It is time for another playoff update. With 10 games remaining, the Kraken are not mathematically eliminated just yet, but they’re closing in on that painful milestone. The Kings, Golden Knights, and Predators need to get more than 93 points for the Kraken to be officially out. Currently the Kings are at 87 points, the Golden Knights are at 88 points and the Predators are at 90 points.
What happened this week
Mar. 24 – Demoralizing Kraken loss to Montreal (5-1)
The Seattle Kraken gave up four goals in the first period and just looked flat the entire game. Philipp Grubauer was pulled, but this was definitely a loss by the whole team. Dave Hakstol called out the group after the loss, saying “Every time you put this jersey on, it means a lot, and right now we are not portraying that out on the ice. You play this game with passion, you play it with heart, and you play it for the guy next to you. And we are not doing that right now, and that’s more than disappointing. That’s hard to be part of and something we are going to change.”
General manager Ron Francis also had a message and delivered it in the form of bringing up some youth from Coachella Valley in 20-year-old Ryan Winterton and 21-year-old Logan Morrison.
Mar. 26 – Kraken shut out the Ducks (4-0)
The streak ended!!! The Kraken were on an eight-game skid, one shy of their longest losing streak ever, which was a nine-game losing streak during the inaugural season. The Kraken finally broke through on the scoresheet, putting up four goals after only averaging 1.38 goals per game in their previous eight contests. Goaltender Joey Daccord and the Kraken as a whole looked solid against a bad team and earned a shutout. The Ducks were limited to just 12 shots.
Morrison, playing in his first NHL game, received the Davy Jones hat from Andre Burakovsky and earned an impressive 14:21 of ice time, including 3:46 of power-play time. While he did not record a point, he had four good shots on net and generated two turnovers. Overall, the fourth line of Tye Kartye, Winterton, and Morrison looked good with a youthful and spirited effort.
Mar. 28 – Round two with Anaheim, Kraken win (4-2)
There was not much going on in the first and second periods, but the Kraken were able to get on the board and hold a 1-0 lead to start the third period. The third was wild, though, featuring five goals (including two short-handed by Anaheim), some fisticuffs, and 28 penalty minutes.
Even though the Kraken gave up two short-handed goals 44 seconds apart, they rallied and scored three straight to recapture the lead and win the game. Morrison had 13:12 of ice time with an incredible 6:30 on the power play. Unfortunately for Morrison, he also had the puck stripped from him, which led to the second short-handed marker by Jakob Silfverberg.
The key here is Hakstol is giving the youngsters on the fourth line lots of playing time and valuable experience.
Wild card race
St. Louis Blues
Realistically, only the St. Louis Blues are the only team outside the playoff bubble that still have a chance at a wild card spot, five points behind the Kings for the last position. Both Los Angeles and Vegas are in striking distance for St. Louis, but one of those two teams will qualify as the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division. Vegas has a six-point lead with nine games remaining, and Los Angeles has 10 games left. According to tankathon.com, the Blues have the second easiest schedule remaining.
Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles is sitting at 87 points and won four of its last five games. The Kings do have a game in hand over St. Louis and Vegas but will need to finish strong to keep their playoff spot. The Kings also have an easy schedule remaining and actually have the easiest of all NHL teams, according to tankathon.com.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas has the toughest remaining schedule of the teams fighting for a spot, coming in at 17th hardest in the NHL. The Knights did not make it easy on themselves, going to overtime with both St. Louis and Nashville, but they finished with an impressive 3-0-1 record this week that has put them in the third playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
Nashville Predators
Nashville’s unbeaten streak was ended at 18 games (16-0-2) by the Arizona Coyotes (of all teams) on Thursday night. The Predators have pretty much punched their ticket to the playoffs, holding an eight-point lead over St. Louis. They are only four points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the third spot in the Central Division. The Jets and Predators will play one more time this season, so that lead could disappear quickly.
The week ahead for the Kraken
The Seattle Kraken have three games this week (Mar. 29-Apr. 3). They will face one team from each team categorization, Playoff-Bound, Bubble, and Tanker:
- Mar. 30 (Home) – Kraken vs. Stars – Playoff Bound
- Apr. 1 (Away) – Kraken vs. Sharks – Tanker
- Apr. 3 (Away) – Kraken vs. Los Angeles – Bubble
Personally, I am looking to the game versus the San Jose Sharks, as the Kraken look to avenge the 2-0 shutout they got handed back on Jan. 30.
The Kraken probably will be eliminated from playoff contention in the next week or two. If the Kraken lose two or more games this week, that would likely do it. If they get a couple wins, this could stretch out for another week.
More call-ups?
With Morrison and Winterton getting called up to the Kraken, we are thinking that Shane Wright will be brought up for a couple games before the end of the season. Wright has only played in three games with the Kraken this year. He can play six more without burning a year of his entry-level contract. Overlaying the Firebirds schedule with the Kraken schedule, we theorize that if Wright is called up, it is most likely for the Apr. 9 and Apr. 11 home games against the Coyotes and Sharks.
Was wondering how many of the prospects will be added to the Firebirds roster this season. Dragicevic is already there and Fisker-Molgaard’s season should end after one more game, will he come over and sign a contract? Goyette, Sale, Nelson, Rehkopf, and Firkus look they could be on longer playoff runs. No idea about Kokko, Nyman or Price.
Any insight into the plans for these prospects this season for the AHL?
John is going to touch on this a bit in his Monday Musings. Stay tuned.