Getting the whole Shane Wright “revenge tour” thing out of the way early seemed to have the Kraken poised for a positive night needed ahead of a long road trip.
But after Wright scored his first career NHL goal late in Tuesday night’s opening period, the Kraken had one of those momentary lapses early in the second they’d managed to avoid of late in close games. This time, though, it proved lethal as goals by Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson just seven seconds apart sent the Kraken reeling toward a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Kraken, who fell to 15-7-3 with their second straight home defeat ahead of a four-city East Coast road trip, had been plagued by such letdowns in the season’s opening month in losses to teams they’d mostly outplayed. But they’d gone 12-2-1 in their last 15 games largely by shedding that habit and seemed to be outplaying a surprising .500 Montreal team long on heart and youthful talent but short on the elite experience and goaltending usually needed to be a true playoff contender.
