Kraken’s losing streak hits four as Maple Leafs take care of business

Kraken No. 7 Jordan Eberle recorded his seventh goal of the season — and seventh point in eight games — to close the gap to one goal, but the comeback bid ended there as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat Seattle 3-1 on Sunday night at Climate Pledge Arena.

The Kraken clawed their way back into a playoff spot with a nine-game win streak that ended Jan. 13, but have dropped four straight.

Kraken winger Brandon Tanev was a cannonball in the first period against his hometown Maple Leafs. He had a rough ride in the first six minutes of it. First he was the recipient of a dangerous, penalized cross-check into the boards from Conor Timmins while Tanev was coming in hot and his center of gravity was low. Tanev took it out on Timmins’ teammate Simon Benoit and both sides were handed roughing penalties.

Tanev wanted another bite out of Benoit after he roughly shoved Tanev into the boards following a Seattle scoring chance. The player he wound up dropping the gloves with, however, was Jake McCabe. The fight took a while, consisting mostly of locked-armed circling with few punches thrown before McCabe sent Tanev backward to the ice.

The Kraken let the Maple Leafs into prime areas, then converged and shut it down. That is, until former league MVP Auston Matthews was left on the doorstep with Joey Daccord (23 saves), cruised across the crease and backhanded in a goal, all in about two seconds.

Daccord stoned Toronto’s Nicholas Robertson, but it was a temporary solution. Max Domi fed a wide-open Robertson, nine seconds after a Maple Leafs power play expired, to put the visitors up 2-0.

Eberle’s goal late in the second period sparked the Kraken. He pulled the puck out of six legs, including those of linemate Jared McCann, and beat Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov low glove side.

On the next shift, Seattle All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand hit the goal post.

The Kraken still hadn’t registered a shot on goal in the third period more than 13 minutes in. Defenseman Justin Schultz nearly made it worth the wait, but Samsonov denied him with a sliding split.

Samsonov made 16 saves for Toronto. After the one on Schultz, the second best was when he scooched to the far post, keeping the puck in the crook of his leg pad to deny a second-chance goal from Seattle winger Jaden Schwartz.

Goaltender Martin Jones, who backstopped the Kraken into February of last season before Philipp Grubauer took over, watched from the Toronto bench. He signed with the Maple Leafs as a free agent last summer.