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Shane Wright scores, but Canadiens beat Kraken 4-2 in Seattle

Jake Allen shines in goal as Habs get outshot 33-16 and they pick up a victory to end four-game road trip with a 2-1-1 record.

Canadiens goalie Jake Allen makes save during second period of Tuesday night’s game against the Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
Canadiens goalie Jake Allen makes save during second period of Tuesday night’s game against the Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Photo by Alika Jenner /Getty Images

SEATTLE — Shane Wright will never forget the Canadiens taking a pass on him with the No. 1 overall pick at this year’s NHL draft, selecting Juraj Slafkovsky instead.

Wright will also never forget scoring his first NHL goal against the Canadiens Tuesday night at the Climate Pledge Arena.

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But Wright will want to forget the fact the Kraken lost 4-2 to the Canadiens in his first game back in the NHL after being sent to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds for a five-game conditioning stint, during which he scored four goals. It was also Wright’s first game against the Canadiens.

Wright now has in 1-1-2 totals in the eight games he has played this season with Seattle, while Slafkovsky has 4-4-8 totals in 21 games with the Canadiens after picking up an assist against the Kraken.

Johnathan Kovacevic, Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson and Rem Pitlick scored for the Canadiens, who improved their record to 13-11-2

Wright and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken, as their record fell to 15-7-3.

The New Jersey Devils and Arizona Coyotes also took a pass on Wright before the Kraken selected him with the No. 4 overall pick at this year’s draft. Wright was the top-rated prospect heading into the draft at the Bell Centre.

The No. 1 and No. 4 picks will be compared for years to come and on this night Wright got a goal, while Slafkovsky got to celebrate a win.

Jake Allen was in goal for the Canadiens against the Kraken and he kept them in the game in the first period, during which they were outshot 11-4.

Allen made three big stops in the period, including one on Wright, and he also used an old-school Johnny Bower poke-check to stop another good scoring chance.

The Canadiens were being outshot 7-2 when Kovacevic scored his first NHL goal at 12:56 of the first period on a shot from the blue line with teammate Cole Caufield scooping up the puck as a souvenir for the 25-year-old defenceman who was claimed off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets before the start of the season.

Wright tied it up with his second shot of the game at 15:30, a quick snapshot from the slot that beat Allen.

Caufield gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 2:05 of the second period when he scored on a one-timer from a gorgeous setup by — who else? — Nick Suzuki. It was Caufield’s team-leading 15th goal — one more than Suzuki, who picked up his 15th assist.

Anderson put the Canadiens up 3-1 only seven seconds later when he scored after a beautiful pass from Christian Dvorak before beating goalie Martin Jones. It was Anderson’s seventh goal of the season and marked the two quickest goals in Canadiens history for a road game. The Canadiens set an NHL record on Nov. 1, 2018 when they scored two goals in two seconds — by Max Domi and Joel Armia — in a 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre.

Pitlick put the Canadiens up 4-1 on the Kraken with his first goal of the season and their third goal on four shots in the second period at the 18:40 mark. It looked like the period would end that way, but McCann scored with 0.1 second left on the clock. The shots were 19-8 for the Kraken after two periods, but they were down by two goals.

At this point, the Canadiens might have been having flashbacks to Monday night, when they blew a 4-0 first-period lead in Vancouver and lost 7-6 to the Canucks in overtime.

Allen made a big save on Yanni Gourde less than two minutes into the third period and the Canadiens didn’t get their first shot of the period until the nine-minute mark by Anderson. Allen continued to shut the door for the rest of the period. The final shots on goal were 33-16 for the Kraken, but the score was all that mattered for the Canadiens.

The Canadiens finished their four-game road trip with an impressive 2-1-1 record — especially since Brendan Gallagher missed all four games with a lower-body injury, David Savard missed the last two games with an upper-body injury and Sean Monahan missed Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury.

The Canadiens were spending the night in Seattle and will fly back to Montreal on Wednesday. They’ll be back in action Saturday when the Los Angeles Kings visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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