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Joey Daccord shines in goal again as Kraken keep streaking

<p><p>SEATTLE – The now familiar “Jo-ey! Jo-ey!” cheers were once again ringing down from the Climate Pledge Arena stands before Kraken netminder Joey Daccord had stopped even a single puck.</p></p><p><p>And the pre-anthem chanting Thursday night indeed foreshadowed what’s become a familiar winning Kraken formula: have the offense score an early goal and let Daccord handle the rest. That was the case for much of this 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators as Daccord stopped 26 shots in the first two periods alone and kept his team ahead until goals by Tomas Tatar and Andre Burakovsky broke it open late in the middle frame.</p></p><p><p>Parker Kelly finally got Ottawa on the board when, down by three, he poked at an incoming screened shot and the puck trickled on in with 7:40 to go in regulation. It was the 30th shot Ottawa had fired at Daccord, who’d held opponents scoreless for nearly eight straight periods up to that point — a total of 155 minutes, 2 seconds.</p></p><p><p>Vince Dunn scored an empty-net goal in the closing minutes with Ottawa’s goalie pulled for an extra attacker.</p></p><p><p>Yanni Gourde had also scored for the Kraken to put his team ahead in a first period largely dominated by the Senators, with Daccord holding the visitors off the scoreboard and causing more chanting of his name from the stands. By the time this one ended, the Kraken had their sixth straight win and extended their points streak to a franchise record 10 consecutive contests.</p></p><p><p>As for Daccord, he followed up his dazzling, 35-save performance in a 3-0 blanking of Vegas in the NHL Winter Classic on Monday by running his shutout streak to seven consecutive periods through the first two of this one. Over the Kraken’s 10-game stretch during this 8-0-2 points streak, they’ve allowed just 12 goals.</p></p><p><p>That’s been huge for a team that’s failed to score more than three goals in any of their five prior wins and only managed to this time because of the late empty-netter. They’ve outscored opponents 16-6 during the six-game win streak, with Daccord winning five of the contests and backup Chris Driedger the other.</p></p><p><p>There were times throughout this game when it didn’t appear Gourde’s opening marker midway through the first period would hold up very long. The Kraken had gotten into penalty trouble the opening six minutes — including going down two men for a 17-second span — but fended off the Ottawa attack with Daccord at his acrobatic best throughout.</p></p><p><p>Then, after Gourde’s goal going to the net for a rebound off an Eeli Tolvanen shot, Daccord stood tall the rest of the way until intermission to preserve the 1-0 advantage.</p></p><p><p>Daccord continued stonewalling the Senators in the second period, including one stop where he lost sight of the puck and nearly had it trickle across the line behind him. But a video review showed it did not fully cross the line before being swept away by a defender.</p></p><p><p>It looked as if this would be yet another Kraken game going down to the wire until Jordan Eberle sent Tatar in alone and watched him pull a beautiful deke move on goalie Joonas Korpisalo. That doubled the Kraken’s lead with just 4:40 to go in the second period and then Burakovsky gave them what’s now proving to be an insurmountable three-goal lead — given how Daccord is playing — by scoring his very first goal this season with 56 seconds to play in the frame.</p></p><p><p>Burakovsky displayed some of the skill the Kraken have long waited for, taking a Kailer Yamamoto pass and then hesitating just enough on Korpisalo before putting a wrist shot past the veteran netminder.</p></p>

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