Three weeks ago–before an eight-game losing streak that tripped panic buttons both inside the walls of the Kraken dressing room and out–the Kraken recorded what we termed a “markedly easy win” over the outmatched San Jose Sharks 7-1. Well, “time is a flat circle,” as Sound Of Hockey colleague Darren Brown likes to say. On Thursday night the Kraken again registered an easy 7-1 win against an outgunned opponent in the Chicago Blackhawks.
These are two points the Kraken simply needed to have. The Blackhawks are, well, not good. If Seattle has any hopes of clawing its way back into the playoff mix, it needs to take care of business against inferior opposition. In one of the more frustrating efforts of the season, the Kraken failed to do just that two weeks ago in Chicago, losing 4-3 to the Blackhawks on Nov. 28. With the season teetering, the team couldn’t afford another slip up Thursday. And, to their credit, they left no doubt.
The Kraken scored first, just over three minutes in, and then held that lead for the remainder of the night. The game remained within striking distance for Chicago through the first 10 minutes of the second period, but over the back half of the game, the boys in deep sea blue broke it wide open.
Joey Daccord stopped 21 of 22 shots. Rookie defenseman Ryker Evans was stellar again, recording two points and making at least a dozen other strong plays throughout. Evans’ former Regina Pats teammate Connor Bedard had a quiet night and didn’t embarrass Daccord or anyone else with his elite offensive skills. Kraken forwards, on the other hand, were scoring goals from every conceivable angle and chased Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom in the third period.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Thursday’s 7-1 Kraken win over the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1: Yamamoto and the fourth line were superb
Kailer Yamamoto was up to some recently familiar tricks to start this game. Just two days prior, he got Seattle on the board first when he scored a nifty breakaway goal. On Thursday, he again earned the Kraken a 1-0 lead when he intercepted a loose clearing attempt from Blackhawk Reese Johnson, stepped across the Chicago blue line, and wasted no time firing a wrist shot low blocker past Soderblom.
Not done there, Yamamoto then scored the second goal of the game with under three minutes remaining in the first period when he alertly batted a puck that bounced off Blackhawk defender Nikita Zaitsev into the goal. (While originally announced as a goal for Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare, video review later confirmed it to be Yamamoto’s goal.) This one proved to be the game-winner.
And Yamamoto did more than just score. He was active all night. In one particularly impressive offensive-zone possession beginning at 7:15 in the second period, the Kraken fourth line hemmed in Chicago for over a minute. Yamamoto made several strong possession plays in this sequence including a cutback below the goal line that freed him to deliver a centering pass that just missed Jared McCann in the slot for another potential goal.
Beyond Yamamoto, the entire fourth line deserves credit for back-to-back strong efforts. The line has five goals in the last two games, with Bellemare scoring the other two. On Thursday, the fourth line outshot Chicago 6-2 and controlled 82 percent of the total shot quality while on the ice. Continued production like that would go a long way toward extending this two-game winning streak.
Takeaway #2: In a skill mismatch, the Kraken also got the bounces
While the Kraken were the better team throughout this game, it was not until the second half that they truly overwhelmed the Blackhawks. Even so, the Kraken built an insurmountable early advantage in the first half of the game on the strength of some good old-fashioned puck luck.
As mentioned above, Yamamoto’s second goal came on a broken play. Vince Dunn shot a puck from the perimeter that snuck under the arm of Zaitsev and fell to the ice right in front of Yamamoto (and Bellemare). Soderblom had no chance to react.
Chicago responded by narrowing the lead to one (more on that goal in a moment) early in the second period, but Seattle then re-established a two-goal lead just over a minute later when an Oliver Bjorkstrand centering pass ricocheted into the goal off Blackhawks defenseman Jason Dickinson.
There’s no reason to complain about puck luck, though. When you’re outworking the opposing team in the strategic areas of the ice, you should get your share of fortunate bounces. Seattle hasn’t seen many of those go their way over the last couple weeks, so it was a welcome turn of events. A 7-1 score is what can happen when the better team gets the luck too.
Takeaway #3: Some early giveaways
It may seem odd to say about a 7-1 victory, but the Kraken made a number of defensive-zone mistakes in the first half of the game that may have been costly and swung momentum in the other direction against a better opponent.
At 12:03 in the first period, the Kraken had full possession in the defensive zone, with Eeli Tolvanen controlling the puck along the boards. He looked to center the puck for an open-ice advance, as Seattle has often done this season. Brian Dumoulin was open but perhaps too close for a clean break, and Tolvanen hesitated. With his internal alarm clock going off, Tolvanen shot the puck over toward Bjorkstrand, but the pass was too hot to handle. Chicago’s Joey Anderson took the puck and set up Nick Foligno clean in on Daccord.
Later, at 19:20 in the first period, Matty Beniers received the puck outside the Kraken defensive zone with room to advance himself. Instead of taking the ice, he too looked to center to McCann for a full flight advance. Unlike Beniers, though, McCann was under pressure, and he turned the puck over. This led to controlled possession for Chicago back into Seattle’s zone.
At 2:59 in the second period, Jamie Oleksiak had control fading back to his corner in the defensive zone. He flung a pass without any forward body momentum toward Bellemare and Yamamoto, but it was easy pickings for Chicago forward Anthony Beauvillier at the blue line. Beauvillier then attacked and set up forward Taylor Raddysh for Chicago’s only goal.
Finally, at 6:30 in the second period, Tye Kartye held possession in the defensive zone and tried to hit Brandon Tanev with an indirect stretch pass. It was a bad read (Tanev was covered) and a bad pass, which resulted in an easy turnover to Chicago in the neutral zone. This led to another controlled entry, almost 30 seconds of offensive-zone time for Chicago, and another unblocked shot attempt.
As it happened, Chicago couldn’t capitalize more than once on these Kraken mistakes, so it didn’t hurt Seattle in this one. But the Kraken need to tighten up their possession game in their own zone and avoid turning the puck over in dangerous areas if they want to keep this winning streak going.
Bonus takeaway: Big Cat t-shirts
The vibes are trending up in the dressing room, that’s for sure. On Thursday night, the room not only celebrated its second straight victory, but many indulged in some light-hearted fun honoring (at the expense of?) teammate Adam Larsson.
We didn’t get the complete story postgame, but it seems that Beniers had a hand in generating and distributing t-shirts documenting an infamous photo of Larsson with what can only be termed a “Big Cat Bowl Cut™.” The team had fun with it.
Parting thoughts
Given the weak opponent, the Kraken and their fans should be cautious against overconfidence in a perceived turnaround or breakout. Recall that Seattle’s trouncing of San Jose was followed by a home loss to a quality Pacific Division opponent in the Canucks. Seattle’s next game is a home date with the Los Angeles Kings, another team above Seattle in the Pacific Division standings. That’s a benchmark game.
But Thursday was a welcome reminder that the Kraken do have a tenacious forecheck; the team does have goal scorers; and, perhaps most importantly, bounces can sometimes go Seattle’s way. Maybe it will help the team and fanbase loosen their grip on the stick a bit and attack the game Saturday with a clearer head.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
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