Bo Horvat and Conor Garland made sure the Seattle Kraken’s home debut wasn’t a night of celebration.
Instead, they fueled the growing Pacific Northwest rivalry between Vancouver and Seattle by spoiling the Kraken’s party.
“It was loud. They got rockin’ there, especially when they scored,” Horvat said. “But I thought we did a great job keeping our composure and not letting it get to us and responding.”
Horvat scored his second goal of the game on a power play with 7:08 remaining, and Garland scored on a breakaway three minutes later, leading the Canucks to a 4-2 win and spoiling the Kraken’s first home game at their new $1 billion arena.
Garland assisted on Horvat’s first goal in the second period and then scored his third of the season to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead, overshadowing what was meant to be a celebratory night for the Kraken.
Justin Dowling added an empty-net goal for Vancouver in the final moments, sending disappointed Seattle fans to the exits and capping a successful six-game road trip for the Canucks (3-2-1) to begin the season.
“Everyone was excited about tonight,” Horvat said. “It was exciting to play in the first game here, and the fans were loud tonight, which made it much easier to get up for this game.”
Vince Dunn scored the first goal in Climate Pledge Arena in the closing seconds of the first period, and Mark Giordano gave Seattle a 2-1 lead with his first goal of the season early in the third period. However, Seattle couldn’t maintain the third-period lead, marking the second time they’ve struggled to close out a game in their six-game history.
“It was electric in there, then we got the lead in the third, and it stings,” Giordano said. “There’s no other way to put it right now. It stinks to lose the way we did.”
Thatcher Demko was stellar in goal for Vancouver, making 29 saves. He kept the Canucks in the game during the second period when Seattle dominated but couldn’t score.
Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for Seattle.
“We had, in my mind, probably three or four Grade-A chances after it was 2-1, so I like that mentality out of our group,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “It didn’t work out tonight, but we’re not going to do anything other than look at the things we can fix and keep pushing on the areas we were pretty darn good in.”
Opening night under the roof of the reconstructed billion-dollar arena had been three years in the making. Still, it was a much longer wait for sports fans in the Seattle region, who have eagerly awaited the return of a winter sports team since the departure of the SuperSonics.
Fans were lined up outside Climate Pledge Arena hours before puck drop, and most were in their seats before the Kraken took the ice for warmups. The majority wore Kraken jerseys, though a few Canucks fans were also present for the first matchup of this budding rivalry.
Those in Seattle Blue had to wait until the final seconds of the first period to erupt finally. After an extended stretch of possession in the Vancouver zone, the puck was cycled to Dunn, who flicked a wrist shot past Demko with 4.6 seconds left, scoring the first goal in the new building.
But Demko wasn’t about to let the night become one big party for Seattle. He was outstanding in the second period, notably making key saves against Calle Jarnkrok and Mason Appleton to keep the game tied.
“It felt like it was two games in a way … and we found a way to win the game in the third,” Vancouver coach Travis Green said.
Game Notes
Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke announced before the game that the No. 32 was being retired by the team in honor of becoming the 32nd franchise and the 32,000 season ticket deposits received in early 2018 that helped secure the franchise. Garland has eight points in his first six games for Vancouver after joining the team in an offseason trade with Arizona. He’s the first player to start his tenure with the franchise with a season-opening, six-game point streak.
UP NEXT
- Vancouver: The Canucks open a seven-game homestand on Tuesday night against Minnesota.
- Seattle: The Kraken host Montreal on Tuesday night.
