Kraken Rally Late but Victor Hedman Ends It in Overtime

The Seattle Kraken left Tampa Bay with a loss Thursday night after Victor Hedman scored 2:07 into overtime to give the Lightning a 4-3 win.

Seattle looked like it might steal one on the road after Matthew Beniers tied the game late in the third period. Beniers tipped the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 4:19 left, making it 3-3 and sending the game to overtime.

Jared McCann and Ryan Winterton scored the other goals for Seattle, while Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves.

The game ended when Hedman found a way through the Kraken defense and drove to the net. Grubauer tried to knock the puck away, but Hedman slipped it between his legs to seal the win for Tampa Bay. Pontus Holmberg assisted on the goal.

Brandon Hagel scored twice for the Lightning, and Ilya Mikheyev had the other goal. Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.

Seattle did enough late to give itself a chance, but Hedman's goal ended that opportunity. Tampa Bay is now 4-0-0 at home this season.

It wasn't the most exciting game, but the Kraken are improving in areas that don't exactly get highlighted by mainstream media networks.

First and foremost, the penalty kill has been outstanding. This was the third straight game that they haven't allowed a goal while down a player. Defensively they have also improved significantly. There were 11 scoring chances in this game that were created off turnovers alone. The Kraken are giving themselves every chance to win and while they may not be ready to dominate a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning for instance, they are laying the foundation for what they need to do to move forward and be competitive. 

If that's not a silver lining, we're not sure what else that can be. The Kraken are moving forward and we'll see what they have for the remainder of the season.