The Seattle Kraken continued their five-game road trip, visiting the Buffalo Sabres for their first meeting of the season on Jan. 11. It was a close battle in the first two periods, but the Kraken made a serious comeback in the third, defeating the Sabres 6-2.
Game Recap
The home team immediately kicked off the scoring. The Sabres scored the first goal of the game within the first two and a half minutes. The Kraken began driving the puck toward their net. JJ Peterka got a hold of it from a bad pass by the visitors. He passed to Peyton Krebs who was open towards center ice. He passed to Sam Lafferty, who was open towards the boards. He took a shot close to the faceoff circle and scored the first goal of the night for the Sabres. The potential to call for offside was there, but Dave Bylsma opted not to challenge the play.
Play continued, with each team earning a minor penalty, Buffalo at the nine-minute mark and Seattle at the 16-minute mark. It was the Kraken’s penalty that became a big scoring opportunity for the Sabres. Buffalo was up by the net, making passes back and forth to one another to try and see if a scoring opportunity would arise. Peterka once again saw himself in the mix, with a pass to Rasmus Dahlin towards the blue line. He saw Jack Quinn up by the right side of Joey Daccord and sent him the puck. Quinn took his chances. He took the shot. The puck bounced off the crossbar and into the back of the net, putting the Sabres up by two. There was a slight disturbance after the goal was scored, causing Oliver Bjorkstrand and Dennis Gilbert to both go to the box, earning five-minute majors each for fighting. Kappo Kakko was also sent to the bench a couple minutes later for holding the stick of Ryan McLeod. The period came to a close and with a two-goal lead for the home team, they appeared to be in good spirits.
The first five minutes of the second were chippy, with each team earning two minor penalties. Things were relatively quiet, for about another five minutes. With the help of Chandler Stephenson, Ryker Evans was able to put the Kraken on the scoreboard. Brandon Montour had the puck and was being pressured by Dylan Cozens and Dennis Gilbert, who knocked the puck out of Montour’s possession. No other Sabres player came to claim it, so Stephenson swooped in for Seattle. He passed it to Evans on his right, who took a shot and scored the first goal for his team. The time was dwindling in the second period. With 47 seconds on the clock, the Kraken tied it up. Stephenson sent the puck down the boards for Josh Mahura. He let a blast fly from the blue line. The initial shot was blocked. Luckily for Seattle, Andre Burakovsky was up by the goal. He was able to recover the rebound and send it into the back of the net. With the score tied up 2-2 at the end of the period, both teams had a lot of work to do.
There was only one team that actually showed up to punch the clock in the third. Three minutes in, the Kraken broke the tie. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen saved a shot from Burakovsky but did not cover up the puck. Oliver Bjorkstrand was up in front of the net and was able to recover the puck as it bounced on the ice. Tipping it into the net, he put the Kraken above the Sabres. 38 seconds later, the Kraken extended their lead. Jaden Schwartz received a pass from Joey Daccord. With the help of Mahura, the pair drove up to the net. Mahura passed to Kakko, who sent a blast of a shot towards Luukkonen. Unable to block it, the Kraken were up by two.
With an extra man advantage, the Kraken wasted no time. Shane Wright sent the puck around the boards, where it found Jared McCann. He saw Kakko alone by the net, sending a pass his way, where he was able to score his second goal of the night. With four minutes left in the game, the Sabres pulled Luukkonen in an attempt to make a comeback. Jamie Oleksiak got a hold of the puck off the Sabres’ missed pass. He sent it down the boards to McCann. He sent a pass over to Brandon Tanev. From center ice, he took a blast of a shot that hit the back of the net to earn Seattle their sixth and final goal of the night.
Next Games
The Kraken look to keep up this momentum as they travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings for the second game of a back-to-back on Jan. 12. The Sabres look to shake themselves off and get back into fighting shape when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 15.
