Ilya Mikheyev scored his first two goals of the season and the Vancouver Canucks ended their season-opening losing streak at a franchise-record seven games, beating the Kraken 5-4 on Thursday night in Seattle.
Elias Pettersson, Andrei Kuzmenko and Conor Garland each had a goal and had an assist to help coach Bruce Boudreau reach 600 NHL victories. Garland scored the winner into an empty net.
Thatcher Demko stopped 32 shots for the Canucks, including two as he lay on his back midway through the third. Referees also disallowed a late Andre Burakovsky goal for a high stick.
Jamie Oleksiak, Jared McCann, Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz scored for Seattle, with Schwartz connecting on a power play with 30 seconds left.
“Sometimes you have a hot goalie and he played pretty well,” Beniers said. “You know, it just happens that way. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t.”
WATCH | Canucks beat Kraken for 1st win of season:
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Vancouver snaps their season-opening 7-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over Seattle.
Jordan Eberle had two assists, reaching 600 points on Beniers’ goal that made it 3-3 in the second.
Martin Jones made 14 saves for Seattle. The Kraken are 0-5 against their nearest rival.
“We were the better team for most of the night, but they beat us on specialty teams by one and that was ultimately the difference in the hockey game,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
Boudreau became the 22nd coach in NHL history and the fifth active coach to reach 600 wins (600-322-127). Only former Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman (.657) has a better points percentage than Boudreau’s .633.
It took a lot longer than he imagined, however.
“I haven’t been thinking about that since the third game,” he said. “I just wanted to get the win for the guys and and let them feel better.”
Vancouver will next face Pittsburgh at home on Friday night.
Canucks deal DiPietro, prospect to Bruins for Studnicka
Earlier on Thursday, the Canucks sent goalie Michael DiPietro and defensive prospect Jonathan Myrenberg to the Boston Bruins in exchange for forward Jack Studnicka.
DiPietro, 23, has seen action in three NHL games and spent most of last season with the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks, posting a 15-13-4 record with a .901 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average.
The Canucks selected Myrenberg, a 19-year-old from Taby, Sweden, in the fifth round of the 2021 draft and he has put up three points (one goal, two assists) in nine games for Mora IK in the Swedish Hockey League this season.
Boston picked Studnicka 53rd overall in the 2017 draft and the 23-year-old centre has seven points (one goal, six assists) in 38 career games for the Bruins.
The Canucks announced the trade on Twitter ahead of the game.