The Seattle Kraken defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Monday night. The win pushed Seattle into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division with 16 points.
It was Andre Burakovsky’s first trip back to Seattle since being traded to Chicago during the offseason. The move has worked out well for Burakovsky so far—he scored the Blackhawks’ lone goal and now has 10 points this season (five goals, five assists).
But even with Burakovsky’s goal that temporarily closed the gap to 2-1, Jamie Oleksiak opened the scoring in the second period, and the Kraken really never looked back.
Matty Beniers scored on the power play, and captain Jordan Eberle added an insurance goal to put the game out of reach. Beniers and Eberle assisted on each other’s goals, giving both two-point nights. Eberle now leads Seattle with five goals, while Eeli Tolvanen picked up an assist to extend his point streak to three games. Tolvanen has four assists through the first 12 games but has yet to find the back of the net.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 3-1 Kraken win over the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1 – Offense!
After a lackluster offensive effort against the Rangers on Saturday, when Seattle recorded a franchise-worst 13 shots on goal, the message was clear: get pucks on net. Head coach Lane Lambert shuffled his lines before facing Chicago.
Tolvanen moved up alongside Beniers and Eberle. Kaapo Kakko joined Chandler Stephenson and Jaden Schwartz. Jani Nyman, scratched against the Rangers, rejoined the lineup with Shane Wright and Mason Marchment. Berkly Catton centered the fourth line between Tye Kartye and Ryan Winterton.
Based on the morning skate, it didn’t appear Catton would play, but the coaching staff opted to give him a look at center. The fourth line stood out with its energy, though Catton logged a team-low 7:07 of ice time.
Seattle started with urgency, firing eight shots in the first eight minutes. They slowed down after that and finished with 24 total shots. Still, it was encouraging to see the coaching staff identify a problem from the previous game and make changes that delivered results.
As John Barr noted in Monday Musings, the Kraken are averaging 23.9 shots per game—right on par with this performance, though there’s still room for improvement. Interestingly, Seattle had just five shots in the second period but scored twice.
Takeaway #2 – Special teams
Seattle excelled on both sides of special teams in this game. The Kraken successfully killed all three penalties, maintaining their strong defensive effort. Seattle has now gone two straight games without allowing a power-play goal. Chicago generated some chances, but the Kraken stayed active with their sticks, blocked shots, and leaned on a steady Joey Daccord in net.
In John Barr’s new 10 for 10 series, he noted Seattle’s penalty kill sat at 64 percent through 10 games. After two perfect games, that number is up to 71 percent—still not great, but trending in the right direction.
It only took eight seconds for the Kraken to convert on their first power-play attempt, and they were 1-for-2 on the night.
This goal was fun to watch. All five skaters touched the puck before Beniers buried it. Stephenson tied up his man on the draw, Beniers supported and moved it to Vince Dunn, who slid it over to Tolvanen for the shot. Eberle corralled the rebound and appeared to drift behind the net before sending a perfect backhand pass to Beniers in the slot, who fired it home. A thing of beauty.
After the game, Beniers said of Eberle’s pass: “You know, it’s funny, I knew it was coming. No doubt in my mind. That’s just the type of player [Eberle] is.”
Takeaway #3 – Joey! Joey! Joey!
It was a bit unexpected that Daccord wasn’t among the three stars of the night. He posted a .967 save percentage and allowed just one goal, saving 2.52 goals above expected per MoneyPuck. Connor Bedard led the rush on Chicago’s lone tally, getting around Adam Larsson to the puck along the boards and feeding Burakovsky for a quick five-hole finish.
What made Daccord’s outing so impressive was his calm positioning. He didn’t need to make any highlight-reel saves because he was square to the puck all night. When a goalie doesn’t need to scramble, it usually means he’s in full control.
With Chicago’s net empty, Daccord twice attempted a goalie goal to the delight of the Climate Pledge Arena crowd. His first shot had a real chance but was stopped by defenseman Artyom Levshunov. Fans erupted into a “Joey! Joey! Joey!” chant, encouraging him to try again. His second attempt missed the mark, but the crowd loved every moment. Seattle fans will have to wait a little longer for the elusive goalie goal.
Strong response
This was a strong response to Saturday’s low-shot game. Chicago started backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom, so this was a matchup the Kraken should win—and they did. Next up, Seattle faces the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 5 to close out the homestand.
Two more points and now on top of the Pacific Division. Not bad for what some are saying a boring lackluster team!
Go Kraken!!!
Go Kraken!!!
It was great to see Kartye get some time with his original linemates Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers. I’d love to see more of that combo.
This was a very different game from the Kraken.
“the message was clear: get pucks on net”
Well that wasn’t the issue it was zone time because we were parking the bus and leaving forwards behind on breakouts and zone entry’s.
Last night there was an adjustment made, we still played what you’d call defensive hockey but we were sending thee forwards in and it resulted in a better hockey game. This had nothing to do with the overly used “put the puck on net”. Look at our offensive zone time increase, the problem hasn’t been not shooting the puck. Maybe LL heard the the message was clear: get pucks on net
Woo a Woo all aboard the Lane train, a Chug a chug, don’t let them score and jump on the mustakes and bury it. I love it. The team has fallen into the order.
Yes! All aboard the Lane Train!!
Those that doubt can miss the train and pout.
Hard to tell if the team looked better because they played significantly better or they were playing a really inexperienced, bad team. I’ll go with both.
Dunn looked the best he’s looked all season — very confident with the puck, had some great transitions. He needs to keep this up.
I know he scored a goal, but I’m glad this is Oleksiak’s final year. He’s just so slow, and seems to lose his coverage more than the other Dmen. Also, Mahura has really grown on me. He’s looking more like a 3rd pair guy than a 7th Dman. You love to see it.
Speaking of love, he I just love Winterton’s game. I really want to see him score his first goal. He is past deserving at this point.
I was screaming for the goalie goal so hard. So dang close! Joey rules!!!
Interestingly, I think that the Big Rig has looked better and faster this season that in the past.
Joey is going to will this team to the playoffs if he doesn’t run out of steam in the second half. That game could have easily been a loss and probably would have been in past seasons.
Definitely This whole three goalie situation is getting interesting. We’ve played 11 games so far and Daccord has played 9 I believe. I’m really glad that we have three goalies up so that the backups don’t have to play more than a game a month 😂
There are now 19 goalies in the league who have appeared in nine games. Joey has appeared in 10 of 12 for the Kraken. Joey is a No.1 goalie in the NHL getting a No.1 goalie workload. He’s had just three games in the last nine days.
This hand wringing over Joey’s usage and carrying three goalies is non-sense. Is there no end to the second guessing?
I agree I just think it’s funny that they are carrying three goalies and not using them. Joey should get as many games as possible without overworking him. I don’t feel he’s getting overworked. I kinda feel like it’s really about having no faith in Grubauer but not wanting to buy him out soooo we have three goalies 😂
I think that’s exactly it. On this we do agree.
I think they should have bought him out but I can understand the multiple reasons why they didn’t. I also appreciate that they clearly don’t trust him. I’m no analyst, but based on things I’ve heard Kevin Woodley talk about with Skinner and how spot on they are with Grubauer, everything I’ve seen from him so far this season makes me believe he’s exactly the same goalie he has been for the past four seasons. When folks say, “he’s been good” or “he’s been fine”… I honestly don’t what they’re talking about.
The problem is, as I see it… they can’t risk Murray clearing waivers and he hasn’t proved anything. I also believe they’re honestly trying to do right by Grubauer. I think it’s easy to sit in an armchair and pretend that doesn’t mean shit, but I think professionally it’s an important thing. It’s an Olympic year and this is a guy who’s already been named to his national team. As worried as I am about relying on him, I do think – given a short leash – he can be serviceable.
I’m excited about their start, and I’m a little nervous, but right now – for once – I not worried about Grubauer and I’m really not worried about carrying three goalies.
…and they better be up for San Jose. To me, this is a huge game.
Spoiler alert: they weren’t up for it.
Playing Joey as much as they have without overworking is a tricky balance. At some point they will have to put in Gru or Murray and neither of them has seen much time since the beginning of the season. It will be interesting to see how that goes. I can imagine it’s really hard to pull Joey during this hot streak to play the #2. It doesn’t make sense. I believe this is the definition of a conundrum.
We should see one of them this weekend. Hopefully they’re smart, and they’ll play the backup on Saturday against St Louis and save Joey for Dallas on Sunday.