The road offered little refuge for the Maple Leafs. Toronto dropped its sixth straight game, 5-1, Thursday night in Seattle.
The West Coast swing started on a sour note. Matty Beniers scored his 14th of the season 1:21 into the game. Jared McCann found Beniers alone between the circles, and the Seattle centremen wristed a shot by Anthony Stolarz to make it 1-0.
Nicholas Robertson netted the equalizer with just over five minutes left in the first. Toronto had sustained pressure in the Kraken zone, eventually causing a turnover. The puck ended up on Robertson’s stick, and the winger rifled a shot by Joey Daccord to tie the game 1-1.
The Leafs showed some hop and determination in the second, firing 13 shots at Daccord and creating several good scoring chances, but the Seattle goaltender was spectacular, stonewalling the attack. Toronto was less fortunate. Shane Wright put Seattle back in front, taking advantage of a juicy rebound left by Stolarz, the result of a Jared Schwartz blue-line shot. Wright’s 8th of the season came at 6:23 of the second period. Then, 31 seconds later, Brandon Montour extended the lead. Frederick Gaudreau skated the length of the ice, weaving through the Toronto defence, before flipping a pass to Montour, who beat a sliding Stolarz five-hole, making it 3-1.
Trailing by two goals in the third, Toronto was determined to put everything it could on net. The strategy worked early, generating a power play goal at 6:04. Morgan Rielly, with help from a John Tavares screen, beat Daccord with a point shot to narrow the gap to 3-2.
But Shane Wright put a stop to any thoughts of comeback scoring his second of the game at 8:32 to re-establish Seattle’s two-goal margin. Montour won a battle along the boards, knocking the puck away from Matias Maccelli, before finding Wright, who fired the puck over the outstretched glove of Stolarz.
Jared McCann sealed the deal with an empty net goal at 17:23, securing a 5-2 victory for the Kraken.
Next up, Toronto heads to Vancouver to take on the Canucks Saturday night.
