That was a huge 2-1 win by the Seattle Kraken over the Los Angeles Kings, extending their point streak to five games (3-0-2) since snapping out of their miserable eight-game skid.
Joey Daccord was outstanding, but his teammates did a fantastic job of keeping the Kings’ shots primarily to the perimeter. Still, you can only win in that fashion if your goalie plays great, and Daccord did just that on Wednesday, tying his own franchise record for saves in a game with 42.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an impressive Kraken win over the Kings.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): The old formula
The Kraken did the damn thing against a very good Kings team, and they did it using a time-tested formula; solid goaltending, team defense, and opportunistic scoring.
Daccord did bail out his mates a few times, like on the below save against Matt Roy in the waning moments of the first period. But for the most part, he was able to see the many shots the Kings threw his way from afar, and he did his part in gobbling up those shots.
When the Kraken got through the first period with a 0-0 tie, despite a 20-8 shots-on-goal disadvantage (more on that in John’s Takeaway #3), we had a feeling they would be the ones that got on the board first in the second period. Sure enough, Brandon Tanev scored his first goal since Nov. 22 at 5:19 of the second, and that put Seattle in the driver’s seat for the rest of the night.
Playing the way they played can work. Bend, but don’t break, keep as much as possible to the outside, and strike when the opportunities present themselves.
Once Jordan Eberle took advantage of a breakaway chance created by a sick pass by Matty Beniers in the third, the game was on the rails.
Of course, there was that gaffe by Justin Schultz to give Blake Lizzotte an easy goal, and there were two late penalties, but this one was NEVER A DOUBT!
Good job sticking to the structure and the gameplan. Big win.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Aggressive penalty kill delivers again
Once a source of concern for these Seattle Kraken, the penalty kill unit has played very well of late. Entering Wednesday’s game in Los Angeles, the Kraken penalty killers had held their opposition to just one goal in the last 19 man advantage opportunities dating back to the beginning of the last home stand–a 95 percent kill rate.
How have they managed it? The Kraken have played well in front of their net suppressing high-quality chances and have blocked outside looks at a high rate. Most important from our vantage, though, has been increased aggression pressuring the puck carrier when the puck reaches vulnerable areas of the ice.
A prime example of this aggressive play came at a critical moment in Wednesday’s game. At 12:40 in the third period, with the Kraken leading 2-1, momentum had swung to the Kings’ side following Lizzotte’s shorthanded goal. Justin Schultz took a dangerous boarding penalty on Carl Grundstrom. (On that point, we’re thankful that Grundstrom got up and skated away, and that Schultz wasn’t hit with a major penalty or worse.)
Anze Kopitar won the ensuing face-off for the Kings in the left circle. After a few passes, Kevin Fiala sent a low-angle centering pass that was blocked and bounced back towards the corner. Sensing a strategic opportunity, Adam Larsson pressured Fiala in the corner, and the other strong-side Kraken player, Alex Wennberg, attacked in unison farther up the boards. Their coordinated work led to a clear that killed off an additional 20 seconds of the power play.
Seattle used repeated efforts like this one to post yet another shorthanded shutout Wednesday, killing four out of four Kings power play opportunities. Seattle allowed just two shots on goal in 6:29 of shorthanded time Wednesday–less than a shot every three minutes. (By way of comparison, the Kings had 39 shots in 46:29 of five-on-five time–which equates to a shot every 1:11 of game time.)
And this work was all the more impressive because the Kraken were facing a hot power play unit. Los Angeles’ power play had scored a goal in six straight games entering Wednesday’s contest.
The Kraken penalty kill was too passive earlier in the season and was rightfully maligned as a poor-performing unit based on the shot quality it was conceding. Over the last few weeks, however, the Kraken have adjusted their approach to killing penalties and the changes have worked.
Takeaway #3 (John): Minimizing quality shots against
The Kraken were outshot 20-8 in the first period, and if it was not for a brief push by Seattle, the gap would have been more extreme. Getting outshot by a two-to-one ratio is not a recipe for success but as pointed out by Eddie Olczyk and Brian Boucher on the TNT broadcast, the Kraken did an outstanding job at limiting quality opportunities.
Suppressing high-danger shots over the last five games has been one of the keys to the Kraken’s success as of late. I pointed it out in Monday Musings, and the theme has continued over the last two games.
Here is an updated chart of high-danger shots against.
The shot count ended 43-30 in favor of the Kings on Wednesday, but Seattle had seven high-danger shots to the Kings’ six. Meanwhile, both Seattle Kraken goals were on high-danger shots. The goaltending has been great, but as I am sure Daccord would acknowledge, limiting high-danger opportunities is one of the contributing factors. Let’s see if the Kraken can keep it rolling in Anaheim on Saturday.