Beniers Scores Shootout Winner; Kraken Sink Canucks

1/2/2026

VANCOUVER, BC

Matty Beniers scored the winning goal in the shootout to send the Seattle Kraken to a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Cale Fleury, Chandler Stephenson, and Ben Meyers scored for the Kraken while Joey Daccord made 20 saves in the win. The Canucks salvaged a point in the standings with goals from Kiefer Sherwood, Jake DeBrusk, and Linus Karlsson, with Thatcher Demko making 25 saves in a losing effort.

Seattle vaults to the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference and merely three points back from the division lead.

Friday night’s game was the second meeting in four days for the Canucks and Kraken, with Vancouver winning on Monday Night 3-2 in a shootout on a winning tally from Liam Ohgren.

The Kraken scored first when Cale Fleury found a loose puck along the right wall and snuck a shot puck by Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko to give the Kraken a 1-0 at 17:34 of the first period. Jamie Oleksiak and Kappo Kakko earned assists on the goal, giving Oleksiak points in back to back games. For Fleury, the goal was his first goal since his rookie season in 2019 with the Montreal Canadiens. “That was unreal. Any time you score it’s exciting, but it’s been a while this league for me”, Fleury remarked about the goal.

Vancouver generated the first six shots for the second period. Canucks forward Ellias Petterson was called for an interference penalty at 7:38. Kraken defenseman Ryker Evans’ point to point pass was intercepted by Vancouver’s Logan O’Connor who had a direct path to the net on a 2 on 0 with Kiefer Sherwood. Sherwood fanned on O’Connor’s pass. Moments later, Kraken captain Jordan Eberle fed Chandler Stephenson for a one timer past Demko to give Seattle a 2-0 lead on a power play goal at 8:53. Jared McCann earned credit for the secondary assist.

An Adam Larsson interference penalty put the Canucks on the power play midway through the second period. Kiefer Sherwood made amends of the fanned breakaway by notching a power play goal off a Joey Daccord rebound at 13:06 to cut the deficit in half.

Late in the second period, Ben Meyers tipped in a late second period goal from his linemates Jake Melanson and Ryan Winterton at 18:14 to give Seattle a 3-1 lead.

Shortly thereafter Ryker Evans was called for a holding penalty at 19:12. 8 seconds later, Brock Boeser found Jake DeBrusk at the net post on a tip in to score Vancouver’s second goal of the game. Vancouver led in shots 8-6 in the second period, but Seattle led 3-2 going into the third period.

Vancouver tied the game in the third period when Linus Karlsson scored at 6:15 to tie the game.

Although Seattle led in shots on goal 6-3, overtime was needed to decide a winner.

It appeared Vince Dunn had scored the overtime winner at 2:45, but Berkly Catton was called for interference waiving off the goal. Seattle went on to kill the ensuing power play. And for the second time in four days, a shootout was needed to decide a winner between Seattle and Vancouver.

After the no one scored in the first five attempts of the shootout, Matty Beniers faked a forehand, moved to the backhand before tucking in on the forehand the shootout winning goal. “that hasn’t been one of my strong suits shootouts – I’ve tried to work on and get at,” said the shootout winner.

Kraken Head Coach Lane Lambert about Beniers’ leadership, “His leadership is through his game, and his 200 foot compete game and complete game. He battles for every inch of ice and that’s what leadership is all about.

Seattle heads to Calgary on Monday to face the Calgary Flames who stand three points away from a wild card spot before returning home the next day to host the Boston Bruins.

Stay tuned to ESN for continued updates on the Seattle Kraken.