Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson scored seven seconds apart early in the second period to break a tie and lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory over the host Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
Johnathan Kovacevic and Rem Pitlick also scored for the Canadiens, who rebounded after blowing a four-goal lead a night earlier in a 7-6 overtime loss in Vancouver. Goaltender Jake Allen made 31 saves.
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First-round draft pick Shane Wright scored his first NHL goal and Jared McCann also tallied for the Kraken, who suffered their second straight loss after a franchise-record seven-game winning streak. Martin Jones stopped 12 of 16 shots.
Kovacevic opened the scoring at 12:56 of the first, his shot from the left point deflecting off the shin pad of Seattle’s Andre Burakovsky and past Jones.
Wright, fresh off a two-week conditioning stint with Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League, tied it at 1-1 at 15:30 of the first, taking a behind-the-net pass from Oliver Bjorkstrand and going down to one knee to lift the puck over Allen’s catching glove.
Wright, who was bypassed by Montreal with the first pick before slipping to Seattle at No. 4 overall, had two other good chances from in close in the opening period, but was stopped by Allen both times.
Caufield broke the tie at 2:05 of the second after teammate Nick Suzuki intercepted a Seattle clearance attempt from its own zone. Suzuki fed Caufield for a one-timer from the left faceoff circle.
Montreal’s Christian Dvorak won the ensuing faceoff at center ice and Juraj Slafkovsky, who the Canadiens took with their No. 1 pick, skated over the blue line before making a pass to Anderson in the slot and he lifted a quick wrist shot over a sprawling Jones.
The Canadiens took advantage of another turnover to increase the lead to 4-1 at 18:40 of the period, with Pitlick tapping home the puck from just outside the right post on a three-on-one rush.
McCann scored with less than a second remaining in the period to make it 4-2, but the Canadiens were able to hold on to their lead in a scoreless third.
–Field Level Media
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