially in this arena,” Hakstol added. “We’ve had some trouble scoring here, so it was a positive start.” Tye Kartye initially appeared to score Seattle’s second goal, but the Sharks successfully challenged that the play was offside.
Bjorkstrand then extended the lead to 2-0 with 8:34 left in the first period. Zetterlund responded for the Sharks less than three minutes later with a power-play goal, his 21st of the season.
The Kraken regained their two-goal advantage late in the first period when Wright, recalled from Coachella Valley of the AHL earlier Monday, scored his first goal of the season, the second of his career.
“I felt comfortable out there,” Wright said. “I felt like I belonged out there. Playing with (Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle) too, it’s pretty easy playing with two guys like that.” Kostin narrowed San Jose’s deficit to one at 5:01 of the second period by deflecting Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot past Grubauer.
“Our resilience has been a point of pride all year,” Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs noted. “We never give up and keep fighting.” The score remained 3-2 until the final seconds of the game when McCann scored an empty-net goal, his 28th of the year.
“I liked our performance in the third period,” Hakstol concluded. “We didn’t sit back. We kept pushing forward.” Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn returned to the lineup and contributed an assist after missing 12 games due to an upper-body injury.
