Daccord’s 35 saves help Kraken end Hurricanes’ point streak at 12

SEATTLE -- Joey Daccord made 35 saves, and the Seattle Kraken ended the Carolina Hurricanes’ 12-game point streak by holding on for a 2-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

“I thought our guys did a good job of trying to keep shots to the outside, force them to miss the net, and when they didn't, Joey made some big saves,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said.

Kaapo Kakko and Ben Meyers scored, and Adam Larsson had two assists for the Kraken (29-22-9), who have won two in a row after dropping their first two following the Olympic break. Daccord has won six of his past seven starts (6-1-0).

“A big thing with playing a shot-volume team [like Carolina] is just controlling your rebounds,” Daccord said. “Because they’re going to try to just get pucks in that create chaos, so if I can suck up pucks, get a lot of whistles, put pucks in the corner, that helps our ‘D’ a lot in terms of just killing their motion in the offensive zone and resetting the play with a D-zone drop.”

Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Hurricanes (38-16-6), who were 10-0-2 during their point streak, which began on Jan. 16, and had won five in a row. Frederik Andersen made 13 saves.

“I thought we played well,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We gave up a few too many, just from O-zone to be honest, just trying to force stuff, and then that transition game for them. … We’ve got to score more than one with the amount of zone time that we had.”

Kakko gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 3:22 of the second period, looking off linemate Berkly Catton on a 2-on-1 rush and snapping a shot from the right circle that squeezed under Andersen’s right arm.

“I was looking for [Catton],” Kakko said. “I actually wanted to pass that, but the ‘D’ kind of took it away. So, I just had a shot, and it went in. So, good for us.”

Jaden Schwartz appeared to score a power-play goal at 7:57 of the second period, but the play was ruled offside and overturned following a coach’s challenge by Carolina.

Meyers, however, extended it to 2-0 less than a minute later at 8:48. Off a rush, Frederick Gaudreau fed it from the corner to Meyers at the top of the crease. Andersen then stopped his redirection, but Meyers swatted the rebound off the post then off defenseman Alexander Nikishin and in.

"[Jacob Melanson] made a great play on the wall, got it to [Larsson] in the middle,” Meyers said. “He just moved it quick to me, I got it to Freddy, and then just drove the net. I was able to put her home after a great pass from Freddy, too.”

Ehlers cut it to 2-1 at 18:30. Jordan Martinook partially fanned on a pass from below the goal line, but it got past defenseman Vince Dunn to Ehlers in the right circle. He faked a slap shot, cut to the slot, and snapped it under Daccord’s glove.

“For the most part, it was a good game, but it just didn’t really click [enough] offensively,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said.

After Eeli Tolvanen was called for holding with 1:29 left in the third period, and with Andersen pulled for the extra skater, Carolina pushed but could not find the tying goal despite the 6-on-4 advantage.

“I think we just didn’t capitalize on our chances, and they’re a team that when they’re up, they hunker down well and don’t give you much,” Staal said.

NOTES: The Kraken ended an opponent’s point streak of 12 or more games for the second time in franchise history. The only other instance occurred on Jan. 12, 2023, when they snapped the Bruins’ 14-game point streak. … Carolina’s 12-game point streak was tied for the fourth-longest in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history.