That was a markedly easy win for the Seattle Kraken over the San Jose Sharks in the season’s first battle of the sea creatures. The Kraken came out flying, scored four goals in the first, and for much of the game the Sharks looked like they didn’t even belong on the same ice.
“We were ready to go at the drop of the puck,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We came out, we scored early, but just the way we played from the drop of the puck, I thought, really, it put the momentum where we needed it to be.”
It was a big night offensively for several Kraken players, especially Oliver Bjorkstrand, who had a goal and three assists, and Eeli Tolvanen, who had two goals and one assist. Their line with Yanni Gourde combined for four goals and nine total points on the night. Brandon Tanev, Jared McCann, and Adam Larsson also had goals, and Jamie Oleksiak had two assists.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 7-1 Kraken shellackin’ of the Sharks.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Good Kraken or bad Sharks?
It was hard tell if this game was a product of the Kraken putting together an exceptional performance or if it was more about a bad Sharks team playing even worse than usual. We think it was a mix of the two.
Seattle really did overwhelm the Sharks and managed to pen their inferior opponents into their zone for long stretches of the first two periods. When that happened, the San Jose defenders would all collapse down into a clump in front of the goal, leaving oodles of space for Seattle to work around the perimeter.
Case in point, this Yanni Gourde goal that made it 4-0:
We asked Tolvanen if he sensed there was more time and space in the offensive zone in this one. “Oh, yeah,” Tolvanen said emphatically. “I think we did a really good job changing. They had tired guys out there, and we were able to change, then we’d get fresh guys out there. So I think that’s going to make it easier, and you don’t get tired when you play in the offensive zone.”
The Kraken had a whopping 82 percent of the shot quality in this game, another indicator that both teams very much got what they deserved.
From the San Jose perspective, their coach and players were seething after the game, and coach David Quinn said the effort was “embarrassing.”
“We weren’t ready to play,” Quinn said. “Two breakaways in the first minute and a half – just absolutely embarrassing. We lost every single battle, got beat off the walls, and every time there was a 50-50 puck battle, we were fishing for pucks and got on the wrong side of it.”
He had very strong words throughout his presser, which tells us this level of ineptitude was appalling, even for a historically bad team.
Still, take nothing away from Seattle, because the team did exactly what it was supposed to do against a bad team.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Best defense is a good (puck control) offense
Not to be lost in the Kraken’s scoring outburst was the team’s defensive performance. Seattle suppressed San Jose’s offense Wednesday night to an extent quite literally unprecedented in franchise history.
The Kraken allowed the Sharks only 14 shots on goal, which is tied for fewest in franchise history–matching the total Ottawa had on April 18, 2022. And the shots tended to be of the low-danger variety. According to Natural Stat Trick, San Jose generated shot quality expected to create just .75 goals. This is .31 goals lower than Seattle’s stingiest defensive performance before Wednesday night–a Dec. 29, 2021, 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Of course, the Sharks have struggled to score this season. Entering Wednesday night, the Sharks had scored just 27 goals, by far the fewest in the league. Stung by poor finishing and perhaps some bad luck, the Sharks had generated shot quality expected to create 45 goals over 18 games (2.5 per game). The team’s weakest offensive showing came Nov. 10 against Vegas, when San Jose was shut out on shots worth 1.43 expected goals.
In other words, when looking at shot quality, Wednesday’s offensive showing from San Jose was almost 50 percent worse than the team’s previous worst in the 2023-24 season. That says something for Seattle’s defensive effort, even over a struggling Sharks team.
How did Seattle achieve it? Kraken defenders turned in strong work defending the high-danger areas of their own zone, conceding only two shot attempts from the slot all game.
But, more importantly, Seattle prevented San Jose from logging much time in the offensive zone in the first place. As Darren noted above, Seattle dominated possession through the neutral zone and into the Kraken offensive zone. One sequence in particular in the second period stood out when the Kraken kept the puck in the San Jose defensive zone for almost two full consecutive shifts. The sequence did not directly lead to a goal but it helped stretch out 18 minutes in the second period during which San Jose didn’t get even a single shot on goal.
As the saying goes–the best defense is a good offense. For the Kraken on Wednesday, it was.
Takeaway #3 (Darren): Top three lines all going
With a huge night from the Tolvanen/Gourde/Bjorkstrand line, all three of Seattle’s top-three forward lines are working well together right now. That third line was the big producer Wednesday, but the top two also chipped in on Larsson’s goal (Eberle and McCann assisted), and Tanev had the early icebreaker after a nice breakout pass by Alex Wennberg.
“I think we’re feeling it,” Bjorkstrand said of his line. “Maybe a few lucky bounces off the glass, but we like playing together, and I think it just kind of went our way today.”
We’ve also really liked the Jaden Schwartz/Wennberg/Tanev line, which has been excellent since Tanev returned from injury.
“It might be a bit of an odd look on a line chart when [Tanev] is on the right side there with Wenny,” Hakstol said. “But it’s been a good fit because he brings that pace, he gets you up ice, he gets you into the offensive zone.”
Seeing all three lines cooking at once gives reason for optimism that the Kraken can continue to build. The players are saying all the right things right now, recognizing that their game has improved since a miserable start to the season, but they don’t seem satisfied with where they sit.
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While the Kraken won Wednesday night, Pacific Division competitors Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Anaheim all lost. This puts Seattle is in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving, an important checkpoint on a team’s playoff chances. Can Seattle keep building on these good feelings to climb more securely into that playoff picture? What do you think?
Ok guys, slow your roll, this is San Jose, the worst team in the league was nice to have a game like this but really? Where was Matty? He had a couple of really good chances early, but I barely heard his name being called most of the night. The last 5 minutes i did not even see him on the ice. I may be wrong on this but with all this scoring, not a point. Yet he still had 15+ minutes of ice time. I may be confused (sometimes it happens) but I am a Matty fan, and it just seemed odd to me.
The Sharks are such an absolute disaster that I could not decide whether I felt pity or disgust for them. It was good that the Kraken did not play down to them and just destroyed them like they should, but it doesn’t say much about where the Kraken are. The Firebirds would have clobbered the Sharks, especially with Winterton and Wright down there.
Best thing that happens to this team is Gru getting injured. Need I remind you last year when he was out and we went on a tear with Martin Jones of all goalies. I see the same happening again but with a better goalie in Daccord.