Trailing by three goals with less than five minutes remaining on Saturday in Vancouver, the Seattle Kraken were about to match a franchise record with their sixth consecutive defeat.
Instead, they crafted one of the best comebacks in NHL history.
The Kraken became just the third team ever to rally from a three-goal deficit in the final five minutes of regulation to win a regular-season game, with defenseman Vince Dunn scoring the game-winner on a breakaway 2:15 into overtime for a 5-4 decision. The Montreal Canadiens accomplished the feat against the Ottawa Senators in 2014, and the San Jose Sharks did so against the Utah Hockey Club earlier this season.
The Kraken will play host to Utah for the first time on Monday night.
“That’s the fun part about hockey is every game is different and you never know what’s going to happen,” said Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz, who scored twice against the Canucks. “But it’s good to have the belief you can still come back and win games.”
Schwartz sparked the rally, shooting the puck off Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko and into the net from beneath the goal line at 15:15 of the third period. Dunn found a loose puck in the slot after a flubbed Canucks clearing attempt and scored at 18:48, and Schwartz completed the comeback at 19:10, splitting four defenders for a shot on net and then kicking the rebound back to his own stick to bury the puck as he fell to the ice.
“I think we’re searching for it. I think at different times in the year we’ve had the mindset of staying with it for 60 minutes, coming back in hockey games and we’ve done that a handful of other times,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “But at this point in time, after the break, after the (five) losses coming into this break it was a huge test for the team to get down in this game. … Guys stayed with it, guys dug deep as a group.”
Playing without stars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, the Canucks seemed to buckle.
“I think they definitely felt the pressure when we just kept coming after them wave after wave, line after line,” Dunn said. “There wasn’t necessarily any systematic things that we changed at all. It was just finally committing to each other and playing the right way.”
Utah, which has lost three consecutive games, will be opening a four-game trip that also includes stops in Edmonton, Calgary and Dallas.
Utah had a Canucks-like letdown on Friday in a 4-1 loss to visiting Colorado as the Avalanche scored three goals in the final 5:16 to break a 1-all tie. Artturi Lehkonen recorded his first NHL hat trick for Colorado.
Nick Schmaltz scored the lone goal for the Utah Hockey Club, and Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves.
“We played against a really good team who were ready to play. They played hard,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “With those guys, year after year we’re going toe-to-toe pretty good. I think it’s a good matchup. There’s intensity and there’s emotion on both sides. We did pretty good this year against them, if you look at the quality of team they have, but unfortunately that’s a big game we wanted.”
Schmaltz tied the contest on the power play at 3:42 of the third.
“It’s a one-shot game. It’s a good hockey game,” Schmaltz said. “We fought hard, and it’s unfortunate to give one up late in the third there. Weren’t able to convert on the six-on-five, either.
“I think, in those critical moments, we got to step up and make a play when it matters.”
–Field Level Media
