- Associated Press - Thursday, January 11, 2024

Joey Daccord made 25 saves, Tye Kartye ended a lengthy goal drought and the Seattle Kraken won their eighth consecutive game, beating the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Thursday night.

Alex Wennberg and defensemen Justin Schultz and Adam Larsson also scored for the Kraken, who tied the longest winning streak in the three-year history of the franchise and are 10-0-2 in their past 12. Now on the longest active winning streak in the NHL, Seattle hasn’t lost since before Christmas, a run that included Daccord posting a shutout in the Winter Classic at the home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners.

Daccord, in his first full season in the NHL, improved to 7-0-0 in his past eight games, with a 1.14 goals-against average and .966 save percentage over that span. He has gotten the bulk of the work in net since Philipp Grubauer went down with injury and could play three more times on this road trip.

Seattle is rolling not just because Daccord — who lost to the Capitals’ top affiliate, the Hershey Bears, in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Finals in June — is on his game but also because of balanced scoring. Kartye, who hadn’t scored since Dec. 14, and Larsson became the 15th and 16th players to score during this streak.

Wennberg had his second winner in a row, and Schultz scored for the second time in five games. The Kraken have surged into the playoff race in the Western Conference at nearly the midway point after losing 12 of their first 17 games.

The Capitals had been treading water, but they’ve now lost seven of nine despite increased production from Alex Ovechkin. The captain assisted on Max Pacioretty’s first goal since re-tearing his right Achilles tendon roughly a year ago.

Darcy Kuemper was beaten cleanly on two goals, giving up four on 23 shots. Washington welcomed winger T.J. Oshie back from an 11-game absence but was without All-Star Tom Wilson because of a broken nose.

UP NEXT

Kraken: At Columbus on Saturday night.

Capitals: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday to open a home-and-home, back-to-back set.

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