LOS ANGELES – Where to even begin.
The Kraken and Los Angeles Kings combined for 16 regulation goals in something too lawless to be called a slugfest. The teams, tied 2-2 less than 10 minutes into the game, traded goals three times before the Kraken finally looked to be pulling away.
Los Angeles wasn’t done, though, and sent the game to overtime tied at eight. There, the Kings took a too-many-men penalty and Andre Burakovsky ended a night to remember with a 9-8 victory.
The Kraken won their franchise-best sixth straight game, setting team records for most goals (9) and most combined goals (17).
They didn’t just light the lamp – they fried it. Before the third period even started, it was the highest-scoring game of the 2022-23 season so far. Twelve goals in the first half of the contest had it tied for fourth all-time for most combined goals in the first 30 minutes of an NHL game. The last time it happened was more than 12 years ago.
That pace broke just about every relevant record for the second-year Kraken as well.
Matty Beniers and Jared McCann scored twice each. Jordan Eberle (four assists) Alex Wennberg (one goal, two assists) and Justin Schultz (three assists) chipped in frequently.
The goalies might prefer their names be redacted, but Seattle’s Martin Jones (27 saves, .771 save %) went the distance while Cal Petersen relieved Jonathan Quick (nine saves on 14 shots) after the Kraken’s fifth goal.
The Kraken had a costly hiccup off the opening faceoff, a rarity of late. Anze Kopitar scored 16 seconds into the game, then Beniers responded on the power play.
McCann tapped in a well-placed feed from Eberle for a 2-1 lead 34 seconds later. Wennberg scored the Kraken’s second power-play goal, but the first period ended tied at 3.
Got that? Let’s keep going.
After Beniers threw in his second of the night 1:31 into the second period, someone scored about every minute and a half until the game’s midway point – two for Los Angeles, three for Seattle. McCann was only able to bask in the glory of his second goal for 1:49. He ended Quick’s night, but Adrian Kempe quickly evened the score 5-5.
Kings winger Gabriel Vilardi’s second of the night and a last-minute goal from Burakovsky ruined the relative calm of the second period’s last 10 minutes.
A paltry two-goal lead wasn’t going to cut it Tuesday, so Sean Durzi and Mikey Anderson scored just over two minutes apart to tie the score at eight.
Beniers stretched his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists) and moved into first in rookie goals with nine. He padded his lead in points (20).
____
