Berkly Catton breaking through for Kraken as they visit Devils
Berkly Catton will celebrate his 20th birthday Wednesday in Newark, N.J.
But the Seattle Kraken rookie has already gotten some early gifts.
Catton scored what proved to be the winning goal Monday night in a 4-2 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It was the fourth tally in the past four games for Catton, after going goalless in his first 27 NHL games.
Monday's goal was originally credited to linemate Shane Wright but was changed after the game.
"I was the guy who got to put it home, barely," said Catton, who stuffed his own rebound under the pad of Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick as Wright also poked at the puck. "We thought Shane got it. But doesn't really matter. We're just happy we got that game-winning goal and got the win."
Catton, the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft, has taken his game to another level over the past week.
Catton scored his first two goals in a 7-4 victory against visiting Boston last Tuesday, drew a penalty Thursday that led to the tying goal in a 3-2 overtime loss to visiting Minnesota and scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period Saturday of an eventual 3-2 loss at Carolina.
"He had a bit of a monkey on his back, I guess you could say that," Kraken captain Jordan Eberle said of Catton. "The more you create, the more chances you're going to have. He's got all the tools. He just continues to get better."
The same can be said for the Kraken, who are 9-1-2 over their past 12 games to move from last place in the league's overall standings into third in the Pacific Division.
"We're playing good hockey," said Eberle, who added a goal Monday as the Kraken rebounded from an early 2-0 deficit. "Our goaltending has been great, we've had contributions from up and down the lineup, and we're starting to get bodies back."
Eberle leads the Kraken with 16 goals and is tied for the team lead with Matty Beniers with 29 points.
The Devils snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory at Minnesota on Monday as Jesper Bratt and Ondrej Palat each tallied twice. That salvaged the finale of a four-game trip in which New Jersey had been outscored 20-5 entering Monday.
"It's huge," Palat said. "We had tough times in the last couple of weeks, and sometimes we get out of it easily, sometimes not. And that's what this league is all about. It's not an easy league to win. We just need to keep building."
Dawson Mercer added a goal and an assist, Nico Hischier and Dougie Hamilton each had two helpers and Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves.
"It took a lot of effort, took a lot of determination, a lot of will from the guys," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "That's not easy to tap into, but that's what's required. And I think (Monday) serves as a great example of how we just kind of kept getting better through the game. And, you know, you get rewarded with some offense out of it at the same time. So, it's a great night for us."