Sometimes after a disappointing loss, the best thing is to just get back out on the ice.
That will be the case for the visiting New York Islanders and the Seattle Kraken when they meet Thursday night.
Both teams are coming off 4-3 overtime defeats on the road Wednesday, games in which they blew two-goal leads.
The Kraken were on the verge of beating Edmonton before Evander Kane scored twice in the final 6:32 of regulation, the second with 46 seconds remaining and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker, to force overtime.
Kane capped his hat trick at 2:57 of the extra session to send Seattle to its third consecutive defeat (0-2-1).
“Obviously it’s a tough way to end it,” said Kraken forward Alex Wennberg, who scored his first goal of the season. “There were a lot of good things out there, but, I mean, we just can’t lose these games. This is one of those games you’ve just got to fight through and find a way to win. But unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Remarkably, the Kraken have blown leads in 13 of their past 14 games. The lone exception was Saturday at home against the Oilers, when Zach Hyman scored a natural hat trick as Edmonton took a 4-0 lead in the first period en route to a 4-1 win.
Jared McCann and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for Seattle on Wednesday, and goaltender Joey Daccord made 27 saves.
“We played exactly the way we want to play on the road,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Giving up the second (goal) obviously gives them a little bit of juice and momentum, but we worked pretty freaking hard all the way through the game.
“This one’s going to sting on the way home. We’ve got to turn the page and get ready to go (Thursday).”
The Islanders know the feeling after losing to the Vancouver Canucks, their sixth consecutive defeat (0-4-2).
Bo Horvat scored in his return to Vancouver, but it wasn’t enough for New York, which led 2-0 after the opening period and 3-2 after the second.
The Canucks’ Filip Hronek tied it on a five-on-three power play at 8:30 of the third period and Quinn Hughes scored 2:36 into OT.
Pierre Engvall and Brock Nelson also tallied for the Islanders, and Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves.
New York gave up three power-play goals on six chances.
“(Penalties) seem to be killing us every night,” Horvat said. “We’re just not getting those kills at the right time. It seems to be costing us every mistake we make. I thought our five-on-five game was good, power play was good. It’s just a matter of putting it all together right now.”
Two of those penalties came on the same play in the third period, leading to the Canucks’ tying goal. Vancouver ranks second in the NHL with the man advantage.
“You can’t take two penalties on the same play,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. “I’m sorry, it just can’t happen. Too good of a power play to do that.”
The frustration in the New York lock room was evident.
“Obviously we’re not getting the results we want right now,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We’re just gonna focus on doing some good things out there. Just gotta find ways to play together, get off the schneid here.”
–Field Level Media
