Fin dramatique: Kraken use another multi-goal comeback to beat Canadiens in overtime
By Jayd Serdy, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Our Seattle Kraken hosted the Montreal Canadiens tonight, resulting in a wild 5-4 overtime win for the home side. The Kraken end up sweeping the season series after winning by a final score of 8-2 in Montreal earlier this season. Brandon Montour made Kraken and NHL history to secure the win, as he scored the game winning goal in overtime just four seconds in. Additionally, Montour became the first defenseman to score five goals against the Canadiens in a single season since Ray Bourque in the 1983-84 season and has the most goals by a Kraken defenseman in a single season with 15. Montour wasn’t the only one making waves in Kraken history last night, as forward Jani Nyman made his NHL debut and scored his first goal, making him the first drafted player in Kraken history to score a goal in his first game. It was a thrilling effort for Seattle in this one, playing host to a Montreal Canadiens team that’s been red hot as they’ve collected a point in all but one game played in the month of March so far. Ultimately these two points won’t help the Kraken do anything this season, but they are a sign of this group wanting to finish the season out strong and put on a show for their home fans who have been with them through a second straight disappointing season. While the result won’t mean much in the end, the performances seen from Montour, Nyman, and Jordan Eberle instill hope that the future is not only bright for the prospect pool as we already know but that there are the pieces currently in place to help this franchise return to the playoffs in 2025-26 with the right additions this summer.
This game tarted out strong for the home team and it’s crowd, with Brandon Montour getting the scoring started just under five minutes into the first period. Kraken captain Jordan Eberle intercepted Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobeš attempt to rim the puck around the wall from behind the goal, before sending it to Montour to take a shot from within the face-off circle as the defenseman had jumped into the open space once he saw his teammate collect the puck. Montour’s shot ripped quickly off his stick, catching Dobeš somewhat off guard as the puck went past him blocker side to give Seattle the early lead. With that goal and some strong offensive zone time throughout the first frame as the Kraken hit the iron a few times had the home crowd feeling good going into the first intermission. With how good Montreal looked coming into this game and with the general frustration of how Seattle has looked throughout the course of the year, this was a pleasant surprise to those in attendance as it seemed this would be the Canadiens’ game to lose. With them chasing the final wild card spot in the Eastern conference, Montreal wants all the points they can get and their top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovský has helped them push forwards to that spot but didn’t do much early on.
Out of the first intermission, Seattle was able to double their lead in quick fashion as four minutes into the second Eeli Tolvanen set a career high for goals scored in a season as he scored on a pass from Jordan Eberle, giving the captain two assists on the night. Chandler Stephenson had sent the puck into the Canadiens zone essentially on a dump in, taking a hard hit shortly after the puck had left his stick, with Eberle slyly letting it find his stick along the other wall in a drop off attempt for Tolvanen. Eeli, like Montour in the first period, had jumped into the open space of the faceoff circle to the left of Dobeš and immediately fired away on goal with his shot beating the goaltender blocker side. The momentum of this contest had shifted further in Seattle’s favor and the game had the feeling it was going to be all Kraken given the goals and chances that had been generated, but things began to flip a bit with a penalty kill at 6:14 into the second when Montour got called for tripping Jake Evans. Power play standout Patrik Laine shot a one-timer from his typical spot in the faceoff circle to Joey Daccord’s right hand side that beat him blocker side as the Seattle netminder wasn’t able to get over in time. A pass from the top of the point as Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki orchestrated things found Laine, who Montreal wasn’t even sure they’d have due to injury concerns coming into this game, and this game was within one just like that to halt the flow of momentum in favor of the Kraken.
About three minutes after that Laine goal, chaos ensued as Adam Larsson had bumped Dobeš skating away after play had been whistled dead on a save. A large scuffle ensued, with most attention going to Eeli Tolvanen and Juraj Slafkovský as they jostled with each others in an event that resulted in both helmets coming off but no punches being thrown. During the four-on-four play as both teams took a penalty for roughing, Laine skated the puck into the offensive zone with Matty Beniers on his hip before finding Alex Newhook parked backdoor for an easy tip in to tie this game at two as Ryker Evans had stayed in the slot and left the Canadiens forward all alone in front of Daccord. Montreal was awake and coming in full force with all of the momentum, as Juraj Slafkovský gave the Canadiens a lead, getting behind the majority of the Kraken skaters on a nice pass into the neutral zone by Cole Caufield before maneuvering around Ryker Evans and lifting the puck over Daccord’s blocker with the Seattle netminder well out of his crease. The beginning of the second period made it seem as though the Kraken were going to assert dominance on home ice, and that frame ended with the Canadiens making it known that they weren’t going to be punked even if it was their second half of a back-to-back on the West coast.
If it wasn’t evident before that this game was headed heavily in favor of the Canadiens after the second half of that second period, the first nine minutes of the third made it abundantly clear with some odd officiating. Once again Montreal’s top line was at the scene of the crime, as Cole Caufield passed the puck around the boards to Suzuki who passed the puck to Jayden Struble, who turned along the wall and found Jayden Struble at the blueline for an immediate one-timer on net. Slafkovský was net front and struck again, tipping the puck with what he later called “100% the highest stick of his career” and that sort of thinking showed immediately as he didn’t even celebrate the goal in real time. The goal went to a review but was determined a good goal, doubling the Canadiens lead and infuriating the home crowd in Seattle as it appeared upon replay with multiple angles that Slafkovský’s stick was high and the score should not have counted. Shortly after the fourth goal of the night for Montreal, a penalty was called on Arber Xhekaj to put the Kraken on the power play as Seattle was in need of a jolt to get back into this game. That powerplay didn’t look very promising to begin with, as Eberle was trapped along the wall and barely got off a puck back to Montour along the blue line that was barely kept in.
Two of Seattle’s best play makers on the night, and two of the more important to this teams success going forward, combined to keep that play alive once again as the defenseman sent the puck along the wall down behind goal where Eberle was positioned, with three Canadiens locking onto him once the puck found the captain’s stick. With three Montreal skaters heading his way and the goaltender eyeing him as well, Eberle spotted Jani Nyman streaking towards the net and sent him a pass through the low slot for a one-timer on one knee that beat Dobeš glove side before he could even react. Nyman, in his NHL debut, had scored his first NHL goal at a crucial time for the Kraken as the game was now within one. The pendulum of momentum was swinginf back in favor of Seattle, as a David Savard tripping penalty gave the Kraken the golden opportunity of tying this game up in the final minutes. With the man advantage and in need of that tying goal, head coach Dan Bylsma called for Joey Daccord to come off in favor of the extra skater. That extra skater was Vince Dunn, who hit the ice and positioned himself on the blueline to the right of Brandon Montour as two dynamic defenseman leading the play. Montour found Dunn open, in the high slot just between the blue line and the faceoff circles, where he ripped a shot towards goal that was redirected by Matty Beniers past Dobeš to tie the game and send Climate Pledge Arena into a frenzy. With neither team finding a winner in the final minute despite some pushes by both sides, we headed to extra hockey as Seattle was in pursuit of another multi-goal comeback this season.
With the game going into overtime, the Kraken sent Brandon Montour, Chandler Stephenson, and Jordan Eberle out, while the Canadiens sent Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson and Christian Dvorak out for three-on-three play. Stephenson won the initial face-off, sending the puck behind the two Montreal skaters not in the dot and to a streaking Brandon Montour who beat Lane Hutson to it. Montour’s shot beat Dobeš glove side and went bar down, electrifying Climate Pledge Arena and frustrating the Canadiens as evidence by Hutson slamming his stick against the end boards as Montour was mobbed by his teammates. Seattle had done it again, posting another multi-goal comeback in a game that showcased their future in Jani Nyman while their present in Montour and Jordan Eberle shined to get the thrilling result.
Quick Kraken notes
Seattle takes the series in the final meeting of the season between the Kraken and the Canadiens. Seattle is now 5-3-0 all-time vs. Montreal, including a 2-2-0 mark at home.
Seattle has eight multi-goal comeback wins in 2024-25 – the most among all teams this season.
Jani Nyman notched his first NHL goal in his NHL debut tonight, becoming the first Kraken draft pick to score in their first game.
Brandon Montour scored his 14th and 15th goal this season, setting a new franchise record for the most in a single season by a defenseman.
Montour also recorded a pair of assists for a four point showing, matching the Kraken record he set on Oct. 29 for the most points in single game by a defenseman.
Montour's overtime winner was the fastest goal to start an overtime period in NHL history and ties the record for the fastest goal to start any period in NHL history.
Eeli Tolvanen set a new single-season NHL career high in goals netting his 19th goal tonight. He shares first in goals this season alongside Jaden Schwartz.
Matty Beniers netted his fourth power-play goal of the season which is tied for the second most of Kraken skaters.
Kraken captain, Jordan Eberle played a key role in tonight's win with his first three-point effort of the season with three assists.
Eberle has recorded four points (1g/3a) in his past two games.
Chandler Stephenson set up the game-winning-overtime goal with his second assist of the night.
Stephenson extended his point streak to three games recording four points (1g/3a) in that span.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s thrilling overtime victory over the Montreal Canadiens on a Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena, our Seattle Kraken will continue their three-game homestand on Friday, March 14th, 2025 following an optional practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex on Thursday. That second game of the current home stretch is the second contest against the Utah Hockey Club of the season, with a puck drop time of 7PM PDT as the Kraken will celebrate “Women In Hockey Night” as a continued part of their “Kraken Common Thread” nights this year. Utah, already an intriguing story after their franchise began as a result of the NHL ripping the Coyotes away from Arizona and just as they try to get their own franchise running fully, has had an interesting month of March so far as they’ve won just two of five games with two of those three losses coming after regulation. With Seattle well out of the playoff picture at this point in the season, Utah has far more to gain in this contest on Friday night as they sit just two points out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference while battling Calgary, Vancouver, and St. Louis to get that last berth. This game will be broadcast live on the Kraken Hockey Network (Amazon Prime Video), KING 5, and KONG for those in the local market.
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