<p><p>SEATTLE – The Seattle Kraken were rolling midway through the second period of their nationally televised season opener.</p></p><p><p>A two-goal lead was hard-won but easily lost, as the St. Louis Blues scored three times in just more than two minutes Tuesday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena and rode that slim 3-2 advantage to the end.</p></p><p><p>Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn scored the first goal of the 2024-25 season, tapping his rebound past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington’s leg 27 seconds into the second period.</p></p><p><p>Newly named Kraken captain Jordan Eberle was shoved into his own bench as he dropped the puck off for Dunn just before the goal. Eberle picked up the only assist.</p></p><p><p>“He played so well tonight again, winning (that) wall battle, doing all the little things, blocking shots,” alternate captain Yanni Gourde said. “He’s a leader, and he showed it again tonight.”</p></p><p><p>Returning Kraken scoring leader Jared McCann had found the net in all three previous season openers. That streak would have continued had Dunn tapped it to him on the 2-on-1. But Dunn took it himself.</p></p><p><p>The Kraken have dropped all four season openers. The previous three were on the road.</p></p><p><p>Dunn, who won a Stanley Cup in St. Louis, was in the middle of several disagreements Tuesday. After an apparent third Kraken goal was immediately ruled offside, he got into a dustup right in front of the Blues bench and teammate Gourde joined in. Five-foot-9 Gourde locked limbs with 6-foot-6 St. Louis winger Alexey Toropchenko, somehow at the right height to whisper compliments in his ear. Both picked up fighting majors.</p></p><p><p>Dunn could also be found jawing with St. Louis’ Radek Faksa after Dunn’s defensive partner Adam Larsson was called for holding Faksa. Faksa took an unsportsmanlike penalty for holding a face mask, but Larsson tacked on a roughing penalty and St. Louis halved Seattle’s two-goal lead during the ensuing power play.</p></p><p><p>The Kraken got “sleepy,” as both Gourde and Eberle put it. On the first goal, Jordan Kyrou shrugged off Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and plowed toward the net, beating sliding goaltender Philipp Grubauer low. The next two St. Louis goals, from Philip Broberg and Kyrou again, were 20 seconds apart. Kyrou scored on a breakaway directly off a faceoff to give the Blues the lead they kept.</p></p><p><p>“Losing the momentum that dramatically, it’s sometimes hard to get back,” Dunn said. “Letting a team back into the game like that is not what you want.”</p></p><p><p>The Kraken’s second goal was an Eeli Tolvanen spinning tip of a Ryker Evans shot.</p></p><p><p>Wearing his new “A” for alternate captain, Matty Beniers blasted a point-blank shot into Binnington’s shoulder 3½ minutes into the game.</p></p><p><p>Later, Binnington flashed his glove to rob Oliver Bjorkstrand.</p></p><p><p>Grubauer (22 saves) swatted away a point-blank chance as Gourde’s latest penalty expired early in the third period. Soon after that, the Bjorkstrand-Shane Wright-Tolvanen third line turned in a promising shift. But Seattle never recovered that third goal.</p></p><p><p>“We’ve got to generate more shots in the third,” Gourde said. “Try to go to the paint a little bit more.”</p></p><p><p>That was taken directly out of the 2023-24 postgame quotebook, as were several elements of the game – plenty of offensive zone time, failing to generate enough scoring chances and get into dangerous areas, building leads and then watching them disappear.</p></p><p><p>Dunn said it was hard for him to assert given the circumstances, but “there was a lot of good” in the Kraken’s opener effort.</p></p><p><p>“First one’s out of the way,” Dunn added. “We’ve got 81 more opportunities to play well. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll bounce back from this one.”</p></p><p><p>New coach Dan Bylsma’s tenure began with a loss. The Kraken travel to Minnesota for Game 2 on Saturday.</p></p>
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