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Three Takeaways – Kraken struggle against elite offense of Maple Leafs, lose 4-1

Darren Brown

Sometimes an easy win does not breed ongoing success. After the Seattle Kraken rolled to an 8-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, I couldn’t help but wonder how they would handle the elite offensive prowess of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Lo and behold, Seattle struggled to stop the four-headed monster in Toronto’s forward corps and followed up their drubbing of the Habs with an uninspiring result against the Buds.

It’s worth noting that the Kraken were missing not one, but both of their top-end offensive defensemen in this game, with Vince Dunn already out long term and Brandon Montour stepping aside to welcome his second child into the world. Even so, Seattle struggled to get anything going offensively in this game, and the end result reflected that.

Here are Three Takeaways from the Kraken’s 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.

Takeaway #1: Goals to end the period

At practice on Oct. 23, one day after the Kraken lost 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche, coach Dan Bylsma said he doesn’t worry too much about when goals are scored in a period. Instead, he indicated he doesn’t think there’s much of a difference between goals scored in the first minute or last minute of a period, and that it’s “all part of the 60 minutes.”

However, I’ve always believed that giving up a goal in the last couple minutes of a period can be devastating for a team’s momentum. Having been in a dressing room when my team just gave up an important goal, I’ve seen firsthand the toll it takes on morale. Seattle did it twice that night against Colorado, and they gave up a crusher on Thursday against the Maple Leafs as well.

In this one, Toronto was the better team in the opening frame, but Joey Daccord stood tall for the first 19 minutes, turning aside the first 13 shots he faced. When your netminder does that, and you get to the intermission tied 0-0, you go out for the second period knowing it’s anyone’s game and that you’ve weathered the storm. But when you allow a late goal, it drains your momentum and can easily carry over to the next period.

With nine seconds left in the first on Thursday, the Kraken iced the puck. Chandler Stephenson appeared to win the ensuing draw backward, but Auston Matthews brilliantly jumped around him and snagged it before it could reach another Kraken player. From here, Seattle had a major breakdown in coverage and left Mitch Marner all alone on the far side. Matthews found Marner, who one-touched it to Matthew Knies at the top of the crease, and the result was an easy goal to make it 1-0.

Seattle never recovered.

Takeaway #2: Watch out for the star players

Toronto’s best players were its best players on Thursday, with each member of the “Core Four”—Matthews, Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares—making a mark on the scoresheet. Matthews and Marner helped set up the Knies goal, and Nylander scored two easy-looking goals after great setups, one through a seam by Morgan Rielly, and one all-world pass by Tavares.

The Tavares setup was especially impressive. After getting knocked down in the slot, Tavares somehow knew that Nylander had found a soft spot next to Daccord. His blind pass from a knee went right through Jordan Eberle’s skates and onto Nylander’s stick for his second easy tally of the period.

Of course, this is what good goal scorers do: finding quiet areas on the ice and managing to elude defenses. But when top-end scorers are on the ice, the Kraken defenders must stay glued to the William Nylanders of the world, ready to take their sticks away at a moment’s notice.

That didn’t happen on this night, and the elite offensive skill of the Maple Leafs made the Kraken look disorganized at times. Matthews capped the game off by scoring an empty-netter without even registering a shot on goal, impressively banking it off the sideboards in the neutral zone and into the open cage.

Each of Tavares, Matthews, and Nylander ended the night with two points.

Takeaway #3: A poor night for the power play

The Kraken went 0-for-3 on the power play against the Maple Leafs, which isn’t terrible as long as they’re producing at 5-on-5. However, they weren’t effective at 5-on-5 either. One game after they scored at will against Montreal, they struggled to get enough traffic in front of Joseph Woll to challenge him.

When that happens, Seattle needs its power play to capitalize on its chances. In this game, the power play was ineffective, especially with time ticking down in the second period. At that point, the Kraken were already down 3-0, but a goal there could have put the Maple Leafs on their heels to start the third period, giving Seattle a shot at a comeback.

Instead, Seattle struggled to gain the offensive zone. When they did get the puck into Toronto’s end, they coughed it up almost immediately, and Toronto would get an easy clear.

“Just 30 seconds left on this uneventful power play,” play-by-play announcer John Forslund said, as the time wound down. That pretty much summed it up.

Unsurprisingly, the Kraken registered zero shots on that power play and went into the second intermission with their heads down.

Now, the Kraken face a back-to-back with travel in Ottawa and Boston over the weekend. Here’s hoping the offensive punch we saw Tuesday in Montreal will return against the Senators.

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