By TIM BOOTH (AP Sports Writer)
SEATTLE — Nearly three weeks after their previous victory, the Seattle Kraken’s miserable losing streak finally came to an end with a performance that resembled last season’s success.
Joey Daccord made 24 saves for his first career shutout, Kailer Yamamoto scored the first of two goals from Seattle’s fourth line and the Kraken snapped an eight-game slide with a 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
“To get a shutout in the NHL, especially against such a high-caliber team with a lot of good players and obviously an incredible goalie over there, too, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. But it’s pretty special, for sure,” Daccord said.
Yamamoto scored his fourth goal of the season early in the second period and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare got his third with 14:01 remaining in the third period off a terrific pass from rookie defenseman Ryker Evans. It was the first career point for Evans, a second-round draft pick in 2021 who was called up last week.
Alex Wennberg added his fourth goal at 9:13 of the third and Eeli Tolvanen sealed it on an empty-net goal with 3:51 left.
Yamamoto and Bellemare both finished with a goal and an assist. Will Borgen had two assists and Seattle celebrated its first victory since beating San Jose the day before Thanksgiving.
“We needed two points. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who scored, who did what. We wanted two points and we were the hungrier team, I think,” Bellemare said.
Getting contributions throughout the lineup was a hallmark of Seattle’s 2022-23 playoff team but has been missing at times this season. The losing streak was the club’s longest since the Kraken dropped nine straight games early in their inaugural season of 2021-22.
But the win over the Panthers showed Seattle can still compete with the better teams in the league.
“For the guys to be able to let loose, enjoy a good win knowing that they worked for it, that’s huge,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
Daccord was solid and made key saves when called upon, including a stop on Aaron Ekblad during a 2-on-1 rush early in the first period. But the Kraken otherwise limited dangerous chances for the Panthers. Florida failed to record a shot on goal during any of its three power plays.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for Florida, but the Panthers had their three-game win streak snapped. Florida scored at least three goals in each of the previous five games, but was shut out for the third time.
“They were really good tonight. We were off it a little bit. We didn’t generate as much as we normally (do) and then chased the game a little bit, possibly, in the third,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
Yamamoto’s goal came 3:06 into the second period on a stretch pass from Borgen that sent the forward in alone against Bobrovsky. Yamamoto flipped his shot over the glove and gave Seattle just its second lead in the past nine games. It was also the first goal from Seattle’s fourth line since Nov. 24 against Vancouver.
The 1-0 lead after the second period was the first time Seattle led going into the third since its 7-1 win over the Sharks on Nov. 22.
Panthers: At Vancouver on Thursday.
