Eeli Tolvanen had two goals and an assist as the Seattle Kraken defeated the visiting Utah Hockey Club 4-2 on Friday night.
Brandon Montour and Kaapo Kakko also scored and Jordan Eberle had two assists for Seattle, which improved to 2-0-0 on its three-game homestand. Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves for his first home win since defeating Utah 5-2 on Dec. 30.
Kevin Stenlund had a goal and an assist and Nick Schmaltz also tallied for Utah, which missed a chance to pull even with Vancouver and Calgary for the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card playoff spot. John Marino had two assists and Karel Vejmelka stopped 18 of 21 shots for Utah, which has lost three of its last four (1-1-2).
Kakko broke a 2-all tie at 10:29 off the third after Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev hit the side of his own net while trying to clear the puck. Kakko picked up the puck behind the net and stuffed a wraparound past Vejmelka.
Tolvanen clinched the victory with an empty-netter at 18:51.
The Kraken opened the scoring 51 seconds into the first period, capitalizing on a Utah turnover in its own end. Chandler Stephenson corralled the puck and took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that was kicked aside by Vejmelka but the rebound went straight to Tolvanen, who hammered the puck into the net before the goalie could react. It was Tolvanen’s career-high 20th goal of the season.
Utah tied it at 16:48 as Stenlund came out of the penalty box to create an odd-man rush. Stenlund skated down the right wing and his centering pass went off the heel of defenseman Vince Dunn’s stick and fell to Schmaltz, who swept the puck into the far side of the net before Grubauer could make it from post to post.
Utah took the lead on another odd-man rush as the puck was stripped from Dunn as he tried to enter the offensive zone. Michael Carcone skated the puck down the right wing and sent a pass across the slot to Marino, who backhanded a pass to a wide-open Stenlund in front of the net for a tip-in at 7:35 of the second.
Seattle tied it on a fluke goal at 18:54 of the period. Eberle got the puck in the right-wing corner and flung it to the top of the crease, where it went off the heel of Montour’s right skate, through Marino’s legs and just inside the far post.
–Field Level Media
