Schwartz, Gourde lift Kraken past Hurricanes to end 3-game skid

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jaden Schwartz and Yanni Gourde each had a goal and an assist, and the Seattle Kraken ended a three-game skid with a 4-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

“It takes a 60-minute effort to beat a Carolina team," Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. "We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I thought the battle and compete all game long, giving that team [19] shots in the game, five in the first, two in the second, that’s not something that happens very often. That was probably our best 60 (minutes) of the year.”

Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, and Eric Robinson also scored for the Hurricanes (16-8-1), who have lost three in a row and five of seven (2-4-1). Pyotr Kochetkov made 24 saves in his return after missing four games because of a concussion.

“[Seattle] played a good game. You have to give them credit,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But we stunk. Our top guys have got to come, and that includes everybody. There’s a lot of top players here that were not good tonight. If we’re going to win, we have to have those guys being top guys. They have to look the part, and it hasn’t been there.”

Schwartz gave Seattle a 1-0 lead 19 seconds into the first period. He took a pass from Gourde before splitting the Carolina defense and beating Kochetkov blocker side.

“Especially in this building, we know how hard it is, and we know how hard they come out early in games,” Gourde said. “Getting the first goal within the first minute, it was a huge boost for our team.”

Robinson tied it 1-1 at 4:56. Necas intercepted a Kraken clearing attempt and found Robinson, who spun to his forehand and tucked the puck inside the left post.

Tolvanen put the Kraken back ahead 2-1 at 5:56 of the second period. Kochetkov stopped Oliver Bjorkstrand's wrist shot from the slot, but Tolvanen followed and scored on the rebound.

Seattle outshot Carolina 20-7 through two periods.

“I guess that’s just confidence throughout the team,” Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn said. “I think everyone just bought into the little details we haven’t been doing lately. I thought our puck play was really good tonight. The way we possessed the puck, the spots that we put the puck, we were controlling the game that way.”

Necas tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 5:43 of the third period, taking a pass from Sebastian Aho and slipping a backhand through Daccord’s five-hole.

“Usually we outshoot teams and we’re in their end basically the whole game,” Necas said. “We didn’t get on the forecheck. It wasn’t good enough. We’ve been chasing games, and we’ve got to get better at that."

Jack Drury nearly put the Hurricanes ahead at 10:02 of the third period, but the goal was overturned following a coach’s challenge by Seattle for goaltender interference.

Gourde gave the Kraken a 3-2 lead at 10:48 of the third period after swatting in a centering pass at the top the crease.

Tanev then scored with his backhand on a breakaway goal at 15:03 for the 4-2 final.

“We were very disappointed with our last three games,” Gourde said. “We had to look ourselves in the mirror a little bit, and that’s what we did. Tonight, we saw the level of play we can get to and the consistency of our game. There’s still lots of room to grow but at least the effort was there, the willingness to win a battle.”

NOTES: Seattle forward Ryan Winterton had an assist on Tanev’s goal for his first NHL point in his 13th game. … Bjorkstrand extended his point streak to six games (two goals, five assists). … Necas had his 13th multipoint game of the season, tied with the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov and the Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner for the most in the NHL. … Necas has 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists), the most through 25 games in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history.