The Canadian defeats the Kraken 5-1 in Seattle, 3 points for Guhle

(Seattle) The Canadian ended a four-game losing streak by scoring a first victory in the fourth game of their trip to the West on Sunday.

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Kaiden Guhle was the catalyst for Montreal’s four-goal surge in the first period, collecting three points in a 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Guhle scored a goal and added two assists. Alex Newhook, with a double, Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson also threaded the needle for the Habs. Cayden Primeau stopped 36 pucks in the victory.

Jordan Eberle responded for the Kraken, who lost an eighth straight game.

Philipp Grubauer gave up four times on six shots in the first period, giving way to Joey Daccord afterwards. The latter made 10 saves.

Trevor Letowski was once again behind the Canadiens bench in the absence of head coach Martin St-Louis, who did not accompany the team on this trip for family reasons. It was Letowski’s first victory in the National Hockey League.

The Habs will finish their five-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. The team playing in Denver has won its last nine meetings.

An explosive first

Playing a rare match against a team excluded from the playoff picture at the end of the season, the Canadian started the match like a lion.

The Canadian actually opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first period when Guhle made a one-timer that didn’t have the desired velocity. Regardless, the puck deflected off defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and found its way to the back of the net as Grubauer tried to stop it with the glove.

Just 2:04 later, another shot from Guhle resulted in a goal. Better this time, it was deflected by Newhook. The former Avalanche hit the target for an 11^e times since the start of the campaign.

While his teammates took charge of the attack with two goals on as many shots, Primeau made nine saves at the other end of the ice during the first 10 minutes of play. Two of them, made with the tip of the pad , could have ended up in the back of the net.

Suzuki increased the lead with a precise wrist shot into the top right corner on a two-on-one downhill. The captain scored his 28^e net of the year at 17:33 of the first engagement.

Juraj Slafkovsky collected an assist. He thus collected a point in a seventh consecutive game. The 19-year-old Slovakian now has 39 points in his second NHL season.

Just 27 seconds later, Newhook scored his second of the game with a shot from the slot. Guhle earned his third point of the night. It was then the end for Grubauer.

The local favorites tried to serve their own medicine to the Canadian in the second period.

With reshuffled trios, the Kraken reduced the gap in the first minute of play. Eberle surprised Primeau with a precise shot into the upper right part of the net.

A goal by Matthew Beniers, who deflected an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot at 5:02, was then wiped off the board when video review showed offside.

Matheson, however, gave his opponents a cold shower with an explosive breakthrough on the numerical penalty in the second half of the period. Quickly, the Quebecer overtook Tomas Tatar to find himself alone in front of Daccord. He scored his 10^e of the season at 1:16 p.m.

Moments later, Newhook almost scored his first career hat trick, but his shot hit the post.

Primeau was then solid in the third period to put an end to the Kraken’s last hopes.