Kraken storm hurricanes early, often smothering them

And although the Hurricanes eventually rallied to draw twice, including in the third period after Eeli Tolvanen gave the Kraken the lead in midfield, the visitors’ fast start clearly set the tone. They outscored the home team 29-16 overall and ended a three-game losing streak with a crucial two points as they embarked on a four-city, seven-game East Coast road trip against some of the NHL’s best teams.

The Hurricanes are certainly among the best, and Kraken coach Dan Bylsma obviously sensed the urgency of the situation. Bylsma changed his ranks before the game, putting Andre Burakovsky on the bench as a healthy substitute for the first time this season and Beniers – who has relied on a single assist in the last eight games – with Schwartz and Gourde switching from him , on a new line brought center to the right wing.

This paid off immediately as Beniers prepared the opening goal. The goal was the second in as many games for Schwartz, who was lucky to avoid injury as he stumbled from behind immediately after the goal and, like a 1970 Bobby Orr on his Stanley Cup-winning run, fell head over heels flew through the air before crashing into the boards but escaping unscathed.

Beniers scored an assist in this game; only his second point in the last nine games.

But the Hurricanes equalized less than five minutes later when Eric Robinson took a pass from Martin Necas deep after a turnover from Shane Wright and wrapped it around Joey Daccord’s outstretched ball.

But Wright helped get the score back six minutes into midfield, deflecting a puck in the neutral zone to set up a Vince Dunn rush in the other direction. Dunn passed the ball forward to Oliver Björkstrand, whose first shot was narrowly saved.

Tolvanen was right there and parried the rebound for a 2-1 lead.

Carolina failed to get a shot in the final 9:35 of the quarter and only had two in the entire frame. But the Hurricanes stormed early in the third period and finally tied the score when Necas placed a puck in a bang-bang play between Daccord’s pads just 5:43 into the game.

Then, midway through the period, the Hurricanes appeared to take the lead on a short-side shot from Jack Drury. However, the Kraken denied that Daccord had been interfered with recently, and this was confirmed during video review.