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Three Takeaways – Joey Daccord steals Kraken win against Penguins; Ron Francis addresses rumors

Darren Brown
Joey Daccord

Just when you thought they’d never win again, they go and do something like this… AND TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES!

Ok, so maybe they didn’t erase the last month of misery, and if we’re being honest, this was not a strong game from top to bottom. But the Seattle Kraken took advantage of stellar goaltending from Joey Daccord and opportunistic scoring to rope-a-dope their way to a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

“We clearly had to weather the storm in the first period and played a lot of D-zone as a result,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “Joey was excellent on numerous occasions.”

After being embarrassed for the second time in three games on the road trip Sunday in Detroit, this win was needed in a lot of ways for Seattle.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken win over the Penguins.

Takeaway #1: Joey did it all

I maintain a running theory that the Kraken tend to play better in front of Joey Daccord than they do for Philipp Grubauer because they are more confident Daccord will bail them out when they screw up; this confidence allows them to employ a freer brand of hockey. While Daccord was sidelined from Dec. 22 until Jan. 9, Grubauer generally played well and wasn’t often the issue. But Seattle also didn’t exactly pile up wins with Daccord absent.

Lo and behold, they’re now 2-0-0 in games he’s started since returning from injury. Meanwhile, the opposition has hung crooked numbers on the Kraken in games started by Grubauer. Both 6-2 losses in Columbus and Detroit were Grubauer games, though Daccord took mop-up duty against the Red Wings and ate three of the six goals in 53:44 of ice time compared to Grubauer’s 6:16.

Here’s my next theory: Part of the reason (and I’m certainly not giving them a pass because they stink at starting games far too often) that the Kraken are slow out of the gates is because they’re afraid to make mistakes early and get buried before they even start. That fear may have been reinforced in Detroit, when a few early mistakes led to the Red Wings scoring thrice on four shots to open the game.

On Tuesday, Seattle again looked horrific in the first period, but Daccord rescued his mates time and again, despite letting one in that he may have wanted back when Drew O’Connor’s slapper hit him in the chest but leaked out for an easy Philip Tomasino tap-in.

When the first horn sounded, the Kraken had been thoroughly kicked in the teeth with a 16-2 shots-on-goal whooping from the Penguins. Yet, they were tied 1-1.

As the game went on, you could see the confidence growing, and eventually, the freer brand of hockey appeared. The Kraken turned it on in the third period and finally put the Penguins on their heels.

Not only did Daccord stand tall in his goal crease, but he also helped get Seattle on the board with his first NHL assist. While the Kraken were short-handed, Daccord hit Jared McCann with an outlet pass in the neutral zone, and McCann found Chandler Stephenson at the offensive blue line. Stephenson streaked in and scored a squeaker that Tristan Jarry would have wanted back.

It was quite the night for Daccord, who put a floundering team on his back and carried them to a desperately needed victory over the Penguins.

Takeaway #2: A quick turn of events

Seattle looked like a very different team in the third period, finally getting sustained puck possession and offensive-zone time—things they had practically none of in the first 40 minutes. The best stretch of play coincided with the two quick goals that turned the game for the Kraken.

It was remarkable how simple the plays were in the lead-up to Jamie Oleksiak’s goal that tied the game 2-2. Seattle held the puck in the Penguins’ zone for just under a minute and had several looks toward Jarry before Oleksiak broke through.

During that extended zone time, Seattle repeatedly got the puck up to the blue line, where defensemen Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson either passed to each other and then shot or just shot outright. The forwards—Andre Burakovsky, Stephenson, and Oliver Bjorkstrand—simply outworked the Penguins to retrieve the puck. They’d send it back to the point and start the process again.

They ran some variation of that sequence five times before the goal. It’s so simple and so effective; why don’t they do that more?

After the fifth try, Oleksiak jumped on the ice to replace Dunn, saw an opportunity with Pittsburgh’s defenders gassed, and had a clear lane to walk in and score.

“We needed the play from someone, and that was a great shift from Chandler’s line,” Bylsma said. “It was a huge boost for everybody seeing Rig put it in the back of the net.”

The winning goal, scored 50 seconds later, was also the result of hard work mixed with impressive skill. Josh Mahura drove the puck down low and fought through a check. He lost it, but Shane Wright got there just in time to support. Wright picked up the loose puck from the half wall, made an elite play to stickhandle in a phone booth, and pulled a no-look pass around a sprawling P.O Joseph and onto the tape of Eeli Tolvanen.

Just like that, the game turned, and the Kraken were in the driver’s seat. With Daccord playing the way he was, you knew they weren’t going to relinquish control.

Takeaway #3: Ron Francis doing damage control

During the pre-game show on the Kraken Hockey Network, general manager Ron Francis joined John Forslund to address some of the speculation running rampant about the team recently. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke had been at the game in Buffalo, implying his appearance was out of the ordinary. Friedman also said on 32 Thoughts that Francis hadn’t been fully on board with hiring Dan Bylsma before the season and instead wanted Todd McLellan.

Francis’ appearance on KHN was largely in response to those headlines, as he aimed to pour cold water on both rumors and show that the Kraken are not in complete chaos.

Regarding Leiweke’s appearance on the trip, Francis said, “It was his birthday on the weekend, and I think he just wanted to go to some hockey games.”

And as for the Bylsma hiring, Francis said, “I’m the GM. I hired Dan; he’s my coach.”

Here’s my take: I don’t think the organization is in chaos, but I do think it is in crisis. Being in this tailspin and far out of the playoff race in mid-January is not where the front office expected to be. I also think that same front office is under pressure from ownership to be competitive this season.

So, that’s the crisis, and I think there’s some level of panic happening, which leads to concern that big changes could be coming. But do I think big changes are coming in the next couple of weeks? No. I believe Francis’ appearance on KHN solidified that theory. Everyone involved is working together to try to figure out a solution and get this team back on track, though it is probably too late for that.

Having said all that, it does say something about the state of this team that the GM felt the need to go on the broadcast and personally dispel swirling rumors.

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.

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