NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a game of three Kraken leads, the third one was the charm as Seattle held for its second win of the season and second on this road trip. Coach Dan Bylsma and his charges come home with a winning journey, taking two of three from three straight fast-skating and physical Central Division opponents. The 2-2 Kraken now breeze into a five-game homestand that begins with Philadelphia on Thursday in the first night game of the year.

With a 3-3 score in the second minute of the third period, new-for-night-and-likely-longer linemates Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jaden Schwartz teamed up on highlight-reel passing and a slick move by Schwartz to beat Nashville’s elite goalie Juuse Soros. Linemate and new guy Chandler Stephenson started the scoring play with a puck retrieval and a quick pass to Bjorkstrand. All three linemates had two-point nights.

Schwartz scored at 1:19 of the final frame. Jordan Eberle provided Seattle with its second two-goal lead of the night 81 seconds later when he took a feed from Jared McCann for the captain’s third goal of the young season. Leading by example indeed.

McCann scored himself 12 minutes in the final 20 minutes to make it 6-3. McCann, who is the team’s all-time leading goal scorer, notched his first score of the year. Jamie Oleksiak assisted on both the Eberle and McCann goals for his first two points. All told, six Kraken players had two-point nights, with Adam Larsson, who assisted on the game’s first goal, finishing off the scoring with an empty-net goal.

Lining Up the Right Combination for First-Period Score

Dan Bylsma reworked his forward lines a tad Tuesday, and it paid dividends in the first period, with newcomer Stephenson finding time and space in the Nashville zone seven minutes into the opening period. New linemate Bjorkstrand took a pass from the free-agent signee approaching the left of the goal, positioning for a right-handed wrist shot.

Predators all-star goalie Juuse Saros looked like he had it covered, but the Kraken all-star Bjorkstrand went whip-high over an on-ice Saros, finding a sliver of opportunity for his first goal and point of the season. Stephenson picked up his first assist as a Kraken, and linemate Jaden Schwartz notched an assist in his typical fashion, retrieving the puck along the sideboards and head-manning the puck quickly to Stephenson.

Stephenson and Schwartz have known each other since childhood when Schwartz played youth hockey with Stephenson’s older brother, and Chandler tagged along for pickup games. They have paired together since the regular-season start, albeit with Bjorkstrand subbing in for Andre Burakovsky (who moved to a line with Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen for this Nashville matchup).

“It’s obviously still a work in progress,” said Schwartz after the Kraken’s morning skate. “We’ve had some chances, but obviously, they haven’t gone in. We’ve got to be better individually and produce more. There’s been some good things and some things we can work on. With Bjorkstrand, it just a little bit different look offensively.”

Let’s agree the move was successful and looked both different and dangerous for Nashville.

Get Lead, Lose Lead, Regain Lead, All in 20 Minutes

The Kraken raced out to a 2-0 lead on young defenseman Ryker Evans’ first goal of the season (and second in his first 40 NHL games) and veteran Oliver Bjorkstrand scoring on a wicked wrist shot with assists from his new linemates, Chandler Stephenson and Jaden Schwartz. But Nashville answered back with a pair of scores later first period in what was a back-and-forth contest all night long. The first period ended with 13 Kraken shots on goal and 12 for Nashville. The second period finished with 12 more Predators shots and 11 for Seattle, adding up to 24 apiece in the first 40 minutes.

Typical of this game’s seesaw nature, the first period ended with Seattle going up 3-2 on Brandon Tanev’s first goal of the season and another strong shift of many so far this year from the fourth-line of Tanev, Yanni Gourde and Tye Kartye. Tanev tipped in a Brandon Montour laser from the right point. But late second period, former Carolina D-man and free agent signee Brady Skjei scored his first goal with his new team to make it 3-3 at the second intermission. Skjei’s turnaround shot on a rebound deflected off Daccord’s but unluckily angled inside the right post.

Ryker Strike: Evans Scores First Goal

Young Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans picked an opportune time to score his first goal of the season and teammate Vince Dunn picked a pretty good moment himself to break his stick on a shot from left point at the blue line. With the Kraken maintaining puck possession the Nashville zone three-and-a-half minutes into the game, Dunn quickly skated off and Evans jumped out to speed to the vacated left point. Adam Larsson saw an open Evans and sent the puck his way. Evans delivered without breaking stride.

Nashville Answers, Kraken Fourth-Line Impresses Again

After Seattle jumped out to the two-goal lead, Nashville answered with two goals in two-plus minutes later first period, one scored on a net-front scramble and the second on a back-door pass. But Kraken starter Joey Daccord held steady in net to finish out the first period and was especially strong on a Nashville power play that started the middle period when Seattle forward Jared McCann was whistled off for tripping with a second left in the opening 20 minutes. Daccord made a pair of close-in saves that doused any potential Nashville momentum.

While Daccord and the SEA defensive corps were keeping the scoresheet at two Predators goals, the steadily effective Kraken fourth line proved their early-season worth when Yanni Gourde started a scoring play by outmanning Nashville’s Michael McCarron behind the Predators net, winning the puck and sending it along the boards to Brandon Montour near the right point. From there, Montour played catch with Gourde before firing a hard shot at Saros that Brandon Tanev got a piece off before finding the back of the net.