With road victory over Sabres, Kraken’s 6-game win streak best in, well, about a month
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Defenseman Justin Schultz sent a low shot whistling under Buffalo goalie Eric Comrie to lift the Seattle Kraken to a 4-3 NHL victory over the Sabres on Tuesday.
The Kraken logged their sixth win in a row after trading goals with the Sabres in the first two periods. They remain undefeated in 2023.
Seattle can tie its season-best, seven-game win streak on Thursday against the big, bad Boston Bruins, who have the best record in the league by a sizable margin. The Bruins have dropped four games in regulation through 40 this season.
Vince Dunn’s three-game goal-scoring streak ended against Buffalo, but the Kraken forward nicely set up Matt Benier early in the third for the tying goal.
Dunn’s shot ringed off the goalpost and Beniers dove on the rebound, becoming the second Kraken rookie this season to score in five straight games.
Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde scored for the Kraken in the first and second periods, respectively. Alex Tuch bookended the Sabres’ scoring with Yanni Gourde adding one for Buffalo in the second period.
Martin Jones manned the net for every second of the Kraken’s win streak through five games. Philipp Grubauer got his first turn on Tuesday and made 32 stops against the Sabres.
Both teams generated early, bumper-to-bumper traffic in front of the opposing goaltender. Only two shots made it through in the first 9 minutes of the game, both belonging to the Kraken.
Near the midway point of the first period, the Sabres scored on their first shot on goal. Tage Thompson, who was third in the league in goals headed into the game, came up the side and sent a pass through the crease to Tuch. Diving Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz couldn’t stop Tuch from scoring to make it 1-0.
The Kraken responded when Andre Burakovsky snagged a clearing attempt after a faceoff loss. He unloaded a shot from just inside the blue line and Eberle redirected it past Comrie to make it 1-1.
Dahlin got the Sabres ahead 2-1 in the second, but Gourde answered back. Schultz pinched in and carried the puck to the net, where Gourde was positioned to flip it over Comrie’s pad.
Grubauer turned aside Dylan Cozens’ point-blank chance while the Kraken killed off their second penalty of the night. He then stopped Vinnie Hinostroza on a short breakaway, which looked like a pivotal stop until the Kraken headed right back to the penalty box and allowed a goal 5 seconds into the man advantage.
Beniers and Schultz put the Kraken ahead in the first 51/2 minutes of the third period, and Tuch added his second goal of the night with just 22 seconds remaining.