Defense Doesn’t Rest In Kraken Blowout Win

MONTREAL -- Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour and his somewhat snakebit teammates had come to this city hoping to play aggressively and rediscover some offense gone missing of late.

And offense they got in bunches Tuesday night, though Montour hardly expected his team to score the fastest four goals from the opening faceoff in franchise history by the midway point of the first period. Nor did Montour suspect ahead of time that five of the goals in this eventual 8-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens would come from defensemen, three by him in only the third “hat trick” in team history, along with singles from Jamie Oleksiak and Ryker Evans.

“I think that especially in the last bunch of games here, we know that we need to get more traffic in front of the net,” Montour said after the first three-goal effort of his career. “Especially these games where we’ve lost, we’ve made it easier on their goalies – especially last game and the game before.

“So, get in their face. Make it tough on them. Regardless of whether it’s going to the net. Or, just close with somebody driving to the net. I think we are trying to take more pride in just driving there and creating traffic.”

Montour also picked up an assist to finish the night with four points, as did Chandler Stephenson, who had four assists, including one on the hat trick marker. Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists, helping the Kraken snap a three-game losing streak and equal a franchise record for the most players with three or more points in a game.

The three defensemen scoring in one game was a Kraken franchise record, as was Montour’s four-point effort to break Vince Dunn’s former defenseman mark by one.

It's been a while since the Kraken enjoyed a cakewalk such as this one. Oleksiak and Evans scored on the first two shots of the night against porous Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault, followed by two more from Schwartz and Oliver Bjorkstrand by the time the Kraken had taken just their eighth shot.

The Oleksiak goal just 25 seconds into the game came on a rather harmless puck thrown toward the net that banked in off a defender’s skate as he tangled near the net front with Eeli Tolvanen.

And then the Evans goal a few minutes later came on a 64-foot wrist shot from the same left point that found its way through a partial screen by Matty Beniers and ended up in the net.

“I think a lot of it was just getting pucks to the net,” Oleksiak said. “I think Ryker (Evans), Montour and myself we got us some point shot goals there. And I think getting forwards to the net, getting in front of goalies’ eyes was a huge part of that.”

Bjorkstrand’s goal at the 10:33 mark off a nifty steal behind the net and pass out front by Schwartz was easily the nicest of the four early markers and gave Kraken goalie Joey Daccord a lead he could cruise with in making his third consecutive start. Montreal got one back from Cole Caufield toward the period’s end but then Montour notched his first of two early in the second period on the Kraken’s 10^th shot of the night, a point blast through more traffic to chase Montembeault in favor of backup goalie Cayden Primeau.

But the goals kept coming as the Kraken improved to 5-4-1 to launch a tough, five-city road trip. Kraken coach Dan Bylsma had put his charges through some heavy-duty drills here Monday, emphasizing plenty of one-on-one physical matchups designed to bring out their competitiveness and get to tougher, dangerous shooting positions on the ice.

“I think at times this year we’ve been too much on the perimeter, and we’ve been too much without having a shooter’s mentality,” Bylsma said after this one. “And I think there’s no secret about really scoring goals in this league. You’ve got to have shot volume. You’ve got to have guys at the net. And you’ve got to have guys in and around the net.

“And it’s not just one guy,” he added. “It’s two guys that converge on the net and get the opportunity. And tonight, I think, everywhere and particularly in the first period we were very good at that.”

Montour headed for the net front a few minutes after his first goal and slammed home his own rebound off a nice cross-ice pass by Oleksiak. The assist was Oleksiak’s second point of the night, while Schwartz also assisted on the play for his third point.

Oleksiak said the play was somewhat “freestyled” by Montour deserting his point and heading for the net. For Montour’s part, he said he was told ahead of time by Schwartz to charge up toward the net if Shane Wright won a faceoff in Montreal’s end.

“Jaden just kind of told me to slip in back side there,” Montour said. “I don’t know who was covering, but they obviously got lost. (The puck) went to the big guy (Oleksiak) and he obviously found me back side. So, it was a great look by both of them.”

Schwartz, earlier on, had made it a 3-0 game on the power play by heading to the slot to one-time a pass from Stephenson, who’d made a nice end-to-end rush that ended with him behind Montreal’s net ahead of centering the puck back out front.

Stephenson would pick up his fourth point of the night, assisting on Montour’s third goal, the third power play strike by the Kraken in the game. It was the first Kraken hat trick since Jared McCann notched one in Chicago in January 2023, after Jordan Eberle had the team’s only other one at home in November 2021.

“I don’t remember the last time I scored a hat trick, so to score one at the NHL level -- it’s always nice to get on the board like that,” Montour said. “But this is a game that, obviously, you remember and cherish with the guys.”

One of those guys, defenseman Adam Larsson, got in on the fun by tossing his helmet onto the ice in celebratory fashion from the bench. He’d done it to mimic fans who celebrate three-goal efforts by tossing hats and caps to the ice from the stands.

“I just saw a random helmet fly onto the ice, but it’s funny,” Montour said. “I mean, we’ve got a good group of guys that enjoy each other. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Enjoyment is far easier to share when they’ve already spent the night helping each other locate their team’s missing offense.