SEATTLE — The expansion Seattle Kraken played their first home game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game on a power play with 7:08 remaining, and Conor Garland scored on a breakaway three minutes later as the Vancouver Canucks spoiled the home debut of the Seattle Kraken 4-2 Saturday night.
Garland assisted on Horvat’s first goal in the second period, and then scored his third of the season to cap Vancouver’s comeback and ruin a celebratory night with the Kraken playing their first home game in their new $1 billion arena.
Vince Dunn scored the first goal inside Climate Pledge Arena in the closing seconds of the first period, and Mark Giordano gave Seattle a 2-1 lead early in the third period. But Seattle couldn’t hold a third-period lead for the second time in its six games.
The home opener was still a celebration, no matter the record.
The return of a professional winter sports franchise is providing a cathartic release for those who had begged for the NHL in this corner of the country and for sports fans in general who have felt incomplete since the day the NBA’s SuperSonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City.
The day started with Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato on top of the iconic Space Needle raising a deep blue flag with the tentacle shaped ‘S’ flying over the city. And from there, Seattle only became more awash in everything Kraken in celebration of the home opener against Vancouver.
Planes flew over the city pulling banners. The statues of Ken Griffey Jr. outside T-Mobile Park and Rachel the Pig at Pike Place Market were glad in Kraken gear.
It was a buzz three years in the making since the franchise was awarded by the NHL in late 2018.