Tomáš Tatar scores twice as Kraken snap four-game skid with 6-2 win over Blackhawks

SEATTLE - Tomáš Tatar scored a pair of goals and Joey Daccord made 34 saves as the Seattle Kraken snapped a four-game skid with a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

Jared McCann scored his 19th goal of the season, and Jordan Eberle and Justin Schultz each had a pair of assists for Seattle.

Tatar has proven to be a stellar midseason addition for the Kraken. Seattle acquired Tatar for a fifth-round draft pick from the Colorado Avalanche in mid-December. After scoring just one goal in 27 games this season with Colorado, Tatar now has five goals in just 16 games played for the Kraken.

"It's been wonderful since day one," Tatar said. "I could feel the support from the teammates, from the fans and I just really feel good and welcomed, which was just good for confidence."

Much like last December's waiver claim of Eeli Tolvanen from the Nashville Predators, Tatar has seemed to be the right fit at the right moment for Seattle. His pairings alongside Eberle, Matty Beniers and Jared McCann helped lengthen the lineup as the team went a 13-game point streak and nine-game winning streak into early January.

"He's an intelligent player that finds a way to make guys that he's playing with a little bit better," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "So we've really liked his his competitiveness on the puck, his poise in every situation, and the ability to mesh with a couple of different linemates. He's been really effective and obviously tonight, you know, he really helped us put this game away with the breakaway goal and then the late goal."

Tatar's first two-goal game since last April with the New Jersey Devils helped Seattle put away a pesky Blackhawks team that tried to keep hanging around deep into the third period.

That's where a few terrific and timely saves from Daccord helped keep Chicago in check.

"There's some key moments momentum-wise; Joey's save on the PK in the first, the save on the breakaway that turns into a breakaway at the other end for Tuna (Tatar). There's some good points in there where the game could swing the other direction, but we were able to keep it under control," Hakstol said.

It wasn't the cleanest effort by the Kraken on Wednesday night. A few mistakes turned into breakaway chances for Chicago, loose puck possession squandered offensive opportunities, and some scattered defensive moments required Daccord to help bail the team out.

"They work very hard, extremely hard, and this league is a good league," Eberle said. "You can't give anyone (chances). We got ahead there and then we stopped playing for 10 minutes in the first and they came back. We responded. We found a way to get ahead, but there's still little details that we need to fix and, you know, Joey was there to make some huge saves tonight. They had more than enough to keep pace. We gave them quite a bit, so we got to correct that if we want to continue to win."

Eberle's pass from behind the goal line set up McCann as he sniped a shot into the top right corner of the net for his 19th goal of the season to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

Less than three minutes later, André Burakovsky's shot from the left circle deflected off Jaden Schwartz into the net behind Arvid Soderblom for a 2-0 Seattle lead as the Kraken appeared primed to roll over the floundering Blackhawks.

However, a power play chance helped Chicago get settled with Daccord robbing Jason Dickinson on a dangerous net front chance to keep the Blackhawks off the board for the time being. However, Chicago managed to find a goal before the end of the period. A Seth Jones shot from just inside the blue line was perfectly deflected by Joey Anderson as the puck bounced off the ice by Daccord to make it a 2-1 game.

But the Kraken would extend their lead back to two just 15 seconds into the second period with a primary assist from the Blackhawks themselves. A Jones pass from behind the Chicago goal line deflected off the skate of Chicago defenseman Alex Vlassic and redirected between the legs of Soderblom for an own-goal that was credited to Alex Wennberg for his eighth of the season.

Tatar caught a post and Jamie Oleksiak had a pair of chances – including a clean drive in on net – saved by Soderblom as Seattle pushed for more. Ultimately, Brandon Tanev was the one to cash in to extend the lead.

Tanev found Brian Doumoulin with a cross-ice pass to the top of the left circle, then Doumolin fired it back across ice to Tanev as the Chicago defense was caught out of position. Tanev's shot snuck by Soderblom just inside the right post to give Seattle a 4-1 advantage.

A Burakovsky miscue helped the Blackhawks get a goal back early in the third. Burakovsky gave the puck away at the top of Seattle's offensive zone, which led to a break chance for Alex Vlassic with Burakovksy taking a holding penalty in the process. The ensuing power play was quickly converted by Chicago with Philipp Kurashev finding Nick Foligno at the backside of the goal for an easy tap-in.

Daccord had to come up with some key stops in the third period, including a breakaway stop on original Kraken member Ryan Donato. Another giveaway in the offensive zone created a clean breakaway for Donato and Daccord managed to deny his backhand attempt.

Seattle then immediately jumped to reverse the play as Eberle found Tatar for a breakaway chance of their own that Tatar snapped by Soderblom's blocker for a 5-2 Kraken lead.

"We have a pretty good idea of what he's going to do coming down and he loves those and he's efficient in those situations," Hakstol said. "So, hey, that one went our direction. Joey did a great job. And then obviously, you know, we caught them napping a little bit to go the other way and the right guy had the puck for us and you know, it's a great finish by Tuna and a big part of the hockey game to be able to salt it away."

Daccord denied another great look for MacKenzie Entwhistle and Tatar added a rebound goal off a Will Borgan shot to make it 6-2.

"I'm very, very excited the way we play. We got right back on track now and hopefully we can pick up more points," Tatar said.

Seattle has three more games left before the All-Star break with Friday's game against the St. Louis Blues – another team firmly in the Western Conference playoff hunt – serving as the biggest of the three.