The Kraken gave their fans a nice Christmas present by taking five out of a possible six points on their road trip and heading into a three-day holiday break on a high note. The latest win was far from perfect, and the Ducks had the better of the play for a lot of the game, but the Kraken got more outstanding goaltending and more opportunistic scoring and skated away with a 3-2 win.
Now, since its eight-game losing streak was snapped on Dec. 12, Seattle has grabbed standings points in six straight games (4-0-2) and is inching closer and closer to getting on the right side of .500 for the first time this season.
“We’re playing very consistent, so this doesn’t change how we feel about where we’re at,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Our guys are playing hard regardless of what our lineup may or may not look like. Whoever is available is going out, doing the job, working hard together. We’ve put a good string together here.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken win over the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: More solid play from Joey Daccord
It is no coincidence the Kraken heated up at the same time goaltender Joey Daccord caught fire. In nine games in December, Daccord has a .936 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average, and in his seven consecutive starts, he has posted a .920 or better in every game but one (the overtime loss in Dallas, where he had a .857 save percentage).
The win Saturday in Anaheim was more of the same from Joey, although in this one—unlike in the previous game against Los Angeles—Seattle’s defenders didn’t do a great job at keeping shots to the perimeter. In fact, in this one, the Kraken conceded 65.62 percent of the expected goals to Anaheim, their worst shot quality share in a win all season and their second worst in any game (win or loss).
The eyeball test and shot quantities didn’t give us the feeling that Joey “stole” the game (Daccord stopped 32 of 34 shots compared to Lukas Dostal’s 19 for 22), but those analytics tell us Anaheim deserved better, if not for the Kraken goaltender.
Daccord had several 10-bell saves on breakaways and odd-man rushes, including these two on Mason McTavish.
Eventually, Daccord will need a break, but for now, the games have been nicely spaced to allow Hakstol to continue rolling with the hot hand. Let’s hope Daccord can keep this stretch of outstanding play going for a while, because if he does, he just may help get the Kraken back into playoff contention.
Takeaway #2: That top line is cooking
Not to toot my own horn (toot toot), but I did call for a trade just like the one Seattle made for Tomas Tatar, and early returns have been very positive. So far, the man they hilariously call “Tuna” has fit in perfectly on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, who both were struggling tremendously before the veteran’s arrival from Colorado.
It’s easy to make comparisons to the impact Eeli Tolvanen had when he got claimed off waivers around this same time last season. Vince Dunn jumped right to those comparisons after the game Saturday.
“[Tatar’s] been great,” Dunn said. “I think you can probably relate it to the Tolvanen pickup; kind of a sneaky pickup that no one really sees coming, and then he comes in here and makes a statement just like Tolvy did. So, he’s been great for us. The chemistry he’s found with Ebs and Matty is terrific.”
To Hakstol’s credit, he hasn’t been afraid to throw the veteran right into the fire on Seattle’s top forward trio, and the decision has brought life to that line.
“Tuna comes in in a little different situation [than Tolvanen],” Hakstol said. “But equally, he was really excited and hungry to come in, and for a veteran player with that type of presence and the type of ability that he has, he immediately has found some chemistry now with Matty and with Ebs. And that’s a real positive when you see that happen on the front end of a guy coming into the lineup.”
The chemistry was again on full display Saturday, as the line contributed to two of Seattle’s three goals. When Vince Dunn scored his easy tap-in goal at 16:24 of the first period, it came off crisp passing from the forward line all the way up the ice.
Beniers stole the puck in the defensive end, passed to Eberle at the half wall, and he hit Tatar in stride in the neutral zone. Then Tatar made a quick little dish to Beniers, who was coming into the offensive zone with speed, and Matty made an elite pass to Dunn.
Tatar is taking full advantage of the newfound opportunity, after seeing his ice time sink to under 12 minutes per night with the Avalanche.
“It feels great to have that opportunity,” Tatar said. “Hockey feels right again, you know? I’m very grateful for the guys, how I came here to Seattle, it wasn’t easy to do. It was pretty fast, everything happening in a split of 48 hours. But it looks like me, Matty, and Ebs are building some chemistry, and I’m having a lot of fun.”
Takeaway #3: A big night for Vince Dunn
Dunn, by the way, assisted on both Oliver Bjorkstrand’s power-play goal and Tatar’s dazzling, dangling backhander that proved to be the game-winning goal.
Look how Dunn drops the puck to Tatar, then pretends to continue stickhandling and driving to the net, creating some subtle interference on Brett Leason.
Dunn’s drive created the lane for Tatar to loop through the slot, and that was all he needed to sneak his second goal as a Kraken past Dostal.
The three-point night put Dunn back in front as the team’s leading scorer, one point ahead of Bjorkstrand.
“I think a lot of things went my way,” Dunn said. “And guys played really well as a group to make the plays happen. I think, obviously, you see on my goal, it doesn’t take much for me to put that one in.”
Bonus Takeaway: Trevor Zegras does some neat things
We must at least mention Trevor Zegras’s goal that got the Ducks back within one in the third period. In his first game back since suffering an injury on Nov. 7, Zegras was back to his old tricks. In full stride, he swung behind the net, scooped up the puck with just the toe of his stick, and threw it over the shoulder of Daccord.
We saw people replying to us on Twitter and saying Connor Bedard’s lacrosse-style goal against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday was even better, but you know what? Both goals were pretty neat, and both could be Goal of the Year candidates.
Worth noting, both dazzling goals came in losses, as the Ducks lost 3-2 to the Kraken, and the Blackhawks lost 7-5 to the Blues.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Jo-ey! Jo-ey! Jo-ey! Jo-ey!
Not only did Chicago lose… they blew a three goal lead by giving up five unanswered in the third. I don’t think anyone else pulled that trick last night besides the Blackhawks.