Kraken’s postseason hopes get bleaker with 2-1 loss to Capitals

SEATTLE – Trying desperately to hang around the playoff fringes, the Kraken once again found themselves playing catch-up hockey Thursday night in the final period for the third straight home game.

And they’d tie it up for a second straight contest, this time getting an Oliver Bjorkstrand power-play goal a little more than three minutes into the third period against a Washington Capitals team trying to keep its own playoff dreams in check. But once more, as in their previous game, the Kraken couldn’t seal the deal, taking a 2-1 loss that prevented them from gaining back any standings ground they gave away two nights earlier to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Connor McMichael scored a breakaway goal with 8:24 to go in regulation, beating Joey Daccord with a backhanded deke move for the game’s decisive tally.

Vegas lost earlier in the evening to Calgary, meaning the Kraken could have moved seven points behind with a game in-hand on the Golden Knights and a head-to-head contest with them next week. Instead, they remained nine back, and with 17 games to go, this third straight home loss pretty much sealed their playoff fate.

On a night the Kraken honored Jordan Eberle pregame for having played his 1,000th career contest the previous game, and when Andre Burakovsky was partaking in his 600th, the Kraken otherwise left their offense in the dressing room the opening two periods. They’d been held to just a dozen shots through 40 minutes, barely causing Caps netminder Charlie Lindgren to break a sweat.

Then again, Daccord wasn’t sweating much either until he got a little too adventurous with the puck in the waning moments of the middle period. Daccord attempted a pass up the middle of the ice, only to have the puck intercepted by Stanwood native T.J. Oshie, who promptly shot it into a vacated net.

The Capitals had dropped two in a row but were still hanging within three points of an Eastern Conference wild-card race officially wide open given the collapse of the Detroit Red Wings. Much like the Kraken, though, the only real offensive spark for the Caps came courtesy of some questionable middle-period penalty calls, the second of which saw the Caps’ Tom Wilson do a master sales job on an alleged trip by Brian Dumoulin.

Wilson even followed the protesting Dumoulin all the way toward the penalty box, trying to show his outrage before a linesman steered him away. Washington’s power play wasn’t setting any records during the ensuing man advantage until Daccord — a skillful puck handler who has nonetheless been burned a handful of times — made his no-no pass attempt up the middle.

Oshie’s goal with 5:40 to go in the middle period meant the Kraken would enter the final frame trailing for the second straight contest. They’d overcome a 2-1 deficit Tuesday night with three straight third-period goals against Vegas before coughing up a pair in the final eight minutes and losing in overtime.

And they overcame another one-goal deficit in this one when Bjorkstrand took a pass from Gourde in the right circle and wristed a tying goal past Lindgren for his 18th of the season. But a victory was not to be yet again.