That is not the way the Seattle Kraken wanted to start their four-game road trip, dropping a frustrating 4-3 result to a bad Chicago Blackhawks team on a day rife with bizarreness and distractions for that franchise. Seattle practically refused to take advantage, and instead spotted the ’Hawks two separate two-goal leads thanks to some ugly plays and poor goaltending.
“Our puck play was pretty sloppy through the first two periods,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “That caused us a lot of problems against that team.”
The sloppy puck management proved costly. It was one of those nights where it seemed like each mistake was ending up in the back of Seattle’s net with Philipp Grubauer—in his first game back from injury—allowing four goals on the first 15 shots he faced in the game.
The Kraken pushed in the third period and got themselves back within one, but any comeback hopes came up short when a full minute of 5-on-3 time went by the boards in the third period without a goal, and then the Kraken failed to establish any threatening offensive-zone possession in the end-of-game 6-on-5 scenario.
Like we said, it was a frustrating night. Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken loss to the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1 (Curtis): Kraken lost their structure in the first two periods
Most of the first two periods were difficult to watch for anyone interested in scheme discipline and sound hockey from the Kraken. Rather than trusting their breakouts and structure, the Kraken tried to press the play as a group of disconnected individuals. They settled for one-on-one matchups, swiped at the puck rather than playing their check straight up, cheated for offense, and launched hope passes through the neutral zone trying to spring an odd-man rush.
They looked like a team that believed they were better than their opposition and didn’t respect the matchup enough to bring their typical disciplined style. This could be a carry-over of bad habits from the San Jose game, or it could have arisen in the first few minutes of the game when the play did seem tilted in Seattle’s direction. The Kraken were winning the one-on-one battles and getting quick and easy chances on Chicago’s goal.
Whatever the reason, Seattle’s carelessness cost the team dearly as Chicago took full advantage. In one particularly egregious sequence in the second period, Yanni Gourde’s forward line all got caught cheating up ice when the puck was loose and in dispute at Seattle’s defensive blue line. This allowed a two-on-two break in by Chicago and clean look for (Spokane-native) Tyler Johnson, which he buried.
It’s not acceptable that the Kraken would beat themselves this way, and Hakstol was none too pleased postgame. “When you have shifts that are not crisp, are not sharp, you’re not taking care of the puck and giving opportunities, you’re going to have some ugly things happen,” Hakstol said.
Losing to the lowly Blackhawks is a nadir of the 2023-24 season thus far.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Special teams struggles continue
The final score very easily could have looked even worse for Seattle, but for two remarkable goal-saving efforts from Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson on the penalty kill. Chicago’s anemic power play generated a handful of dangerous chances including in scrambles at the net front. Oleksiak and Larsson both blocked point-blank rebound shots that otherwise seemed ticketed for an empty cage behind Grubauer.
While Chicago did not score on three power plays, Seattle’s penalty kill continues to concede high-danger net-front opportunities at a concerning rate. It is an area that the Kraken need to improve to have any hope of climbing the Western Conference standings.
Perhaps even more significantly, the Kraken power play failed to deliver for the second straight game despite again having many opportunities at important inflection points in the game to deliver. Late in the third period, trailing by only one goal, the Kraken had more than a minute of 5-on-3 time after earning two consecutive power plays. Yet, the Kraken failed to get even one shot on goal in that time.
“[A]s a power play unit, what you want to be able to do is capitalize at key times of the hockey game,” Hakstol said postgame. “You’re not always going to be at your best, but you have to find ways to capitalize at a key time in the hockey game. We had a couple of those opportunities today and I was disappointed we came up short [and] weren’t able to capitalize–the 5-on-3 being one, but there was a couple of other spots that I would pinpoint as well as critical opportunities for us.”
The Kraken are now 0-for-9 on the power play over their last two games–both losses.
Takeaway #3 (Darren): Jaden Schwartz injured
Throwing a big dash of salt into the festering wound that was this game, Jaden Schwartz left after one shift in the third period and was quickly ruled out with a lower-body injury. We didn’t see anything obvious on the broadcast that would have caused the injury, but in the below clip, you can see that he’s floating around, in and out of the frame, and not skating with his normal stride.
At the very end, Schwartz appears to be limping as he struggles back onto the bench.
Losing Schwartz for any period of time could be disastrous for the Kraken. They’re already banged up with Andre Burakovsky still in a red non-contact jersey, working his way back from a long-term upper-body injury, and Brandon Tanev missed Tuesday’s game with the lower-body injury he suffered thanks to a big Nils Hoglander hit in Friday’s game.
Those are two injuries to key players, but Schwartz would arguably be an even bigger loss. He has been one of Seattle’s best players this season, serving as one of a very select few that consistently gets to the top of the crease to create havoc for opposing defenses and goalies.
Seattle needs Jaden Schwartz in its lineup. Keep your fingers crossed for good news in the coming days on this front.