Colin Blackwell scored a pivotal short-handed goal early in the third period, helping the Seattle Kraken snap a seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
Blackwell’s goal, his first career short-handed tally, came just over three minutes into the third period. It was a meaningful moment for Blackwell, who began his NHL career with the Predators, debuting in 2018 and playing 33 games over two seasons for Nashville.
“That one felt good, especially against a former team. Those always mean a little more,” Blackwell said. “It’s definitely one of the season’s highlights for me.”
Blackwell also assisted during a flurry of second-period scoring for the Kraken. Alex Wennberg, Calle Jarnkrok, and Yanni Gourde each found the back of the net in a span of 2 minutes and 39 seconds, marking the fastest three-goal sequence in the franchise’s brief history.
“It feels great,” Wennberg said. “What’s even better is that we had contributions from different lines. Everyone was doing their part, and it showed on the scoreboard.”
Chris Driedger made 19 saves, securing Seattle’s fifth win of the season, earning its first victory since February 11 against Anaheim. However, the Kraken had to rally from a 2-0 deficit to achieve the win.
Matt Duchene scored twice for Nashville, while Philip Tomasino added another goal. Roman Josi had two assists, reaching the 500-point milestone in his career. Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Predators.
After a quiet first period in which Nashville took a 1-0 lead, both teams exploded on offense in the second period.
Nashville extended its lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal by Duchene at 13:06 of the second period.
Seattle responded just 29 seconds later. Marcus Johansson’s cross-ice pass set up Wennberg for an easy goal.
A minute and a half after that, Jarnkrok tied the game at 2 with a goal off a pass from Jordan Eberle. One minute later, Gourde scored to give the Kraken their first lead of the night, thanks to a well-placed assist from Blackwell.
Duchene tied the game again with 5 ½ minutes left in the second period, capitalizing on an open net after Driedger was caught out of position.
The Predators struck first with 6:47 remaining in the opening period when Michael McCarron’s pass from behind the net found Tomasino for a 1-0 lead.
“To be honest, I don’t think we deserved to win tonight,” Josi said. “Our first period was okay, but the second period got away from us with those three goals. We had a push at the end, but our third period just wasn’t good enough.”
Game Notes
Josi reached 500 career points in 732 games, making him the fifth-fastest defenseman to do so in the last 25 years. He is also the fifth defenseman from the 2008 draft to reach this milestone, the most of any draft class in history. … The Predators reassigned D Matt Tennyson to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL on Tuesday. … Jarnkrok became the fourth Kraken player to score against the team that selected him in the expansion draft.
Short-Handed Success
The Kraken have scored three short-handed goals in their last five games and have successfully killed 18 of the last 20 penalties they faced. “We’ve recently adjusted to be more aggressive on the penalty kill,” Blackwell said. “Putting pressure on their top guys makes it tough on them and benefits us.”
Support for Ukraine
The Kraken invited Ukrainian-born singer Roman Vashchuk to perform his country’s national anthem before the game. The Kraken’s One Roof Foundation also announced that a portion of the night’s proceeds would be donated to the USA for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supporting Ukraine.
UP NEXT
- Nashville: Plays at San Jose on Saturday.
- Seattle: Travels to Washington, D.C., to face the Capitals on Saturday.
