Jordan Kyrou scores twice as Blues spoil Kraken’s home opener with 3-2 win

SEATTLE — Jordan Kyrou scored two goals less than two minutes apart late in the second period, and the St. Louis Blues rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Seattle Kraken in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday, 3-2.

Philip Broberg also scored for St. Louis, his goal sandwiched between the two by Kyrou. All three goals came in a span of 1 minute, 55 seconds.

Justin Faulk picked up assists on the first two goals. Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway and Alexandre Texier also had assists.

Vince Dunn and Eeli Tolvanen scored two minutes apart early in the second period for the Kraken.

Blues goalie Jordan Binnington made 30 saves. Philipp Grubauer had 22 saves for Seattle.

Prior to the game, the Kraken selected Jordan Eberle as their captain, filling the last void at that spot among the NHL’s 32 teams. Every team in the league has a captain for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

Many teams in recent years have chosen to go without a captain and instead rely on a leadership group of three alternates wearing an “A” on their jerseys.

Takeaways

Blues: Kyrou led the Blues with 31 goals last season, but is already off to a faster start. His first one last year came in St. Louis’ second game. It took another eight games to tally his second.

Kraken: Assistant coach Jessica Campbell became the first woman to be behind the bench as an assistant or associate coach in NHL history. Tuesday’s game was the team’s first season opener on home ice.

Key moment

St. Louis got the go-ahead goal just 20 seconds after tying the game. After the Blues won a faceoff at center ice, Texier found Kyrou streaking down the right wing side, and Kyrou easily beat Grubauer on a wrist shot.

Key stat

The Blues had 13 shots on goal, all of which were saved by Grubauer, before Kyrou finally broke through. During that 1:55 span of the second period, they scored on three of four shots. For the game, Seattle outshot St. Louis, 32-25.

Up next

The Kraken visit Minnesota on Saturday to start a three-game trip.

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BLUES 3, KRAKEN 2

St. Louis                             0             3             0—3

Seattle                0             2             0—2

First Period—None. Penalties—None.

Second Period—1, Seattle, Dunn 1 (Eberle), 0:27. 2, Seattle, Tolvanen 3 (Evans, Borgen), 2:20. 3, St. Louis, Kyrou 2 (Thomas, Faulk), 13:42 (pp). 4, St. Louis, Broberg 2 (Holloway, Faulk), 15:17. 5, St. Louis, Kyrou 3 (Texier), 15:37. Penalties—Walker, STL (Roughing), 9:01; Dunn, SEA (Roughing), 9:01; Toropchenko, STL (Fighting), 9:01; Gourde, SEA (Fighting), 9:01; Seattle bench, served by Burakovsky (Holding), 13:20; Faksa, STL (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 13:20; Larsson, SEA (Roughing), 13:20; Gourde, SEA (Hooking), 19:38.

Third Period—None. Penalties—Schenn, STL (Interference), 6:11.

Shots on Goal—St. Louis 6-13-6—25. Seattle 11-17-4—32.

Power-play opportunities—St. Louis 1 of 2; Seattle 0 of 1.

Goalies—St. Louis, Binnington 2-0-0 (32 shots-30 saves). Seattle, Grubauer 1-3-0 (25-22).

A—17,151 (17,100). T—2:37.

Referees—Trevor Hanson, Steve Kozari. Linesmen—Kiel Murchison, Travis Toomey.