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Three Takeaways – Kraken respond after emotional 48 hours with dominant win over lowly Sharks

Darren Brown

And just like that, all is right again in the world.

Sure, the opponent was the worst team in the league and came into the contest having lost nine of its last 11. Plus, that same opponent was completely decimated by injuries to its already feeble roster. But we’ve also seen this Seattle Kraken team lower its effort against fellow bottom-dwelling teams this season (including twice against this same Sharks team).

Thankfully, the Kraken responded well after an emotional 48 hours, piled on four goals in the second period, and cruised to a stress-free 6-2 result, finally giving their fans something to cheer about.

Here are Three Takeaways from a Kraken Sharks brouhaha.

Takeaway #1: A strong response

The mood in the Kraken dressing room after morning skate on Thursday was downtrodden and serious, a departure from the usual tone of the gameday routine. Adam Larsson spoke extensively about how disappointed he was for his friend, Philipp Grubauer, who was placed on waivers Wednesday and sent to the AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds.

There’s no doubt the players feel some responsibility for Grubauer’s struggles. On a more personal level, they also felt the absence of a key teammate who had been there just 24 hours earlier.

“If you look past the hockey side of things, it’s a friend that’s not here with us now,” Larsson said. “I mean, it’s tough for him, it’s tough for us, it’s tough for everyone.”

Added Bylsma: “Seeing a teammate and a friend and seeing a guy who was an original part of the Kraken, and seeing a guy you’ve had success with and seen him play good hockey, it’s a difficult thing for obviously Grubi, but the rest of the guys as well. This is ultimately a team game, and we all bear responsibility of the results of the team.”

So, with all that somber sentiment floating around the rink in the morning, I couldn’t help wondering if that would be representative of the way Seattle played in the evening.

But they channeled that emotion into a strong effort that showed they are not in the same echelon as San Jose, despite relative proximity in the standings and two past losses this season. Once they took control in the second period, momentum snowballed, and the Kraken ran away from the Sharks.

“It’s a great response,” Bylsma said after the game. “I thought we stepped over the boards tonight with a purpose, and it showed. It was a really good start and carried over for the whole 60. And just even how the game was played, it was played with emotion in it, and we played it with some passion.”

Takeaway #2: A monster second period

We’ve seen the Kraken get pushed around at times in the second period over the last month, but in this game, they were the ones doing the pushing during that frame. Oliver Bjorkstrand got the scoring train started, making it 2-1 at 2:03 of the second by capitalizing on a fortunate bounce off Chandler Stephenson’s leg and batting the puck into an open net.

Then, 51 seconds later, Brandon Montour broke his slump with his first of two goals on the night, breaking a 20-game goalless drought that dated back to Dec. 14.

“Any time you can score some goals and see them going in, it’s nice,” Montour said. “It’s been a little cold the last… I don’t even know, 15, 20 games. But you keep creating. You get in cold spells, you try to find other ways to help the team. I like where my game’s at, but it’s nice to get a couple.”

Jaden Schwartz also continued his scoring ways, finishing a breakaway chance through Yaroslav Askarov’s wickets after Jamie Oleksiak found him with a stretch pass when he came out of the penalty box, ending Askarov’s night. And, heck, the power play even came through on a 5-on-3 with a nice tic-tac-toe passing play between Jared McCann and Stephenson that ended with a big Montour blast.

“It starts with a face-off win, making plays, getting shooters in the right spots,” Montour said. “And then, obviously, it’s 5-on-3, so spread them out, and good plays by everyone.”

Eeli Tolvanen capped off the scoring in the game by cutting to the slot and rifling a snapper past Alexandar Georgiev at 12:18 of the third, extending his goal-scoring streak to four games.

Takeaway #3: Fisticuffs

This game had more feistiness than I would have expected between two of the worst teams in the Pacific Division (although it is worth noting the Kraken jumped back ahead of the Ducks for sixth place after temporarily falling behind them).

It started in the first period when Luke Kunin blindsided Oleksiak in front of the Sharks bench, and Tye Kartye immediately responded with a questionable hit from behind on Kunin. San Jose didn’t like that hit, but with the game still close, everyone eventually went their separate ways.

But in the second period, when the game had fully tilted Seattle’s way, there was no longer a need for maintaining the peace. Kunin was in the middle of it again, poking at Joey Daccord after he had covered the puck. Montour gave Kunin a jab, Kunin shoved back, and all hell broke loose, with the Sharks forward temporarily facing a 1-on-5 battle.

It ended with Vince Dunn giving Henry Thrun a thorough whoopin’.

“I think, obviously, our home record just overall has never been good enough, and we want to make this place a hard place to play,” Dunn said. “So that comes with attitude, and sometimes things happen like that. So I think everyone just came out, battled hard. We know, obviously, the tough situation with [Grubauer], and they kind of come after our goalie a little bit there, so we’ve got to stand up for him.”

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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