(Montreal) It was supposed to be a historic game – the first in over 100 years between the Montreal Canadiens and a professional hockey club in Seattle – but it was memorable.
The Seattle Kraken scored twice in a 1:57 break in the second half on Tuesday night en route to an easy 5-1 win over the Canadians.
Jordan Eberle, Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gord and Ryan Donato scored twice for Kraken (2-4-1), the new NHL team that achieved their first home win in their history.
Mike Hoffman was the only one to take revenge in the Canadian camp (1-6-0).
“We shot in the foot a few times, and they took advantage of that. There were swings in dangerous areas, causing redundant attacks against us. We knew that, we knew about it. They made us pay for it. I changed the team in the second half, and that’s what happened. The difference,” coach Dominique Ducharme summed up.
Goalkeeper Jake Allen saved himself for a large part of the match 21 saves in front of a lock-up net, while his counterpart Philip Grobauer rejected 23 shots.
It was the first game between a Bleu-blanc-rouge and a Seattle franchise—once called Metropolitan—since 1919, or 102 years ago.
Prior to the meeting, the Kraken team also took the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup Metropolitan Champions Banner obtained in 1917.
The Canadian, who had been eyeing a second straight victory, would have liked to end the Kraken festivities quickly. But things started off badly for him – again.
It was only 62 seconds into the game when April opened the scoring for 32NS NHL franchise.
Hoffman then took advantage of the hard work of Brendan Gallagher behind the home net to drop the disc into a surprise cage and tie the match.
Tanev restored his side’s lead after less than four minutes, allowing Kraken to return to the locker room on the first break with a 2-1 lead.
One would have thought the break allowed Ducharme’s men to regain their composure, aiming for the second third. flaw.
A lack of timing, rough play and erratic changes off the bench in Montreal allowed Kraken to hit twice in a space of just 1:57.
Gourde first made a nice solo maneuver to beat Allen with a backhand after 6:56 in play, then Quebec set the table for the second goal of the game – and fifth of the season – for Taniv at 8:53, bringing the score 4-1 in favor of Kraken.
Donato made matters worse in the third inning, and the Washington State club enjoyed their second win in their young history on the Pittman Tour.
“If the options are there, if they aren’t implemented, if you make wrong decisions…these are the times you have to manage. When you do them well, everything comes together. But when it doesn’t, the chain breaks, the wheel breaks, and that’s what happened. Tonight,” Ducharme said.
In the absence of injured Jake Evans, Cedric Paquette managed the fourth unit completed by Arturi Likonen and Joel Jeremiah. No other changes were made to the formation of CH.
After a duel with Kraken, the Canadian will continue his four-game journey on the US West Coast by visiting the Sharks in San Jose on Thursday night.
