Goaltender Nikke Kokko made 26 saves to win his first NHL start as the Seattle Kraken defeated the visiting Calgary Flames 4-1 on Saturday.
Frederick Gaudreau, Chandler Stephenson, Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle scored and Ryker Evans had two assists for the Kraken (34-34-11, 79 points), who were eliminated from postseason contention before taking the ice as Los Angeles defeated Edmonton earlier in the day.
Hunter Brzustewicz scored for the Flames (32-38-9, 73 points), who took their third straight loss. Goalie Devin Cooley stopped 16 of 19 shots.
Kokko got the start with Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer both nursing lower-body injuries and Matt Murray away from the team to deal with family matters. Kokko made one previous NHL appearance, in relief on Feb. 25, 2025, when he stopped four of six shots in 29:57 of a 7-2 defeat at St. Louis.
Calgary outshot the Kraken 12-6 in a scoreless first period.
The Flames took the lead at 1:11 of the second as a blocked shot caromed to Brzustewicz for a wrister from the right faceoff dot that found the upper-left corner of the net.
The Kraken tied it 54 seconds later as the Flames turned over the puck while trying to enter the offensive zone, leading to a counterattack. Kaapo Kakko sent a pass to Gaudreau in the high slot and he used a defender as a screen and put a wrist shot into the upper-right corner of the net.
Seattle took the lead at 13:16 of the middle period. Vince Dunn’s backhanded pass from the left faceoff circle went between players from both teams in the slot and fell to Stephenson, who poked the puck past Cooley at the far post.
The Kraken made it 3-1 on Beniers’ wrist shot from just outside the right faceoff dot with five seconds left in the second.
Eberle scored an empty-netter at 18:31 of the third to clinch the victory.
Calgary defenseman Abram Wiebe made his NHL debut. He signed an entry-level contract Friday with the Flames after North Dakota was eliminated from the NCAA’s Frozen Four on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
