Andre Burakovsky almost had to do a double-take.
Burakovsky slipped a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with 2:39 remaining in regulation Tuesday night, breaking a tie and giving the visiting Seattle Kraken a 4-3 victory.
The Jets and Kraken meet again Friday night in Seattle.
“I almost forgot what it feels like, so it’s really nice,” the oft-injured Burakovsky said after netting just his second goal of the season and first since Jan. 4.
Burakovsky, a Stanley Cup winner with both Washington and Colorado, was signed as a free agent in the summer of 2022 after posting a pair of 20-goal seasons in his three years in Colorado.
He’s played in just 78 games over the past season and three-quarters, with 15 goals, 34 assists and a plus-minus of -13 after being a plus player in each of his first eight NHL campaigns.
“It’s been a battle with all the injuries and missed time,” Burakovsky said. “I’ve been playing some really good hockey lately, creating a lot.”
Said teammate Tomas Tatar: “I’m extremely happy for him. He worked hard. He played a very (good) game and he had a few opportunities, and the goal couldn’t come at a better time than he scored.”
The Kraken, chasing a wild-card berth in the Western Conference, swept their two-game trip to Calgary and Winnipeg and are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games. Friday’s rematch is the opener of a five-game homestand for Seattle.
Jaren McCann had a goal and two assists Tuesday and Tatar and Justin Schultz also tallied. Joey Daccord made 30 saves, including a sprawling stop without his stick on Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk with seven seconds remaining.
“We’ve been playing really good hockey over the past few weeks,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We came into this road trip disappointed coming off a loss to Edmonton (on Saturday), but the reality is we played really well that night. We’ve just carried that through into the road trip with two good, hard-fought road wins …
“But it comes down to, you work hard to overcome some of your mistakes. You make plays at the right time and get contributions from everybody in your lineup, and we were able to do that both nights on this trip.”
Winnipeg’s Adam Lowry, whose father, Dave, is an assistant coach with the Kraken, had a goal and an assist and Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter also tallied. Mason Appleton had two assists and Hellebuyck made 20 saves.
It was just the third defeat in the past 12 games for the Jets, who are battling Dallas and Colorado for the Central Division lead.
“That’s a frustrating loss,” Jets coach Rick Bowness said. “It certainly wasn’t our best.”
Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele had an assist to record his 700th NHL point (290 goals, 410 assists in 778 games). The only other player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history to reach that mark is Blake Wheeler, who had 812 points in 897 games.
The Kraken played Tuesday without defenseman Vince Dunn, who suffered an upper-body injury on a hard, high hit Monday from Martin Pospisil of Calgary.
Pospisil received a three-game suspension from the league for boarding. Dunn’s status for Thursday’s game is unknown.
–Field Level Media
