Jake Bean had anticipated a move to Seattle during the NHL expansion draft but ended up with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Bean made his first trip to Seattle memorable.
Max Domi scored twice and added an assist, while Bean netted the game-winner 55 seconds into overtime as the Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Seattle Kraken 5-4 on Saturday night.
“To be honest, it was a pretty tough day for me and my family when I didn’t get taken,” Bean said. “But once I got to Columbus, it’s been all Columbus, and I haven’t really thought about it since.”
Jack Roslovic and Oliver Bjorkstrand each contributed a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who secured their second win in eight games.
Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves, and Columbus managed to fend off Seattle’s furious third-period rally. Merzlikins got a crucial assist from Bean in the first period, who covered an open net to block Jamie Oleksiak’s wraparound attempt.
Columbus had lost five consecutive road games.
“You got to give that team credit. They worked, used the crowd to their advantage, and found a way to get to overtime,” Domi said. “We would like to finish it in regulation, but the two points are two points, and we will take the win any way we can.”
Seattle mounted a comeback with three goals in the third period, capped by Vince Dunn’s wrist shot with 4:06 remaining to tie the game at 4-all.
The Kraken scored twice within 22 seconds early in the third. Jaden Schwartz deflected Joonas Donskoi’s shot past Merzlikins at 3:41, and moments later, Morgan Geekie snapped a wrist shot off a pass from Mason Appleton to bring Seattle within 4-3.
Jared McCann added his 11th season goal in the second period for Seattle. The Kraken earned a point but lost their third straight game.
Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves but couldn’t stop Bean’s shot from the right circle in overtime.
“The thing that our players can take a lot of pride in is coming out in the third period and playing an outstanding period and earning one point,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “At the end of the day, that makes losing the extra point and being unable to finish it out in overtime a pretty hard pill for everybody to swallow.”
Columbus scored four goals in the second period to take a 4-1 lead. Bjorkstrand scored at 8:13 of the second, beating Grubauer with a wrist shot from the left circle. Three minutes later, Roslovic redirected Domi’s pass into the net for his fifth season goal.
Then it was Domi’s turn. His breakaway goal at 16:43 of the second gave the Blue Jackets a 3-1 lead, and he added another score 2:51 later when Bjorkstrand’s shot slipped between Grubauer’s pads, and Domi was there to guide the puck into the net.
Domi had his third three-point game of the season.
COVID Concerns
Seattle placed forwards Yanni Gourde, Riley Sheahan, and assistant coach Jay Leach into the league’s COVID-19 protocol on Saturday morning. They joined forward Colin Blackwell, who was placed into the protocol on Wednesday.
Hakstol indicated the team learned of the positive tests on Saturday morning.
“We get the information in real-time here and got some new information this morning. So we want to make sure that we’re clear in our minds as to who is available for tonight’s game,” Hakstol said after the morning skate. “It’s not ideal to have these types of changes on the morning of a game, but as you said, it’s not new for anybody in the sports world right now.”
Seattle recalled forward Alexander True from Charlotte of the AHL. True is the first former Seattle Thunderbirds player to debut for the Kraken.
Game Notes
It was the first overtime game at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle G Chris Driedger was activated off the injured list on Saturday, and Joey Daccord was reassigned to Charlotte. Bjorkstrand picked up his 200th career point with Columbus. He’s the 11th player to record 200 points with the franchise. Seattle F Marcus Johansson appeared in his 700th career game. He’s the 11th active Swedish skater to reach 700 games.
UP NEXT
- Blue Jackets: At Vancouver on Tuesday.
- Kraken: At San Jose on Tuesday.
