Seattle, Washington: Montour Scores in the Final Minute as the Kraken Beat the Maple Leafs 5-4

Brandon Montour scored with 34 seconds left in the third period and the Seattle Kraken beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday night, after Toronto came back from two goals down to tie the game late in the third.

Montour took a pass from Jordan Eberle at the top of the right circle after an offensive zone faceoff and fired a slap shot that squeezed through Toronto goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, according to the NHL game recap. The winner came less than a minute after Auston Matthews had tied the game 4-4 with 1:30 left, one-timing a pass from Darren Raddysh with the Maple Leafs skating 6-on-5 and their net empty.

How Seattle built its lead

Berkly Catton opened the scoring at 1:59 of the first period. He moved around Toronto defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the slot and chipped a backhander past Bobrovsky's glove, and the shot hit the crossbar before bouncing off Bobrovsky and in. Gavin McKenna tied the game 1-1 at 19:14 of the first, scoring on the power play off a pass from Matthews.

The second period brought four goals. Josh Mahura put Seattle back in front 2-1 only 16 seconds into the period, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with Ben Meyers. McKenna tied it again at 1:46 with his second power play goal of the night, one-timing a no-look pass from Matthews. Chandler Stephenson scored on the power play at 3:33 to make it 3-2, when his pass toward Matty Beniers bounced off the skate of Toronto defenseman Troy Stecher and past Bobrovsky. Ryker Evans pushed the lead to 4-2 at 10:58, taking a pass from Mackie Samoskevich and snapping the puck off the far post and in.

Toronto's comeback falls short

Jack Roslovic cut the lead to 4-3 at 8:02 of the third period, playing 4-on-4. Easton Cowan sent a wrist shot from the top of the slot that hit Philipp Grubauer's pad and skipped to Roslovic in the left circle, and Roslovic snapped it under the crossbar. Matthews then tied the game late, before Montour answered with the winner.

McKenna, the first overall pick in this year's NHL draft, finished with two goals and an assist. It was his first two-goal game and his first three-point game in the NHL, and he now has five goals in 15 games this season. Matthews had a goal and two assists and has 10 goals this season. Roslovic added a goal and an assist, and Raddysh had two assists for Toronto.

Stephenson had a goal and an assist for Seattle, and Samoskevich added two assists. Grubauer made 18 saves for the Kraken, and Bobrovsky stopped 12 shots for the Maple Leafs. Seattle improved to 8-4-1 and has won three of its last four games, closing a 3-1-0 homestand. Toronto fell to 7-6-2 and has lost two in a row after winning four straight. The Kraken play at Calgary on Friday night, and the Maple Leafs play at San Jose on Saturday night.