Jaden Schwartz netted a hat trick and goaltender Joey Daccord staved off a furious third-period push as the Seattle Kraken opened a long home stretch with a 4-2 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Chandler Stephenson also tallied and Kaapo Kakko had three assists for the Kraken, who began a run of nine of 10 games on home ice. Daccord made 28 saves, stopping everything he faced in the final period, including a breakaway by Warren Foegele, when Los Angeles had a 17-1 edge in shots.
Adrian Kempe and Jordan Spence scored for the Kings, who went 2-3-0 on a five-game trip. Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 of 21 shots.
The Kraken broke a 2-2 tie at 1:37 of the second as Stephenson redirected Oliver Bjorkstrand’s wrist shot from just outside the top of the right faceoff circle past Kuemper.
Schwartz clinched the victory on an empty-netter at 18:50 of the third.
The score was tied 2-2 after a first period in which the Kraken had a 15-8 edge in shots.
Schwartz opened the scoring just 28 seconds into the game. Kakko jumped on a Kings turnover in their own zone and sent a pass to Schwartz for a one-timer from the high slot that went off the right post and into the net.
The Kings tied it on the power play at 6:07 after winning a faceoff in the offensive zone. They worked the puck around to Anze Kopitar on the left wing, and he sent a pass across the top of the crease for a tip-in by Kempe.
A bone-rattling hit by Kraken defenseman Joshua Mahura on Foegele just after he carried the puck into the offensive zone led to Seattle’s second goal. While Quinton Byfield and Tanner Jeannot jawed at Mahura for the check, the Kraken sped down the ice on a two-on-one rush, with Kakko sending a cross-ice pass to Schwartz for a wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle that beat Kuemper has he tried to slide across the crease.
The Kings tied it at 18:43 as Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour checked Los Angeles’ Trevor Moore into Daccord, spinning the goalie around and leaving a nearly wide-open net for Spence from the right point.
Forward Alex Laferriere, the Kings’ third-leading scorer, missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
