Kraken vs. Maple Leafs: Brandon Montour's Late Slapper Spoils Gavin McKenna's First Two-Goal Night

For most of Wednesday night in Seattle, the story was Gavin McKenna. The No. 1 overall pick scored twice on the power play, set up the tying goal with Toronto's net empty and played like a kid who has already figured out this league. Then Brandon Montour wound up from the top of the right circle and stole the headline.

Montour's slap shot beat Sergei Bobrovsky with 32.7 seconds left, and the Seattle Kraken held on for a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena, less than a minute after Toronto had dragged itself back from two goals down. Teen phenom, meet defenseman with a cannon.

Ping, Pong, Power Play

This one started as a tennis match. Berkly Catton opened the scoring at 1:59, deking around Oliver Ekman-Larsson and lifting a backhand that clanged off the crossbar and dropped in off Bobrovsky. Catton later went to the box for holding the stick, and McKenna punished it at 19:14, burying an Auston Matthews feed off the far post to tie it 1-1.

The second period was a blender. Josh Mahura needed 16 seconds to put Seattle back in front, cashing a 2-on-1 feed from Ben Meyers into a wide-open net for his first goal of the season. Ryker Evans then took a hooking minor, and McKenna struck again at 1:46, ripping a no-look Matthews feed past Philipp Grubauer on a one-timer for 2-2.

The Leafs gave it right back. Vinni Lettieri was called for tripping Vince Dunn, and at 3:33 Chandler Stephenson tried to slide a pass to Matty Beniers that ricocheted off Troy Stecher's skate and past Bobrovsky. Seattle 3, Toronto 2. At 10:58, Evans turned a Mackie Samoskevich pass at the blue line into a solo dash and rang it in off the far post for a 4-2 cushion.

"Impressive enough that I didn't even know it went in," Samoskevich said of the shot.

Lettieri and Cale Fleury also traded fighting majors at 12:37 of the second, which tells you the temperature in the building.

Down Two, Then Dead Even, Then Dead

Seattle carried that two-goal lead into the third, and Toronto spent most of the period clawing. At 8:02, with both teams down a skater after overlapping minors to Dakota Mermis and Jordan Eberle, Grubauer kicked out an Easton Cowan shot and the rebound found Jack Roslovic, who wired it under the crossbar from the left circle. 4-3.

Then Toronto pulled Bobrovsky, and with 1:30 to play Matthews hammered a one-timer under Grubauer off a Darren Raddysh pass from the point. It was his 10th goal of the season, and McKenna had the secondary assist for his first three-point game in the NHL. Just like that, the Kraken had coughed up a multigoal third-period lead, again.

The Turning Point: One Draw, One Bomb

Off an offensive-zone faceoff, Eberle slid the puck to Montour at the top of the right circle, and Montour leaned all the way into it. The slapper found a way through Bobrovsky at 19:27, and that was that.

"A pretty good D-man takes a slap shot right at our goalie," Matthews said, summing up the frustration in one sentence.

Stephenson offered the honest version from the other side about why these leads keep getting away: "When you're protecting a lead, you're being more conservative," he said. "You're trying to obviously defend a little bit better, and sometimes you defend a little bit too much and kind of back yourself into a corner."

The wild part, per NHL.com, is that this was the third time in four games the Kraken blew a multigoal lead in the third period and still won. They are now 8-0-0 when they hold a multigoal lead, tied with Boston (8-0-0) and Minnesota (8-0-1) for the most wins in the league in that situation.

McKenna Is Already Must-See TV

McKenna's line: two goals, one assist, 15:33 of ice time and five goals in 15 games this season. According to NHL.com, at 18 years and 312 days he is the youngest Maple Leafs player with a multigoal game since Jack Hamilton on Feb. 19, 1944. That is a long time to wait for the next one.

He credited the guy setting him up. "I think when you're playing with a guy like (Matthews), it makes it pretty easy," McKenna said. "He's an unbelievable player, he sees the ice really well."

Coach Jim Hiller was more measured about the pairing: "At 5-on-5, I didn't think they did all that much, to be honest with you," he said, before adding, "Beautiful goals on the power play, no question."

Matthews finished with a goal and two assists and went 13-10 in the faceoff circle. Roslovic had a goal and an assist, and Raddysh had two assists in 24:49.

For Seattle, Montour went plus-3 in a monster 27:10. Stephenson had a goal and an assist and won 10 draws, Beniers and Samoskevich each had two assists, and Catton extended his point streak to five games, per NHL.com. Grubauer stopped 18 of 22. Bobrovsky stopped 12 of 17, and that .706 save percentage is the number that will sting in Toronto.

By the Numbers

• 17 shots. That is all Seattle needed to score five. Toronto outshot the Kraken 22-17 and still lost.
• 2-for-3. Toronto's power play cashed twice, both by McKenna. Seattle went 1-for-5, with Stephenson's fluky go-ahead goal the lone conversion.
• 32-23. The Leafs won the hits battle comfortably, for whatever that is worth on a night like this.
• 8-0-0. Seattle's record when it builds a multigoal lead, even if it makes everyone sweat.

Where It Leaves Them

Seattle climbs to 8-4-1 with 17 points and has won three of four. The Kraken are 4-2-0 at home. Coach Lane Lambert liked the shape of it. "They've got some dynamic players over there, and 5-on-5, we were the better hockey team," he said.

Toronto drops to 7-6-2 with 16 points and has now lost two straight after a four-game winning streak. This western trip opened with a 7-2 rout in Edmonton, then came a 5-2 loss in Calgary and now this. The Leafs close it at Vancouver on Saturday night.

"It definitely stings, but I think there's nothing we can do now," Matthews said.

Loud, Quiet, Loud

This city's grunge bands made careers out of loud-quiet-loud songs, and the Kraken played this game like one: big early noise, a dead-silent stretch while Toronto rallied, then one last crash of the cymbals from Montour's stick. McKenna brought the teen spirit. Seattle kept the two points. As the rookie put it, "So it's a frustrating one, but that's one we definitely want back."

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com; additional details from the Associated Press.