The Kraken kept it rolling Tuesday with a convincing 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres that caused Rasmus Dahlin to smash his stick over the net in anger (it’s not the first time he’s shown frustration against the Kraken) and the home fans to boo their team off the ice.
In this game, we saw what a (mostly) healthy (except for Pierre-Edouard Bellemare) Kraken forward corps can do, as all four lines looked dangerous at different stages of the game.
Jaden Schwartz returned to the lineup with a goal and an assist, Will Borgen and Eeli Tolvanen had two assists each, and Joey Daccord had 34 saves in an outing he made look easy.
It was Seattle’s seventh straight win and 11th in a row with standings points (9-0-2). Here are our Three Takeaways from a 5-2 Kraken win over the Sabres.
Takeaway #1: Jaden Schwartz is so back
Losing Jaden Schwartz to an upper-body injury on Nov. 28 was a real stinger for the Kraken, and it contributed to the team’s decent into the eight-game winless abyss that ran from Nov. 24 through Dec. 10. Schwartz had been arguably Seattle’s best player in the early stages of the season, so losing him with a long-term affliction was damaging to this club.
With Schwartz out, Joey Daccord eventually put the struggling team on his back (I’m making sure to throw that in for the comment-section naysayers that have recently accused me of not being pro-Daccord enough, which is patently ridiculous [wink emoji]), and the Kraken turned the season around.
Now, Seattle has been rolling, and the group got another boost Tuesday with Schwartz’s return to the lineup. After coach Dave Hakstol has eased the oft-injured Andre Burakovsky back into the lineup the last couple weeks on the fourth line, he threw Schwartz right onto the second line Tuesday with Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev.
The result was VERY positive, as Tanev and Schwartz each assisted on Wennberg’s goal that made it 3-2 at 2:08 of the second period, and then Schwartz followed that up with a goal of his own by getting a second tip on Will Borgen’s point shot at 11:34 of the second.
“I’ve played lots of games with [Schwartz], and it feels like we were reading off each other pretty well,” Wennberg said. “And I mean, it’s just fun to see him coming back, and it’s like he hasn’t missed a step.”
Takeaway #2: Deeper than ever
NOW perhaps folks see why I was calling for the Kraken to acquire another impact forward during the offseason. My thinking was always that one more skilled winger could create a trickle-down effect that would make the team even deeper than it was last season by pushing one or two of their top-nine guys down.
Ever since his acquisition, Tomas Tatar has looked at home on the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, and as a result, now Jared McCann and Burakovsky have been pushed to the fourth line.
McCann told me on Saturday, “It’s probably one of the better fourth lines in the National Hockey League.” It’s hard to argue with that logic, and although that line was the only one that didn’t score Tuesday, Tye Kartye got robbed by Devon Levi halfway through the first period, and Burakovsky helped set up Vince Dunn’s power-play goal late in the opening frame with a perfect seam pass.
Meanwhile, each of the other three lines contributed at least a goal apiece, with the Schwartz / Wennberg / Tanev line coming through twice.
“That line was credited on the scoresheet for a couple of goals,” Hakstol said. “But really, I give them a lot of credit for the Beniers goal as well. They had a hell of a shift in the offensive zone, they changed one at a time out of the offensive zone, and set the table for the next line up.”
That’s the beauty of having four lines that can contribute. As long as this group stays healthy [knocks on wood], Seattle fans should—at least on paper—get used to seeing a different trio of forwards step up nightly.
By the way, we were curious to see how Hakstol would manage the minutes of the forwards, and every player on the team got at least 13 minutes, except Kartye, who had 12:51.
Takeaway #3: Kraken (and Joey) stay hot
Seattle didn’t get out to a great start to this game, and we heard multiple players during the broadcast say some variation of being surprised by Buffalo’s start and/or the early goal against by Jeff Skinner waking them up. But in the end, the Kraken overwhelmed the Sabres with three second-period goals, five unique goal scorers, 11 different players on the scoresheet, and more outstanding goaltending by Daccord.
With his 36 saves and .947 save percentage on the night, Daccord has at least a .920 save percentage in 10 of his last 11 games, with the one game below that .920 mark coming in the 4-3 overtime loss the Dallas Stars on Dec. 18.
It’s almost becoming automatic that Daccord stops breakaway opportunities. Off the top of my head, I remember at least three 1-on-0 chances that Joey stopped on this night, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple.
The win gets Seattle off on the right foot to start this long, six-game trip. The vibes, as they say, are high.
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.