The Seattle Kraken aren’t quite ready to pull the plug on their season.
The Kraken rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period Thursday night to defeat visiting Vegas 4-3 in a shootout to keep their infinitesimal playoff hopes alive heading into Saturday’s game against the visiting Calgary Flames.
After snapping a six-game skid, the Kraken (33-34-11, 77 points) are eight points behind Los Angeles for the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card berth with four games remaining.
That means their magic number is down to one. The next time the Kraken don’t collect two points – or the next time the Kings earn a point or the Nashville Predators claim two points – Seattle will be denied postseason access for the third straight year.
But Thursday was not that day.
“We were just pushing and going after it, rather than sitting back and hoping it happened,” said Kraken forward Bobby McMann, who tied the score midway through the third period.
McMann has nine goals in 14 games since being acquired from Toronto at the NHL’s March 6 trade deadline, the most among players who were moved that day.
Rookie Berkly Catton’s fluke goal in the third period sparked the comeback and he scored the winner in the shootout.
Trailing 3-1, Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson dumped the puck into the offensive zone and it took a strange bounce off a stanchion — ricocheting in front of the crease after Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill skated behind the net. Catton, the first man in on the forecheck, tapped the puck into the yawning cage at 6:11 of the third.
“It’s crazy how that works,” Catton said of his first goal since March 15. “I’ve had a lot of good looks that haven’t gone in. And then, I get a really good bounce with an open net. So, that one really felt good.”
Jared McCann also scored for Seattle and goalie Joey Daccord stopped 31 shots plus four of five shootout attempts.
“It’s been a hard grind,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “A lot of disappointment, I guess you can say. So, to get one like that and do it in comeback fashion … I thought our mentality was better (Thursday). But it’s nice to put in the effort and get rewarded.”
The Flames (32-37-9, 73 points) were eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime loss at Dallas, then dropped a 3-1 decision Thursday at Colorado as the Avalanche clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for most regular-season points.
Saturday’s game will be Calgary’s last on the road this season before finishing with three home games next week.
Tyson Gross, a 23-year-old free-agent signee who was playing for St. Cloud State five weeks ago, scored his first NHL goal for the Flames on Thursday and goalie Dustin Wolf made 38 saves.
“I thought the game was better for us in here this go-round,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought (in the) first period, we did some good things early on. We were a little bit quicker than we were last time we played in here (a 9-2 loss on March 30). Got away from it a little bit in the second period, but I thought the guys stayed with it and they continued to compete until the end.”
This will be the third and final meeting between the Flames and Kraken this season. They split the first two with host Calgary winning 4-2 on Dec. 18 behind Mikael Backlund’s two goals and visiting Seattle claiming a 5-1 victory Jan. 5 as Philipp Grubauer made 41 saves.
