Wednesday, February 2, 2022 07:00 PM (ET)

Philipp Grubauer blanks Isles for Kraken's first shutout

Field Level Media
Feb 2, 2022

Philipp Grubauer stopped all 19 shots he faced Wednesday night in recording the first shutout for the expansion Seattle Kraken, who beat the New York Islanders 3-0 in Elmont, N.Y.

Seattle allowed one goal six times -- all wins -- prior to Wednesday.

The shutout was the first for Grubauer since he had 18 saves in the Colorado Avalanche's 6-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings on May 12, 2021. After the horn sounded Wednesday, teammates poured on to the ice to congratulate Grubauer, with fellow goalie Chris Driedger greeting Grubauer last and wrapping him in a hug.

Jared McCann and Vince Dunn scored early in the third period and Mason Appleton added an empty-netter with 1.5 seconds left for Seattle.

The Kraken finished 2-2-0 on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip and head into the All-Star break with five wins in their past nine games (5-4-0).

Semyon Varlamov recorded 28 saves for the Islanders, who have lost three of four. New York fell to 8-8-2 (wins-losses-ties) in its first game against an expansion foe.

The Kraken controlled the game for most of the first two periods, during which they outshot the Islanders 20-11, before finally breaking through twice in a span of fewer than three minutes in the third.

Jordan Eberle, who spent the previous four seasons with the Islanders and received a video tribute during the first stoppage of the first period, won a battle behind the New York net with former teammate Scott Mayfield. He passed to McCann, whose shot from the goal line glanced off Varlamov's shoulder and into the back of the net at the 6:04 mark.

Dunn doubled the lead just 2:31 later. The defenseman was just in front of the Islanders' blue line when he took a pass from Mason Appleton, deked his way around Anders Lee and backhanded a shot past Varlamov, who was screened by Mayfield as well as Seattle center Yanni Gourde.

The Islanders pulled Varlamov with more than a minute left but never seriously threatened before Appleton's goal with two seconds left.

McCann and Appleton each finished with two points.

--Field Level Media

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