How do you explain this?
The Kraken are 2-0 this season against the Florida Panthers, the NHL’s points leader, and now 0-2 against the Arizona Coyotes, the owner of the second-worst record in the league (12-31-4).
The Kraken started the unofficial second half of the season with one of their most disappointing losses, falling 5-2 to Arizona on Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Kraken scored with about four minutes left to pull to 3-2, but a pair of empty-net goals ended their comeback hopes.
The first meeting between the two teams produced arguably the worst loss of the season for the Kraken.
Arizona was winless in 11 games and fell behind 2-0 in the first minute at home. But the Coyotes, who had scored three goals in their previous five games, improbably rallied for a 5-4 victory on Nov. 6.
The Kraken (15-28-4) had won three of five games before that bad defeat, and they also had some momentum this time. They won five of their last nine games heading into the All-Star break, including a 3-0 win at the New York Islanders — the first shutout in franchise history — in their previous game on Feb. 2.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Wednesday morning that it would be important for his team to get off to a good start because it was coming off a week layoff while Arizona had played the night before, losing 5-1 at Vancouver.
But it was Arizona that got off to a good start.
The Kraken weren’t crisp early and Arizona turned a Seattle turnover in its own end into the game’s first goal. The puck ended up on the stick of Phil Kessel, who expertly guided it around Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer and into the net at the 4:07 mark of the first period.
Grubauer, who was in goal for the team’s first shutout a week before, had little chance to stop the shot by Kessel, who scored the 397th goal of his career on an assist by J.J. Moser.
The Kraken seemed invigorated by Arizona’s goal and controlled most of the first period after that, with 15 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes to eight for the Coyotes. But because of several great saves by Arizona goaltender Karel Vejmelka — as well as a couple of shots that hit the post — the Coyotes kept the one-goal lead heading into the second period.
Another Kraken turnover proved costly in the second period. The Coyotes turned the Seattle miscue into a breakaway for Nick Schmaltz, who fired a shot past Grubauer. The goal, assisted by Alex Galchenyuk and Ilya Lyubushkinuk, gave Arizona a 2-0 lead at the 14:51 mark of the period.
Seattle opened the second period with 1:41 left on a power play and got five shots on goal in that span, but just four the rest of the period.
The Kraken were in dire need of a quick start to the third period.
The Coyotes opened the period with 15 seconds left on a power play. A second after it ended, Seattle’s Colin Blackwell sent a shot past Vejmelka one second after the power play ended.
That goal, assisted by Yanni Gourde, should have given the Kraken some momentum. But Arizona quickly responded when Anton Stralman scored at the 1:52 mark of the period, assisted by Ryan Dzingel and Loui Eriksson.
Seattle had plenty of time to mount another comeback and had the help of a power-play midway through the period, but Arizona survived that. The Kraken kept the pressure on, and it paid off when Calle Jarnkrok took a great pass from Gourde to beat Vejmelka at the 15:52 mark.
The Kraken pulled Grubauer with two minutes left and Arizona clinched the win with a pair of empty-net goals, one by Alex Galchenyuk and another by Schmaltz.
Vejmelka had a great game, saving 34 of 36 shots on goal.
Arizona lost the shots-on-goal stat, having 27, but the Coyotes won the only stat that really mattered.
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