SEATTLE — Simon Nemec scored his first career goal midway through the second period, Akira Schmid made 16 of his 37 saves in the third and the New Jersey Devils beat the skidding Seattle Kraken 2-1 on Thursday night, Dec. 7, for their fifth victory in six games.
Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft, made his debut last week at home against San Jose and had two assists in his first game. His first goal was largely due to the play made by Jesper Bratt carrying the puck after Seattle was unable to clear its defensive zone. Bratt circled behind the net and allowed Nemec to slide unmarked into the slot, where he beat Philipp Grubauer into an open side.
It was Bratt’s 19th assist of the season.
Ondrej Palat scored his fourth goal late in the first period to give New Jersey the early lead. Schmid rebounded nicely after giving up five goals on 17 shots in his previous game against San Jose.
Schmid was peppered for a big chunk of the third and came up with several big stops. He robbed Jared McCann twice midway through the period, stuffed Alex Wennberg’s chance in front and watched Jordan Eberle’s backhand shot slide through the crease during a Seattle power play.
Jared McCann hit the crossbar on a 2-on-1 with 3:01 left in what was Seattle’s last good look.
Tye Kartye scored his fifth of the season at 7:12 of the second period off a feed from Wennberg, but Seattle lost its sixth straight game. The six-game losing streak is the longest for the Kraken since dropping seven straight in February 2022, midway through the franchise’s first season.
Andre Burakovsky returned for Seattle after being out since Oct. 21 with an upper-body injury. His return was interrupted late in the second period when he left for the locker room with about three minutes left. Burakovsky was back on the ice for the third, but played only two shifts in the period.
Grubauer made 15 saves.
Ryker Evans, Seattle’s second-round pick in the 2021 draft, made his NHL debut after being called up from Coachella Valley of the AHL. He became the fourth draft pick by Seattle to play in an NHL game, joining Matty Beniers, Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton.
Up next
Devils: Play at Calgary on Saturday.
Kraken: Will host Tampa Bay on Saturday.
