Blackhawks edge Kraken, stay undefeated under Derek King

[November 18, 2021] Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for his 496th career victory as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the host Seattle Kraken 4-2 Wednesday night.

Alex DeBrincat had a "Gordie Howe hat trick" -- a goal, an assist and a fight -- and Patrick Kane added a goal and an assist for Chicago, which improved to 4-0-0 under interim coach Derek King after Jeremy Colliton was fired following a 1-9-2 start to the season.

Seth Jones also scored for the Blackhawks, and Jake McCabe added an empty-netter with 26 seconds remaining to clinch the victory.

With Seattle trailing 3-0, the Kraken's Jared McCann and Yanni Gourde scored in the final six minutes to make things interesting.

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 15 of 18 shots as the expansion Kraken suffered their fifth consecutive defeat.

Seattle spoiled Fleury's shutout bid on McCann's backhander on a rebound with the man advantage at 14:15 of the third.
 

Gourde tallied on a slapshot from the right faceoff circle into the upper right corner of the net with the goalie pulled at 18:11 to make it 3-2.

The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 15:03 of the first period. Kane gained control of the puck along the boards in his own end of the ice and skated up the right wing and over the Seattle blue line before making a cross-ice pass to DeBrincat. Instead of shooting, DeBrincat noticed Jones jumping into the play and sent a pass back through the low slot to the defenseman, who tapped the puck into the open side of the net.

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones (4) skates with the puck against Seattle Kraken center Ryan Donato (9) during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

DeBrincat made it 2-0 at 2:01 of the second, taking a long lead pass from Kirby Dach and skating up the center of the ice. DeBrincat fended off defenseman Jamie Oleksiak as he neared the net and put a shot over Grubauer's left shoulder.

The Kraken dominated the rest of the period, putting 16 shots on goal. Fleury, who won the Vezina Trophy last season as the league's top goalie while with the Vegas Golden Knights, made a couple of outstanding saves, including a sprawling glove save against Gourde.

Kane made it 3-0 at 5:36 of the third, beating Grubauer with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle after taking a pass from Philipp Kurashev on a two-on-one break.

DeBrincat capped his big night when he dropped the gloves with Gourde early in the third period.

--Field Level Media

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