SEATTLE — Yanni Gourde scored two of Seattle’s four goals in the third period, including the winner with 6:47 remaining, and the Kraken rallied past the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on Saturday night.
Jaden Schwartz and defenseman Adam Larsson also scored for the Kraken, who dominated much of the game and finished with a 42-24 shots advantage. Still, they trailed 2-0 entering the third.
Joe Veleno and Taro Hirose had the goals for Detroit, which has dropped seven of eight.
The expansion Kraken, who have spent most of the season in last place in the Pacific Division, have won two of three.
“It’s just one game,” Larsson said. “Obviously, losing has been very tough and I think everybody’s sick of it. This is one game and we have to build on it. This is something that needs to be the standard. It can’t just be a one-night thing. We have to build on this.”
After struggling to get the puck past Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (38 saves) most of the game, Seattle broke through in the third.
“He gave us a chance to find our footing,” Detroit forward Sam Gagner said. “He made a couple of incredible saves. When your goaltender is playing like that, you’ve got to find a way to reward him.”
Larsson got the Kraken on the board at 7:10, trimming Detroit’s lead to 2-1 with his career-high fifth goal of the season. Less than three minutes later, Schwartz scored off assists from Vince Dunn and Alex Wennberg to tie it.
Gourde scored the go-ahead goal at 13:13, assisted by Haydn Fleury. Gourde then added an empty-netter with 18.7 seconds left to seal the victory. He’s second on the Kraken with 16 goals.
“It was a combination of everything,” Larsson said of Seattle’s comeback. “The volume of shooting. Physicality. Structure-wise, I thought we looked good. I thought that was one of our best periods in a while.”
Detroit scored first in the second period, shortly after Seattle failed to take advantage of a 5-on-3 power play. Once the Red Wings returned to full strength, Veleno scored at 13:18 off an assist from Dylan Larkin.
Three minutes later, Hirose scored on a power play to put Detroit up 2-0. Tyler Bertuzzi and Lucas Raymond were credited with assists.
Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Kraken.
“We don’t have any room for error,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’ve got to make sure we show up with our A game every night.”
Seattle took the game’s first 13 shots, but Nedeljkovic made a series of acrobatic stops. Detroit didn’t register a shot until Gagner’s attempt at 11:27 of the first period.
“We just stayed with it,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “It really wasn’t, for me, a game of extremes. The first period was excellent. The second period, I really liked our first 10 minutes. We made a couple of mistakes. … We got it going in the third.”
Despite a 16-6 shots advantage for the Kraken, the teams ended the first period scoreless.
“Ideally, we would’ve found a way to get one or two in the first period,” Hakstol said. “We had a great first period, but that didn’t happen. You have a decision to make after the second period. Do you stick with it and try to find a little extra gas in the tank and push, or do you quietly go away in the last 20 minutes? The guys pushed.”
NOTES: Seattle captain Mark Giordano was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. … Kraken forward Karson Kuhlman was activated after missing 18 games with an injury. Kole Lind was reassigned to AHL Charlotte. … Bertuzzi returned to the lineup for the first time since the birth of his child on March 11.
UP NEXT: Kraken play at Arizona on Tuesday.
