The Seattle Kraken laid a rotten egg Monday afternoon, sleepwalking their way to a 4-0 loss at the SAP Center to the San Jose Sharks.
“We got our asses kicked tonight,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
For the Sharks, it was home win No. 6, and for the Kraken, it was a blown opportunity to make up ground in the Pacific Division playoff race.
“We just didn’t skate; we didn’t skate hard enough,” Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. “They dictated the pace of the game, we adjusted to them, which should never happen with our group. I think our group is good enough where we should impose the pace of the game every single night.”
Goalie James Reimer made 26 stops for his second shutout of the season for the Sharks (18-29-11), who came into Monday losers of three straight. Evgeny Svechnikov and Logan Couture each had a goal and an assist, and Erik Karlsson had two assists.
Martin Jones made the start against his former team and made 19 saves for the Kraken (32-19-6), who had a mini two-game win streak end.
“We talked about it before the game, how this team works and skates, and they did, they did what they do,” Hakstol said. “They work, they skate and in a 3-0 hole, that’s pretty deep to dig out of…They were quicker and harder at the puck. I can use a lot of different adjectives I guess, to talk about it. But they were working at a level that they were dictating those battles.”
San Jose, who was playing without leading goal scorer Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl managed to break open a scoreless game in the second period and put away the Kraken attack.
Whether it was the early start or a team looking ahead to big matchups with Boston (on Thursday) or Toronto (on Sunday), Seattle just never seemed to find its legs or energy.
“We’re NHL players for a reason, can’t find excuses, just have to go out and battle it out,” Gourde said.
After a first period where neither team scored, the Sharks broke the ice at 10:45 of the second period on a goal credited to Couture to make it 1-0. On the faceoff, Gourde tried to clear the puck but accidentally fired it on the Seattle net and surprised Jones.
“I’m trying to win a face-off; I don’t think Jonesy sees the puck at all from the face-off,” Gourde said. “Dunner’s kind of right there and I think it goes right by Dunner’s foot. It’s a quick play, [Jones] doesn’t have time to react and it’s in the back of the net.”
At 16:08, Vince Dunn attempted a cross-ice pass that was intercepted by Svechnikov, who walked in alone, made one move, and beat Jones to make it 2-0.
The second-period Sharks onslaught continued at 19:42 when Gregor made it 3-0 after skating the puck off the boards and seeing the sea part, which allowed him to get in close where he scored his fourth of the season.
Michael Eyssimont scored for the 4-0 final at 16:57 of the third.
Opportunity lost
Had Seattle won on Monday, the Kraken would have jumped to tie the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division, moving ahead of the Los Angeles Kings along the way. Both teams were idle Monday.
The Kraken have a practice scheduled for Wednesday, as they prepare for the challenge of the Boston Bruins at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.
Tentacle Tales
- The Kraken were shut out for the third time this season.
- Forward Eeli Tolvanen had a five-game point streak snapped.
- Couture has hit the 20-goal mark for the 10th season.
- Jared McCann also had a five-game point streak come to an end.
The worst Kraken effort of the year imo.