SEATTLE (AP) — Justin Schultz scored with 2:25 left in overtime on Friday night, giving the Seattle Kraken a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was a season-high fourth straight win for Seattle, and its sixth straight one-goal game (4-0-2). The Kraken also tied a franchise record with points in their eighth straight game (6-0-2).
Oliver Bjorkstrand, playing in his 500th NHL contest, played the puck along the right boards and found Schultz at the near post. Schultz slid it past Flyers goalie Carter Hart for his third of the season. Hart finished with 27 saves.
“I just kind of waited for the opportunity,” Schultz said. "Bjorky and (Yanni Gourde) did a great job just holding onto the puck, and we found an opportunity. (I was) lucky enough to (have it) go in."
“I think we’re just sticking with it. And guys are working hard and we know it’s there just wasn’t coming for us,” Schultz added. “We believe in this group. We have almost the same group as last year so we know we can do it, and like I said, we’re heading in the right direction now."
Travis Konecny gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with his team-leading 17th goal of the year at 16:21 of the first with his fourth short-handed tally of the season. On a breakaway, Scott Laughton sent the puck through the crease, and Konecny, on the other side of the net, tipped it inside the post.
Philadelphia has nine short-handed goals this season, second-most in the league.
Vince Dunn tied the game for the Kraken with a power-play goal at 5:45 of the third. Seattle won a faceoff in the left wing circle, and Bjorkstrand got the puck to Dunn just inside the blue line.
Dunn’s shot flew into the back right corner of the net. It was his sixth of the year and his team-leading 30th point.
Joey Daccord had 27 saves for the Kraken.
“Another typical game tonight — a tight one-goal game, a 2-1 game that goes into overtime. We’ve been involved in a lot of those,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’ve talked a lot about being comfortable in those situations. Tonight, we probably didn’t do it exactly the way we wanted. We made a mistake on the power play and had to chase the game against a really good defensive team. But we stayed with it. We didn’t try to do anything crazy. We just stayed on it.”
Philadelphia’s road points streak reached nine games (6-0-3). This is the second game of a four-game Western swing that started with a 4-1 win at Pacific Division co-leader Vancouver on Thursday.
“This is a hard trip coming off a break and getting on a plane for five hours and playing two in a row,” said Philadelphia’s John Tortorella, who coached his 1,500th NHL game — the eighth coach all-time and the first U.S.-born coach to do so. “The guys handled themselves well. There wasn’t much going on for a lot of the game. They ended up generating a little bit more as the game went on. It’s just grind away and find a way to get a point.”
UP NEXT
Kraken: Host Vegas in Winter Classic on New Year’s Day.
Flyers: Visit Calgary on Sunday.
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