Ryan Donato scored the decisive goal in the shootout, and the Seattle Kraken triumphed over the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Saturday night. New Jersey missed all three of its shootout attempts, with two being saved by Phillip Grubauer.
Rookie Matty Beniers scored his first NHL goal, giving Seattle a 3-2 lead late in the second period. Will Borgen and Carson Soucy also scored for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
“I felt Matty played a real solid hockey game, he and his linemates,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol, who had Beniers on the ice to start the game, again to start overtime, and then had him take the second shootout attempt. “He made some plays at critical times,” he added, “which you’re looking for.”
Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist, and Damon Severson scored for New Jersey, which lost its second consecutive game after winning the first two on their five-game Western Conference road trip.
In the shootout, Donato went first and got Nico Daws to move to his right, then slipped the puck past him on the left. Grubauer saved Tomas Tatar’s shot, and after Beniers hit the post, Grubauer stopped Bratt’s attempt. Daws saved Daniel Sprong’s try, but Yegor Sharangovich’s shot hit the post, ending the game.
Beniers, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft out of Michigan, made his NHL debut on Tuesday at Calgary, recording an assist in a 5-3 loss. His goal on Saturday, a power-play effort, came at 16:57 of the second period, giving the Kraken a 3-2 lead. Vince Dunn ripped a shot from the blue line that hit the post, and Beniers was there to sweep it into the net.
“Someone had a nice tip, and I’m just crashing the net, and it popped out to me,” Beniers said. “It was kind of a lucky goal for me — you don’t get many of those that pop out and are just sitting there in the crease, and you just pop it in.”
Hakstol added: “The creativity is there, and as he gets more confidence, we’ll see more of that.”
Making his home debut, Beniers said: “It was a lot of fun. Hopefully, we’ll put one in the back of the net next time before we get to a shootout. But we got the win, and that’s all that matters.”
Grubauer and Daws each made 23 saves through regulation and overtime.
Severson tied the game at 3 early in the third, lifting a shot from the inside edge of the right circle over Grubauer for his 11th goal of the season.
The Devils built a 2-1 lead in the first period on Bratt’s 25th goal of the season and Boqvist’s eighth, sandwiched around Borgen’s tying goal.
New Jersey went 0 for 3 on the power play and has now gone 0 for 24 in its last nine games and 1 for 35 in its last ten road games.
“Our power play wasn’t good enough,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. We could have generated some momentum and some good energy, but we didn’t. We’ve had some good power plays where we should have scored.
“We had some looks that we didn’t take advantage of. We could have taken a two-goal lead, which was a letdown. That had the biggest impact on the game.”
Game Notes
Beniers’ power-play goal ended a nine-game 0-for-16 Kraken drought with the extra man. Bratt’s opening goal for New Jersey was the 200th point of his career, all with the Devils, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2016.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Play at Vegas on Monday night.
- Kraken: Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
