If there were any question about how much Brandon Montour means to the Seattle Kraken, they were answered this week.
Montour became the first NHL defenseman with a hat trick this season and added an assist Tuesday as the Kraken opened a five-game trip with an 8-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
He missed the Kraken’s 4-1 loss at Toronto on Thursday after returning to Seattle to be with his wife, Ryian, as they welcomed their second child, a girl.
The Kraken, already without defenseman Vince Dunn because of a mid-body injury, sure could use Montour when they visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
“Those are big losses for us. Those are key players,” Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord said. “We miss them, but we’re confident with everyone we have in this room.”
With their two power-play standouts not playing, the Kraken relied on youngsters Ryker Evans and Cale Fleury, who was called up from Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League earlier this week.
Fleury was familiar with the system, having played under Kraken coach Dan Bylsma in the minors for the past couple of seasons.
“I’ve got a lot of experience with Cale over the last handful of years. A lot of trust and confidence in his game,” Bylsma said. “That goes (for) the power play as well. He’s going to be able to step in and know exactly what we’re doing in terms of breakouts and what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Eeli Tolvanen scored the lone Seattle goal on Thursday with Daccord pulled for an extra attacker late in the third period.
Tolvanen said the Kraken need to rely on their “next guy up” mentality and limit their lapses against Ottawa.
“I think it’s our play with the puck — clean that up,” he said. “Get back to Kraken hockey. Play physical, play fast.”
The Senators will be playing the second game of a back-to-back set after taking a 2-1 loss to the host New York Rangers on Friday.
Ottawa struggled to solve Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 40 of 41 shots.
Adam Gaudette scored and Linus Ullmark made 16 saves for the Senators, who have lost three of their past four games.
“I don’t really know what to say, their goalie played unbelievable,” Senators forward Tim Stutzle said. “We knew he was a great goalie and obviously we’ve got to find a way to get more behind him, but you’ve got to give him credit. He’s a great goalie and he kept them in the game. If you outshoot a team like that by 20 shots, you know you played a pretty good game.”
The Senators outshot New York 20-5 in the third period and 41-18 for the game.
“I thought we played an unreal game,” Senators forward Michael Amadio said. “We just ran into a hot goalie.”
The Senators, who entered the game second in the NHL with a 42.9 percent success rate on the power play, went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
“First period, I like the way we came out,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “They got the quick goal, but I like that it didn’t faze us. I thought we got better as the game went on. Loved our second and I thought we left it out there in the third.”
