Tkachuk gets 1st goal of season, Panthers rally past Kraken 3-2
Oct 28, 2023, 6:25 PM | Updated: Oct 29, 2023, 1:45 pm
Jamie Oleksiak of the Seattle Kraken against the Florida Panthers on Nov. 27, 2021. (Mark Brown/Getty Images)
(Mark Brown/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk snapped the longest start-of-season goal scoring drought of his career, Nick Cousins scored the go-ahead goal with 5:52 left and the Florida Panthers beat the Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Saturday night.
Florida Panthers 3, Seattle Kraken 2: Stats
Gustav Forsling also scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for Florida (4-3-0), which has now won 13 games in which it trailed by at least two goals since the start of the 2021-22 season.
Jared McCann and Eeli Tolvanen scored for the Kraken. Joey Daccord made 35 saves for Seattle (2-5-2).
McCann put the Kraken ahead with a breakaway goal 7:58 into the first period. Tolvanen added to the lead by deflecting Jaden Schwartz’s shot past Bobrovsky 7:34 into the second.
And then, it was time for Florida to do what it has so often in recent seasons — start a comeback.
Forsling, Tkachuk and Cousins were all goalless on the season entering Saturday, and picked the right night to change that for Florida. Forsling and Tkachuk got their goals 11 seconds apart to tie the game; Forsling’s goal was on the power play, barely a minute after Schwartz gave Seattle the 2-0 lead.
Tkachuk — coming off a 40-goal season a year ago — needed until the seventh game of this season to get goal No. 1. He’d never needed more than four games to score his first goal in any of his previous seven NHL seasons.
Cousins got the game winner into a wide-open net after Daccord was caught off-guard by a bounce off the boards.
UP NEXT
Seattle Kraken: Visit Tampa Bay on Monday.
Florida Panthers: Visit Boston on Monday.
Jon Morosi breaks down why Seattle Kraken have started season slowly
