There was quite a bit of relief evident in Kraken body language following one-timed slap shots in Tuesday night’s contest, primarily by Berkly Catton after getting career goal No. 1 in a little under half a season.
Catton’s goal on an early second period slapper from the right circle gave his team one of three separate leads taken in this 7-4 victory over the Boston Bruins that extends the Kraken’s points streak to nine games as their season hits its halfway mark. Beyond Catton obviously feeling some weight off his shoulders – and showing it during his post-goal celebration – there was quite a bit of relief from Jared McCann and company when his blue line slapper that same period beat the intermission buzzer by just half a second to give the Kraken a multi-goal lead.
Such leads have been tough to come by for the Kraken and given the nature of this back-and-forth contest for most of the opening 40 minutes, the McCann power play buzzer beater loomed very large. Ben Meyers had just given the Kraken their third lead of the game only 96 seconds prior after both teams had traded goals earlier in the period by Catton and then David Pastrnak with his second of the night.
Both teams seemed headed to intermission when Vince Dunn was able to get one final pass back to McCann at the left point, which he quickly rifled in the vicinity of Boston’s net. It was a vintage McCann rocket that goalie Jeremy Swayman had little chance at stopping, but the question quickly became whether the shot had gotten off in time.
McCann stood anxiously watching the officials rather than celebrating any goal as they quickly headed for the headsets to get a replay assist. The tape showed the puck crossing the line with roughly 0.5 seconds to go and thus the goal counted.
And the way this game was going, with Joey Daccord playing lights out from the midway point onward, the 4-2 lead for the Kraken might as well have been 10-2.
Kaapo Kakko would effectively put things away with his first of two goals midway through the final period off a perfect net front freed by Freddy Gaudreau following a series of huge Daccord saves. And then Catton would cap the night with his second goal of the contest on an 11-foot backhander after being set up alone in front by Gaudreau.
Mason Lohrei and Viktor Arvidsson added a pair of Boston goals in the final 5:10 of regulation to make the final score a little closer than the game actually was by that point. Kakko added his second of the game in the final minute on an empty netter with Swayman pulled for the extra attacker.
The Kraken have had stellar goaltending from both Daccord and Philipp Grubauer throughout a run of 8-0-1 that’s lifted them from obscurity into third place in the Pacific Division and a No. 6 playoff position in the Western Conference. Daccord’s best moments came after Pastrnak tied the game fewer than four minutes after Catton’s goal had put the Kraken back in front.
Daccord made several key point-blank stops in the latter half of the middle period, buying time until Meyers regained the lead off a pass to the slot by Tye Kartye. Then, with the Kraken enjoying the two-goal cushion, Daccord made sure it stayed that way with successive stops off Pavel Zacha from 10-feet out and then a Charlie McAvoy boomer just seconds later from the high slot.
But the night truly belonged to Catton, the 19-year-old Spokane Chiefs junior star drafted No. 8 overall in 2024 and sticking around a lot longer than anyone really thought he might back in training camp. Catton had shown marked improvement since the preseason, doing a lot of things right and collecting five assists his first 27 games.
Still, his lack of goals seemed to be constantly lingering in the back of his mind. Catton noted how teammates have consistently told him not to worry about what’s been his longest drought at any level of organized hockey.
And after his first one went in, off a McCann pass, those teammates universally went over to congratulate the beaming rookie.
