Devin Cooley’s remarkable performance in net continues to impress, as he made 49 saves in his fourth career start to lead the San Jose Sharks to a 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Cooley’s stellar goaltending, combined with goals from Kyle Burroughs and Fabian Zetterlund just 51 seconds apart in the second period, spoiled Seattle’s final home game of the season. The Sharks capitalized on two defensive breakdowns by the Kraken to secure the win.
“It has been amazing. I’m just trying to keep myself grounded and not get too excited. Obviously, this league can humble you pretty quick,” Cooley said. “I’m just taking it one day at a time, one save at a time. I am really trying to stay in the present moment, not get too excited, and not get too happy. But sometimes that’s hard, especially the way this month has gone.”
Cooley, a Bay Area native and the first California-born goalie to start for San Jose, made his debut for the Sharks last month. He recorded 34 saves in his last start against St. Louis for his first career victory and was even better against Seattle.
By the end of the second period, Cooley had already made 33 saves, turning away numerous chances from the Kraken. In the third period, he made crucial stops on Jaden Schwartz during a power play and Adam Larsson with an extra attacker on the ice. Shane Wright also hit the post in the third period.
“Our goalie was outstanding, and there’s not much more to talk about,” San Jose coach David Quinn said.
Burroughs broke a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the season, converting William Eklund’s pass on an odd-man rush at 14:46 of the second period. Less than a minute later, Zetterlund scored his 22nd goal, redirecting Mikael Granlund’s pass past Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, who finished with 20 saves.
Luke Kunin opened the scoring in the first period with a deflection of Henry Thurn’s shot from the blue line. Brian Dumoulin tied it for Seattle midway through the first period with his career-high sixth goal of the season, but the Kraken couldn’t find a way past Cooley. Every Seattle player had at least one shot on goal, and the team set a franchise record with 50 shots.
“We had a lot of zone time. Obviously, their goalie played really well. There were pucks there, there were tips,” Schwartz said. “We made a couple of mistakes there in the second and were down 3-1, and then we were chasing a little bit.”
Seattle finished 17-18-6 at home, a disappointing conclusion to a season where they failed to replicate the success of last year when they reached the second round of the playoffs in just their second year of existence.
UP NEXT
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Sharks: Host Minnesota on Saturday night.
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Kraken: Begin their final road trip in Dallas on Saturday.
