Kraken take down Coyotes to clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth

A dark and stormy Seattle night turned bright in a hurry when Jared McCann buried a late first-period touch pass to begin writing the opening chapter of a new Kraken playoff story.

It seemed fated the Kraken would secure a first postseason berth once McCann broke the scoring ice with just 23.5 seconds to go in the opening frame of Thursday night’s history-making contest. They’d been charged up for this clinching opportunity well before a 4-2 victory over the hapless Arizona Coyotes and McCann’s 38^th of the season only drove the home side’s energy level higher.

Vince Dunn added a second Kraken goal just 28 seconds into the middle period, followed by a Jordan Eberle strike five minutes later and the party was on for 17,151 fans at Climate Pledge Arena. They stood and saluted the second-year Kraken in the game’s closing seconds, knowing their expanded points total of 96 could no longer be surpassed by any of the non-playoff-positioned Western Conference teams. 

“You’ve got to win to get in the playoffs,” McCann, whose line with Eberle and Matty Beniers combined for eight points, said in a boisterous postgame dressing room. “We had the opportunity to do that tonight and we did it. We rose to the occasion.”

Barrett Hayton got the Coyotes, losers of nine straight, on the board with eight minutes to go in the second period. But Beniers restored the three-goal cushion on a breakaway just under four minutes into the third. Judging by the intense, celebratory arm pumping by Beniers, the issue of the Kraken’s playoff status was no longer in doubt even though the Coyotes added a goal in the final minute.

That the Kraken’s initial three goals were tallied by last season’s top two scorers in McCann and Eberle and one of the expansion campaign’s emerging young stars in Dunn only made the night more fitting. The trio tasted the lows of last season’s 60-point debut campaign, third-worst in the NHL, and could best appreciate what’s been accomplished in a 36-point turnaround thus far. 

“It’s special,” McCann said. “I’m very grateful to be a part of a special group of guys like this. We battled all year. Even when people told us it was going to be the same as last year, especially at the beginning of the season. So, it’s just a great thing to build on and we’re excited. But the job is not done.”

It will likely be another week before the Kraken’s first round opponent is known, with their No. 7 conference standing and top wild card slot all but secured ahead of second wild card holder Winnipeg. But the battle for conference supremacy still features six teams — Vegas, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota and Los Angeles — within striking distance and the Kraken will play the second best of the two division winners. 

For now, they’ll spend the final four regular season games honing their playoff product, which took a step forward Thursday by the team quickly finishing what it started once McCann got them going. The Kraken had buzzed Arizona’s net menacingly throughout the first period, with only luck and last-minute stick work sparing the Coyotes from falling behind.

But that changed once Eberle took a pass out front in the final minute, hesitated in the face of a defender and then deftly slid the puck two feet to his left where McCann awaited uncovered. The resulting goal sent the Kraken to the intermission on a high that — unlike in some prior recent games with a lead — they didn’t relinquish by letting up.

Dunn came out from the intermission dressing room, launched a puck toward the net in the second period’s opening minute and watched it trickle by goaltender Karel Vejmelka before stopping near the goal line. 

Coyotes defenseman Patrik Nemeth desperately tried to swipe the puck clear, only to knock it into his own net for the Kraken’s second goal. You could sense Arizona sag from there and the Kraken didn’t let up, pressing for more until some good Beniers forechecking freed a puck for McCann, who set up Eberle in front for his 19^th of the season and a 3-0 lead never relinquished.

“We did a really good job of forechecking,” Eberle said of his line’s eight-point showing. “Obviously Matty (Beniers) on the first one and McCann and Matty on the second one too. I think we’re trying to be able to create. I think off the rush we’re a good line but in the offensive zone we’re trying to do more.

“For me, it’s easy to play with those two,” he added. “McCann has the speed and obviously the shot. And Matty is such a smart player, especially at such a young age.”

The Kraken aren’t the first NHL expansion team to make the playoffs this quickly. When the league expanded from six teams to 12 in 1967-68, the new squads were given their own division with four playoff spots awarded within it.

That format allowed the St. Louis Blues to reach the Stanley Cup Final their first three seasons, losing each time by sweep. The Vegas Golden Knights replicated the feat under more competitive modern playoff rules in their 2017-18 season, going all the way to the Cup Final before losing to Washington.

The Kraken are the second fastest team to make the postseason under NHL rules that did not include an expansion division.

“You look at the leap that we’ve made and it’s special,” Eberle said. “We’ve got a special group in here.”

Prior to the Golden Knights, the Minnesota Wild made the playoffs their third season in 2003-04 and went all the way to the conference final.

That matched the 1973-74 New York Islanders, who also made it their third season and advanced to the league semifinal. 

‘The group in here earned it,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “They earned it from day one. And all the way through tonight, finishing off the two points tonight that solidifies it for us. That speaks to everybody and the character and the work ethic in the dressing room.”

Where the next chapter of this Kraken playoff tale will take us from here is anyone’s guess. But unlike a year ago, when a late snowstorm extended their regular season into May with a makeup road game against Winnipeg, they won’t need the weather for some bonus hockey this spring.