The Kraken have still never beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning in regulation, but that was the last thing on anyone’s minds Thursday.
With the Nashville Predators strengthening their hold on the last playoff spot in the Western Conference and time running out for Seattle to do anything about it, this was essentially a must-win game. Shane Wright’s desperate chop kept the puck in the Lightning zone, and since it was 3-on-3 overtime, Brandon Montour had open ice and what felt like eons to juggle the puck and pick his shot.
Montour scored his second of the game for a 4-3 Kraken overtime victory in Tampa, Fla. Philipp Grubauer turned in 30 saves for visiting Seattle.
Montour opened and closed the scoring. The defenseman did his best impression of a forward while cutting to the net early in the first period. He backhanded a Freddy Gaudreau feed past Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Vasilevskiy was 7-0 against the Kraken all-time heading into the game. He wasn’t in net the only other time the Lightning lost to the Kraken, which was Oct. 30, 2023, in overtime.
The Kraken swapped replacement forwards before the game. Oskar Fisker Molgaard was recalled from the American Hockey League and Jani Nyman returned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Molgaard, the 21-year-old Danish Olympian, picked up an assist on Montour’s goal for his second point in four NHL games.
Anthony Cirelli tied the game for the Lightning less than two minutes after Montour’s first goal, but Kaapo Kakko gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Bobby McMann stretched the lead — and the torrid start to his Kraken tenure — 3:35 into the second period. McMann made quick work of a rebound for his sixth goal in seven games since joining the Kraken at the trade deadline. He also picked up an assist on Kakko’s earlier goal, giving him nine points since his acquisition.
After a high hit left Kraken captain Jordan Eberle dazed, rookie Berkly Catton was looking to fight anyone who would have him. J.J. Moser was not the one who threw the hit but he took Catton up on his offer anyway and they picked up the only two fighting majors of the period, though there were plenty of words exchanged. Montour and Vince Dunn earned roughing minors.
For the second straight game, the Kraken rolled with seven defensemen and an incomplete fourth line. So without Eberle, who turned his back to the action and received medical attention on the bench for a bit, and Catton, who served five minutes for fighting, the Kraken had only three forward lines for a good chunk of the second period. Corey Perry’s power-play goal tied the game 3-all, 18 seconds past the game’s halfway mark.
Tampa Bay outshot Seattle 11-4 in the third period, but the Kraken gratefully escaped to overtime, where Montour handed them a second standings point and their first win of a six-game road trip (1-2-1).