Andre Burakovsky nets winning goal as Kraken beat Jets

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Kraken allowed two potentially backbreaking goals, one with nine seconds left in the second period and another with 77 seconds gone in the third.

Seattle’s Andre Burakovsky countered, scoring the true demoralizing goal — on the power play, for the first time in just over two months, with 2:39 left in regulation to snap a tie and give the Kraken a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

The Kraken won both ends of a back-to-back with travel.

Burakovsky returned Monday after missing two games with a lower-body concern. According to coach Dave Hakstol, it was the latest unrelated injury in a season and Seattle tenure full of them. It’s been hard for Burakovsky to settle in. The fast forward signed to be one of the Kraken’s top scoring threats hadn’t found the net since Jan. 4 — his only goal of the season.

Philipp Grubauer made 35 saves in Monday’s 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames, so Joey Daccord finished out the back-to-back for Seattle. He was in net for his first win since Feb. 15 and made 29 saves.

Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and owner of an expiring contract, is among the names being thrown around ahead of Friday’s trade deadline. Many playoff hopefuls are looking for someone to round out their blue line, especially one with experience that time of year.

Schultz padded his stat line, just in case, with a first-period goal set up by Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Kraken had an odd-man rush and those two were leading the charge. Schultz dipped to one knee to one-time the pass and give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.

Daccord went slipping and sliding all over the crease and surrounding areas in the final minute to protect the slim lead. He stretched it another eight minutes before teammate Jordan Eberle sent the puck backward instead of toward the Winnipeg cage while setting up in the offensive zone. Eberle inadvertently helped the Jets, specifically Kyle Connor, tie the game at 1.

Jared McCann gave the Kraken another lead in familiar, but spectacular fashion — his second short-handed breakaway goal in two nights.

McCann scored short-handed goals in consecutive games for the first time in his career. It was the second time in franchise history that the Kraken have scored a short-handed goal in consecutive games, but the first time they’ve come from the same player.

After Winnipeg’s potential momentum-shifting goals, Tomas Tatar ensured it stopped there. He scored on a deft deflection of a Matty Beniers shot to tie the game at 3. In keeping with the night’s theme, that was only Tatar’s second goal since the All-Star break.

The Jets are playoff-bound, tied for the lead in the Central Division entering the game. Yet the crowd was so quiet in the first half you could almost make out the dialogue on the ice. Shots on Daccord barely interrupted the buzz of conversation. Wifi was down and the entire arena had connectivity issues, leading to several apologetic announcements that concession sales would be limited.

So they didn’t have their favorite beverages, perhaps, on this Tuesday night, or TikTok to peruse during stoppages. One would think they’d turn their focus to the game instead. Not so much.

Burakovsky gave them a real reason to be annoyed. Seattle won its sixth in nine games to keep its slim postseason hopes alive.