Kailer Yamamoto had a goal and an assist and scored the winner in the eighth round of a shootout as the Seattle Kraken defeated the visiting New York Islanders 4-3 Thursday night.
Matty Beniers and Alex Wennberg also tallied for Seattle, which went 3 for 4 on the power play to snap a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves, then was beaten just twice on eight shootout attempts.
Anders Lee, Casey Cizikas and Noah Dobson scored for New York, which is winless in its past seven games (0-4-3). Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 of 32 shots, then yielded three goals in the eight shootout rounds.
The Islanders broke a 2-2 tie at 1:48 of the third period on Dobson’s power-play blast from just inside the blue line past a screened Grubauer.
The Kraken tied it with the man advantage at 4:50. Eeli Tolvanen fired a shot just wide of the net, but Jaden Schwartz tracked down the puck in the left corner and fed a wide-open Yamamoto in the slot. The Washington state native beat Varlamov with a backhander.
The Kraken took a 2-1 lead in the first period, with all of the goals coming on the power play.
Lee opened the scoring at 3:46, setting up in front of the net and redirecting Bo Horvat’s pass from deep on the right wing past Grubauer. Lee, the Islanders’ captain, snapped a 10-game pointless streak.
The Kraken tied it at 9:54 as Beniers snapped a wrist shot from just outside the left faceoff dot into the near upper corner of the net over Varlamov’s blocker.
Seattle took the lead at 18:29. Oliver Bjorkstrand dug the puck out of the left corner, charged toward the net and sent a pass across the crease to Wennberg, who scooped the puck just inside the far post before Varlamov could get all the way across.
The Islanders tied the score at even strength at 14:25 of the second, capitalizing on a sloppy Seattle line change. Defenseman Ryan Pulock quickly moved the puck up the ice to Mathew Barzal along the right boards at the offensive blue line. As three defenders closed on Barzal, he floated a pass to Cizikas, who was skating alone down the middle of the ice. Cizikas slipped a backhander past Grubauer.
–Field Level Media
