Tye Kartye tipped in a slap shot from Oliver Bjorkstrand for the go-ahead goal with 2:40 remaining, securing the Seattle Kraken a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night, concluding the regular season for both teams, who missed the playoffs.
Brock Faber answered Yanni Gourde’s empty-netter with 1:46 left by scoring for the Wild on a 6-on-4 power play with 1:05 remaining and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury pulled, but Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, who made 21 saves, and the defense held firm.
“It’s been a tough year, and it was only fitting that it came down to the last second,” Daccord said.
Brandon Tanev, who assisted on both of Gourde’s third-period goals, painfully blocked a shot with his lower body in the final moments, leaving him doubled over on the ice at the final horn.
“Turbo made some elite blocks,” Gourde said. “Everybody battled.”
Kirill Kaprizov scored his 46th goal of the season on a power play in the first period, and Mats Zuccarello tied the game midway through the third period for the Wild.
Matty Beniers tied the game for the Kraken in the second period with a power play tip-in before Gourde’s short-handed breakaway. He later scored on an empty-netter.
Beniers, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, finished the season with 15 goals and 37 points after scoring 24 and 57 points in 2022-23.
Kaprizov concluded the season with 96 points, the second-most in franchise history behind his 105 points in 2021-22, when he set all-time Wild records with 47 goals and 61 assists. Kevin Fiala is third with 85 points in 2021-22.
Kaprizov capitalized on a blind pass from Kraken’s leading scorer, Jared McCann, intended for teammate Will Borgen, intercepting it and flicking in an unobstructed wrist shot for the early lead.
The Wild have had five 40-goal scorers in their 23-season history, including Kaprizov three times. Eric Staal (2017-18) and Marian Gaborik (2007-08) were the others.
“If you’re really going to go places in this league, you need a player of his caliber,” coach John Hynes said. “I really respect his effort.”
Daccord had a strong season for the Kraken, but after upsetting the 2022 champion Colorado in the first round of the playoffs last spring, the team took a step backward. The Kraken and the Wild were in the mix for the Western Conference wild-card spots but were eliminated seven games ago.
The Wild were ousted from contention five games ago, missing the postseason for just the second time in 12 years. Fleury, who signed a $2.5 million contract extension to return next season and received the Wild’s nomination for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, was one bright spot. He passed Patrick Roy for second place on the all-time wins list in January.
The 39-year-old was presented with the Wild’s Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award on the ice before the game. Kurvers, an assistant general manager for the Wild, died in 2021 of cancer.
Despite the recognition, Fleury has highlighted his absence from the playoffs for the first time since 2006 as the overriding theme of the season.
“The last stretch of the season was weird, playing for nothing really,” said Fleury, who made 23 saves. “It’s not a good feeling and definitely something I don’t want to experience next year.”
