For the Seattle Kraken to be effective, they need to have four lines rolling.
They showed that again Sunday when their third and fourth lines did most of the damage in a 6-2 victory against Florida, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Kraken, who moved past San Jose into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, seek their third consecutive victory when they play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
“We need everybody. That’s the way it’s going to be,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “And certainly we needed everybody on a second night of a back-to-back with a rested team here waiting for us. … Our fourth line stepped up and got us going with some energy, so huge (win) for us. But we’re a four-line hockey team, and that’s what we need out of them.”
Kaapo Kakko scored a goal and added two assists while Berkly Catton, Ben Meyers, Ryan Winterton, newly acquired Bobby McMann and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak each contributed a goal and an assist. Kakko and Catton play on the Kraken’s third line with Meyers and Winterton on the fourth. Those two lines combined for all three of Seattle’s first-period goals Sunday.
“A good start is something we need, and we talked about it (pregame),” Kakko said. “Freddy (Gaudreau’s) line got us going early. Our line has been playing together for a while now. We are feeling a lot more where each other are on the ice.”
McMann has three goals and two assists in his first two games with the Kraken after being acquired from Toronto at the NHL’s trade deadline. He had to wait more than a week for his Seattle debut due to visa issues.
“Right now, where we’re at (in the playoff race), whenever someone comes in the lineup, whether it’s via trade or changing the rotation, you’re looking for a spark,” Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said. “Bobby certainly provided our team with a spark. He did the things we talked about at the trade deadline: His size, his speed, getting to the net, just with his shot and his physicality, getting his body in there. That’s what he’s delivered.”
The Lightning have gone 3-7-0 since the Olympic break, including a 4-2 loss Saturday at home against Carolina that dropped them into second place in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay allowed two first-period goals Saturday, then struck twice in the second to tie the score before giving up two more in the third.
“I just thought we had a terrible start, you can’t give that up,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We turned it into a 40-minute game and you’re down 2-0 with two periods (left). I thought we did a great job coming back and gave ourselves every chance to win that game.”
Former Kraken Yanni Gourde scored one of Tampa Bay’s goals.
“We’ve got to be more effective and get back to moving the puck (quickly),” Gourde said. “When we do that I think we’re a good team. We’ve done more of it the last two games, but we’ve got to keep bearing down and trusting the process.”
Tampa Bay is opening a four-game trip that will include stops in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. The Lightning are 7-0-1 all-time against the Kraken, including 4-0-0 in Seattle.
