Sunday, January 23, 2022

Kraken Sink Panthers

     The Florida Panthers lost to the Seattle Kraken 5-3 at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday night. It was the first time ever that the Panthers played a game in Seattle. The Kraken became the first team to sweep a season series against the Panthers in 2021-22. 
     Florida(28-9-5) roared out to a 1-0 lead just 4:57 into the first period. Aaron Ekblad made a diagonal pass out of his zone. Jonathan Huberdeau carried the puck and sent a cross-ice pass from the left point to Anthony Duclair above the right circle. His wrist shot was saved by Philipp Grubauer and went off the skate of Carson Soucy into the Kraken net. It turned out to be the 18th goal this season for Duclair.
     Seattle(13-24-4) evened it up 1-1 at the 5:00 mark of the second period. Jared McCann brought the puck into the Panthers zone and passed to his left. Mark Giordano centered it from the left wing and Marcus Johansson one-timed a slap shot from inner left circle by Sergei Bobrovsky for his fifth tally of the campaign. 
     The Kraken would score two goals in a 17-second stretch to go up 3-1. They would take the lead 2-1 with 9:58 left in the frame on a give-and-go setup. Yanni Gourde passed from the right point to Adam Larsson on the left point. He made a return pass and Gourde pounded a one-time slap shot for his ninth goal of the season. 
     It became 3-1 for Seattle with 9:41 remaining in the second. Riley Sheahan took a shot from the left-circle dot which was saved by Bobrovsky. Mason Appleton angled a shot from the left corner off the side of the net, went off the helmet of Colin Blackwell in the crease area and into the Panthers cage for his fourth goal this season. 
     The Panthers closed it to 3-2 with 7:28 to go in the period on a power-play tally. Ekblad pushed a square pass from the right point. Huberdeau released a snap shot from the top of the zone and he collected his 16th goal. 
     The Cats tied it 3-3 with 5:53 left. Huberdeau raced down the right wing with the puck and stopped in the low right circle. He connected a pass to Aleksander Barkov in the high slot and he lobbed a shot for his 18th goal of the season. It was the third point for Huberdeau in the contest which tied him for the NHL lead of 58 points with Alex Ovechkin and Leon Draisaitl. 
     In the third period, Seattle reclaimed the lead 4-3 just 26 seconds in. Vince Dunn fed a long lead pass from his own defensive zone to Alexander Wennberg at the Panthers blue line. He angled a pass from the left point and Appleton ripped a slap shot from the inner right circle for his third goal of the year. 
     Florida pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 2:45 remaining and they had numerous scoring opportunities. Calle Jarnkrok sprinted to the loose puck in the neutral zone and scored into an empty net with 18.7 seconds left for a 5-3 lead. 

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