Jaden Schwartz scored twice, and the Seattle Kraken set a team record for goals, overcoming Timo Meier’s hat trick in an 8-5 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
In their second NHL season, the Kraken scored goals from a franchise-high seven players to secure their third straight win. Martin Jones made 22 saves, and Seattle improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10 games.
“That was fun for the fans. It stunk for the coaches,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said, half-joking. “This isn’t how you draw it up, but it’s still a win, and you’ve got to find different ways to win hockey games. This one had that feel right from the go tonight.”
Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn, Ryan Donato, Jamie Oleksiak, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Matty Beniers also scored for the Kraken. Schwartz added his second goal into an empty net late in the game.
“It’s kind of nice to see us chip in offensively. Not that you want every game to be run-and-gun like that, but we were able to pull through,” Oleksiak said. “Any way you can squeak one out, that’s huge. But I heard it’s like a Kraken record or something; most goals in a game? So I’m sure the fans enjoyed that.”
Meier’s three goals gave him a team-leading 12. It was his first hat trick of the season and fourth of his career. Logan Couture and Alexander Barabanov also scored for the Sharks.
“Obviously disappointing,” Meier said. “To come back, and then we just gave up too much. We were turning too many pucks over. We played some parts of the game well, but it wasn’t consistent enough for 60 minutes. I think that was a winnable game. We just shot ourselves in the foot.”
The game was back and forth throughout. San Jose led 2-1 after the first period. In the second, Seattle scored three times in less than five minutes to pull ahead, but the Sharks tied it 4-4 a minute into the third before the Kraken pulled away.
Bjorkstrand gave the Kraken the lead about three minutes into the third with his second goal of the season. Schwartz scored the Kraken’s season-high sixth goal 59 seconds later to give Seattle a 6-4 lead.
Meier pulled the Sharks within one with his third goal of the game before Beniers and Schwartz capped the scoring.
The Sharks got the game’s first goal more than four minutes in when Couture deflected in front on a shot from Nick Cicek. The teams also traded power-play goals in the opening period.
Dunn, Donato, and Oleksiak scored in the second-period flurry for Seattle before Meier ended the run when he got behind the Kraken defense and easily finished a breakaway for his second-game goal.
“It was a game going back and forth a lot. We were doing a really good job of taking care of the chances we created and the chances they gave us. It was really good to see so many players contributing,” Burakovsky said. “I think we need to shut down some areas a little bit better. I don’t think we should give up as many goals as we did, but overall, we got two points and a great win.”
Game Notes
Sharks goalie James Reimer was inactive for the game. San Jose coach David Quinn said earlier in the week that Reimer had a lower-body injury but could return later this week. Aaron Dell was the backup one day after being recalled from the AHL. The Sharks activated defenseman Radim Simek from injured reserve and placed forward Nico Sturm on injured reserve. The Kraken activated Oleksiak from injured reserve before the game. Oleksiak had missed four games with a lower-body injury. Bjorkstrand scored for the first time since the season opener, breaking a 17-game drought.
UP NEXT
Sharks: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.
Kraken: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
