A massive second period from the Seattle Kraken propelled them to a 6-2 victory over the Sharks.
The Kraken opened the scoring early in the first period via Chandler Stephenson, while the Sharks tied the game at one later in the first period on Carl Grundstrom’s second goal of the season, which was assisted by Will Smith and Mikael Granlund. During the second period, Seattle took complete control of this contest, rattling off four unanswered goals via Oliver Bjorkstrand, Brandon Montour, Jaden Schwartz, and Brandon Montour again to gain a 5-1 lead. After giving up his fourth goal of the night in the second period, Yaroslav Askarov was pulled in favor of Alexander Georgiev, with Askarov finishing his night with seven saves on 11 shots against. Also during the second period, Nikolai Kovalenko had to exit the game due to an undisclosed injury.
The scoring resumed in the final frame, as the Sharks would get one back on Tyler Toffoli’s 18th goal of the season to make it a three-goal game, with assists from Macklin Celebrini and Henry Thrun. However, the Kraken would score one more soon after via Eeli Tolvanen to cap this one off.
Alexandar Georgiev recorded 20 saves on 22 shots against in relief of Askarov. Back in the middle frame, Henry Thrun was engaged in the second fight of his pro hockey career, going toe to toe with Vince Dunn and resulting in Thrun being one goal shy of a Gordie Howe hat trick. In addition, Vitek Vanecek has been loaned to the Barracuda on a conditioning assignment, and Scott Sabourin was reassigned to the Barracuda. Mikael Granlund had missed yesterday's practice with an illness but was good to go for tonight's game in Seattle. He also was named an assistant captain for Team Finland for the upcoming Four Nations Tournament in two weeks. Other notable lineup changes for the Sharks consist of Alexander Wennberg being out due to an upper-body injury and Marc-Edouard Vlasic inserted in place of Jack Thompson on the blueline.
Since Yaroslav Askarov was named to this weekend’s AHL All-Star festivities in Coachella Valley as a representative of the Barracuda, expect him to be sent down to the ‘Cuda soon and for a bit. Overall, I initially anticipated the Sharks to build off of Monday’s 2-1 win over the Penguins, but their positive momentum ran out rather quickly during their brief one-game road trip north to Seattle. Team Teal has the entire weekend off, which is unusual for them during the regular season, then return home for their last three games before the Four Nations tournament break. The Sharks’ next stretch of home games starts on Tuesday, when they host the Montreal Canadiens at 7:30 pm PT.
Sources: NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X, Locked On Sharks Podcast
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