*Photo from Arizona Sports*
Some games, you can just put it on cruise control when you get a certain lead. Justin Schultz had a goal and an assist, Matty Beniers had two assists, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the Arizona Coyotes with a 5-0 shutout win Tuesday in Seattle.
The Kraken won their second straight game and 5th in 7 even though they are out of playoff contention as the regular season winds down. Oliver Bjorkstrand had two assists as well for the Kraken, who are now 33-31-13 and holding 5th place in the Pacific Division.
Just 1:08 into the game, Shane Wright lit the lamp for the Kraken, giving them a 1-0 lead on his 4th goal in as many games. With the Kraken on the power play just 1:06 later, Andre Burakovsky scored his 7th goal of the season with Beniers and Schultz assisting. Schultz scored the only goal of the second period, making it 3-0 Kraken with Beniers and Bjorkstrand getting assists.
The Kraken added a few more goals to the ledger in the 3rd period. Brandon Tanev made it 4-0 Kraken on his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Tye Kartye and Yanni Gourde. At the 9:35 mark of the 3rd period, Will Borgen made it a 5-0 game as he scored his 3rd goal of the season with assists going to Bjorkstrand and Oleksiak.
Wright said of his run of goals that "I'll take anything any way I can get them. I mean, they all count the same on the score sheet, that’s what I'm going to say. But yeah, just kind of tried to get it on net there and lucky bounce, for sure, but we'll take it."
Drawing the start between the pipes for the Kraken was Philipp Grubauer, who got the win to improve to 14-14-2 as he recorded a shutout. Grubauer earned his second shutout of the season and 22nd of his career, making 39 saves against the Coyotes attack.
Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said of the shutout that "We got off to a really good start. It’s what you want to do at home, get off to a one-goal lead going into a power play. You execute, that builds a two-goal lead, but as we scored the third goal in the second period, we stopped playing a little bit, and that’s where Grubi was really good."
Getting the start opposite Grubauer for the Coyotes was Karel Vejmelka, who got saddled with the loss. Vejmelka stopped 20 of the 25 shots he was tested with by the Kraken, recording an even .800 save percentage as his record dropped to 12-19-2 in 32 starts.
Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said after the game that "For us, we need to learn from it. I think there are circumstances that are distractions, and you need to stay with it. I think in the third, it’s not because we didn’t play well, they got a goal early and then it was tougher for us to generate offense."
The Coyotes head to Canada as they tangle with the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night, with Connor Ingram starting the second half of the back to back. The Kraken welcome the San Jose Sharks to town Thursday night as Grubauer is expected to start.
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