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Three Takeaways – Daccord shines again, Kraken score pretty goals in 4-1 win over Penguins

Darren Brown

The Seattle Kraken secured their third win in four games on Saturday with a convincing 4-1 result, completing a season sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The win pulled the Kraken within six points of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. However, there’s some smoke and mirrors in play; to reenter the playoff picture, Seattle still must leapfrog four teams despite having played as many as four additional games compared to the teams ahead of them.

So, the playoffs remain farfetched at this point, but who knows? If they can keep cooking and win, say, six of their next seven (again, farfetched) before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they could at least get back into the conversation.

As it stands, let’s just say that the win on Saturday was a solid one, featuring some nice passing plays to create goals and more stellar goaltending from Joey Daccord, who stopped 28 of 29 shots.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-1 Kraken win over the Penguins.

Takeaway #1: Joey Daccord shines again

I keep expecting Daccord to show cracks in the armor, especially with coach Dan Bylsma having no choice but to lean on him game after game. But all Daccord has done is continue to rise to the occasion and put up outstanding performances.

In his six starts since returning from the upper-body injury he suffered on Dec. 22, Daccord is 4-2-0 with a .928 save percentage. In the two losses (Winnipeg and Washington), he allowed two goals per game while his team managed a measly one combined goal at the other end.

This performance against Pittsburgh didn’t require quite as many flashy saves as the game against the Caps on Thursday, but you can see from the way he’s reading the play that he seems to know where the puck is going before it gets there.

As a prime example, watch the below 3-on-2 opportunity from the first period, in which Drew O’Connor ends up in alone with Daccord. Daccord gives O’Connor plenty of room on the glove side, instead opting to hold closer to the blocker-side post, reading that O’Connor is going to try to go five-hole. Indeed, O’Connor did try to get Daccord to open up, but Joey clamped his pads down and rejected the scoring chance.

https://soundofhockey.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Recording-2025-01-25-at-5.45.27-PM.mov

I asked Daccord after the game if he’s feeling any different right now because he does look especially dialed in. Here’s what he said: “No, not at all. I try to just be the same every day. I know if I just play like myself and play like I’m able to, then I don’t need to elevate above what I’m capable of at a consistent level. So I just try to bring the same mindset, the same focus, same energy levels every single day. And if I do that, then I feel like I’m able to put a pretty consistent game on the ice.”

As for the heavy workload he’s been shouldering? “I like playing a lot. So, it feels like it’s just another day. Most goalies will tell you that they like playing a lot, and for me, I felt like the third period of last game just carried into this game and just kept rolling. And yeah, I love it. They tell me to play, I play. They tell me to sit, I sit.”

Takeaway #2: Tic-tac-toe passing

After a paltry offensive performance against the high-flying Washington Capitals on Thursday, Seattle bounced back by seizing rush opportunities to slide past the Penguins. Three of the four goals came off transition plays, with two of those coming on bona fide odd-man rushes and one from a shrewd pass to space by Shane Wright to create something out of nothing.

The first of the three rush goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand made it 1-0 at 2:16 of the second period. Chandler Stephenson stole the puck inside Seattle’s zone to set up a 2-on-1 with Bjorkstrand. I always love when everyone in the arena expects a certain play, and the puck carrier makes a different play that works out.

This was one of those scenarios. Instead of saucing it across to Bjorkstrand, Stephenson dropped it back to a trailing Andre Burakovsky, turning the 2-on-1 into a 3-on-2. Burky seemed ready for it, and he, in turn, made a perfect dish into Bjorkstrand’s wheelhouse for the one-timer into an open net.

“Truth be told, I was probably [looking for Stephenson] driving and shooting the puck,” Bylsma said. “He made a better play to Andre, and Andre over to Bjorky for that goal.”

The play Wright made on the Tolvanen goal was subtle but brilliant. He was surrounded by three Pittsburgh defenders coming over the line with no direct passes available. So he laid it into the corner where only McCann could get to it, and McCann made a perfect pass to Tolvanen, who was left wide open as a result.

“Wright put the puck to space and let me skate into it,” McCann said. “Obviously, he is a very skilled player who… is going to continue to use his offense to help us.”

And finally, Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers continued building on their chemistry after Kakko intercepted a pass at the offensive blue line and set up Beniers off a clear-cut 2-on-1. That made it 4-1 and sealed the game for the Kraken.

“Love the Matty goal, too,” Bylsma said. “Great passing play, good defense for that line in the neutral zone, creating the turnover, but Kakko to Matty, getting that goal, yes, great passing.”

The pretty passing plays don’t always result in goals, but when they work out, they’re fun to watch.

Takeaway #3: Critical 5-on-3 conversion

With the game tied 1-1 in the second period, Kris Letang cross-checked Beniers to give the Kraken a rare 5-on-3 opportunity. It felt like a turning point in the contest one way or the other because if Pittsburgh kills that off, it’s probably a big momentum killer for the Kraken and a swing in the other direction for the Penguins.

Seattle wisely called a timeout to regroup and let Jess Campbell draw up a plan, resulting in a crucial power-play conversion. It wasn’t anything pretty, just Vince Dunn letting it rip from the point and getting a friendly bounce off Noel Acciari while Jaden Schwartz wreaked havoc in front of the net.

“I think we were able to generate some good chances [on the 5-on-3],” Dunn said. “I think we took what was given, and [Jaden Schwartz] has been so good out front of the net all year… did his part and made it easy for me.”

The goal got Seattle into the third period with a 2-1 lead, and it was all Kraken after that.

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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