<p><p>TAMPA, Fla. – Going out and firing a franchise record 20 shots in Monday night’s first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning was one way for the Kraken to launch this critical road trip finale.</p></p><p><p>Once they’d scored three times that opening frame, the Kraken prevailed, 4-3 in overtime, thanks to some solid goaltending by Philipp Grubauer and a squad that bent a little without breaking.</p></p><p><p>Jared McCann scored the game-winner on the power play at 2:53 of the extra session after the Kraken maintained consistent pressure inside the Lightning end.</p></p><p><p>Grubauer made some key late stops just to get the game into overtime, then had help from his goal posts – once in the game’s dying seconds and then in overtime off a Nikita Kucherov redirection right at the goalmouth.</p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">The Kraken finished the trip 2-1-1 and a daunting 10-game swing to open the season at 3-5-2.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring 12 minutes into the game, firing home a long rebound off a shot by his defensive partner Justin Schultz. Yanni Gourde then snapped home a pass from Kailer Yamamoto to make it 2-0 against his former team barely a minute later.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">The Kraken held multi-goal leads in all their games this trip, though they wound up blowing all four and needed overtime to notch both their wins. That pattern seemed at risk of repeating early in this one when Tanner Jeannot scored a power-play goal to cut the Kraken’s lead in half just 29 seconds after Gourde’s tally.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">But then Yamamoto capped the barrage of goals by both teams barely two minutes later, slamming home a loose puck in front of the net after the Kraken had moved things around well on a power play of their own.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">The Kraken held a 20-8 margin in shots after one period, equaling their franchise high for one frame first set in last season’s opener against the Anaheim Ducks on the road. But the Lightning weren’t going away quietly, narrowing the lead to 3-2 with another power-play goal, by original Kraken player Alex Barre-Boulet, just 3:40 into the second period.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">Then, Brandon Hagel tied it with 5:28 to play in regulation on a shot from the right circle that deflected off Alex Wennberg and between Grubauer’s pads.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">Kraken coach Dave Hakstol had juggled his team’s lines pregame, moving right wing Oliver Bjorkstrand up to the top trio alongside Matty Beniers and Tye Kartye. Jordan Eberle was dropped down one line, joining Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz.</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">“We’re working hard in a lot of areas, we’re doing a lot of things within good structure, good pace, generating (chances),” Hakstol said after his team’s morning skate. “But the bottom line is, we’ve got to get over the hump a little bit. We’ve got to get a little swagger back offensively. That’s what’s missing from our game a little bit and the only way to do that is to keep working. Give a little extra until we get that.”</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">By switching lines, Hakstol said he was trying to “see what it sparks” – noting that Eberle, Wennberg and Schwartz “have played a lot of hockey together” while combining Bjorkstrand and Beniers offered “a little different look.”</span></p></p><p><p><span class="print_trim">For one period and parts of the second, the offensive output looked great. But by the third, the Kraken were being outshot 13-4 and trying desperately to hang on to even the single point.</span></p></p>
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