Seattle Kraken's Shane Wright had a breakout performance against the Philadelphia Flyers in their 6-4 win.
Seattle Kraken's Shane Wright had a breakout performance against the Philadelphia Flyers in their 6-4 win.
Wright entered Thursday's game with no goals or points in the season's first four games. He was a +4 on the year but wasn't getting the production he or the team would have liked.
It all changed against the Flyers after he picked up his first assist of the season on Eeli Tovanen's goal. Wright made an evasive move below the goal line against tired Flyers defenders. He opened up space for Andre Burakovsky who worked his magic before firing a shot on goal. Wright had moved to the front of the net after he made his pass but it was Tolvanen who was first to the rebound.
Wright's confidence with the puck and ability to stay patient and find open space is what led to the goal.
Jordan Eberle scored to extend the Kraken's lead to 4-2 and just eight seconds later the 20-year-old centre potted his first goal of the season. The Kraken stole the puck off of the ensuing faceoff before Eberle found Wright flying through the middle of the ice. He fed it to Wright who beat Ivan Fedotov low blocker with a lightning-quick snap shot.
The Burlington, Ontario native played a confident game, something he needs to do more of. When he plays with confidence he is comfortable holding onto the puck for an extra second to make a play. He works the give-and-go as efficiently as anyone in the NHL, which makes him a threat in transition and on the cycle.
Wright was awarded the game puck and spoke about the team's mindset when the Flyers began to claw their way back into the game.
"There's no panic from us," said Wright. "We knew we were playing the right way and that we were the better team up to that point. We just want to keep playing the right way and keep playing solid defensively, not cheat the game too much, play well in our own end and take care of those little things. There's no panic, we held it down and obviously nice to get the insurance goal from Bjorky there."
Wright's maturity defensively has never been an issue and is one of the reasons why he was drafted so highly. His offensive game has needed time to be refined and yesterday's game is a testament and an example of what Wright can do night in and night out.
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