Goaltender Kevin Lankinen remained perfect in shootouts this season as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the host Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Monday night.
Liam Ohgren was the only player to score in the shootout, putting a wrist shot between the pads of Seattle’s Joey Daccord on the final attempt in the third round.
Lankinen, who made 37 saves through regulation and overtime, stopped all three Seattle attempts to improve to 17 for 17 this season in winning for the fourth time in the shootout.
Linus Karlsson and Elias Pettersson scored in regulation for the Canucks, who snapped a two-game skid.
Jared McCann and Ryan Winterton countered for Seattle, which had a four-game winning streak halted. Daccord made 22 saves.
The Kraken, who hadn’t scored a first-period goal in their previous 10 games, tallied twice in the opening 20 minutes.
McCann opened the scoring on a 4-on-3 power play at 8:50, taking a pass from Vince Dunn and hammering a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle over Lankinen’s catching glove and into the near upper corner.
The Canucks tied it at 15:20 after a faceoff win in the offensive zone. Ohgren shoveled a pass ahead to a wide-open Karlsson in the lower slot and he snapped a shot just inside the left post.
The Kraken regained the lead at 19:40. Daccord cleared the puck up the left wing boards to Jacob Melanson, who skated into the offensive zone and sent a backhanded pass across the top of the crease for a Winterton tip-in at the far post.
Pettersson tied it at 2-2 at 5:23 of the second, taking a pass from Evander Kane and putting a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle into the far upper corner of the net.
McCann and Vancouver’s Conor Garland dropped the gloves off a faceoff at 15:17 of the first period. McCann was incensed after taking an elbow to the face from Garland that wasn’t spotted by the officials on a previous shift, and the players jawed at each other after returning to their respective benches. The next time they were on the ice together, they wasted no time before scrapping.
Forward Jake DeBrusk, who has one goal in 11 December games, was a healthy scratch for the Canucks.
–Field Level Media
