After racking up five points in the last three games of their homestand, the Seattle Kraken brought a spirited effort to Detroit on Tuesday but ultimately came up short and started their four-game road trip on the losing side.
Jordan Eberle and Ryker Evans scored for the Kraken, but Detroit did all of its damage in an eventful second period, and it was just enough to slide past Seattle on this night.
“I don’t think we had everyone going,” coach Lane Lambert said. “And we can’t afford to have anybody not going. So, we were ok in the game, but not good enough to win the hockey game. There’s certain things and certain reasons for that, but I thought we could have been better.”
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken loss to the Red Wings.
Takeaway #1: Joey Daccord returns, wants one back
Joey Daccord returned to action on Tuesday and stopped 23 of 26 Red Wings shots. His activation from injured reserve—after about a two-week hiatus due to a somewhat mysterious upper-body injury—came at a perfect time. One of Seattle’s goalie trio, Matt Murray, went on the shelf at the end of the first period Saturday and is now expected to miss six weeks with a lower-body injury. So, he goes on IR just as Daccord comes off.
Daccord made some great saves in this game, but he also gave up an uncharacteristic stinker at 1:19 of the second period that erased Seattle’s 1-0 lead. On an innocuous-looking 3-on-2 rush, Lucas Raymond took a pass at the blue line and cruised into the right circle. He took a simple, unscreened wrist shot that squeezed under Daccord’s right arm and trickled over the line.
You could see right away that Daccord was disappointed with himself, swatting the puck out of the net in disgust.
He gave up two more in the period (those were of the “not his fault” variety), which we’ll talk about in the next Takeaway, but he did give his teammates a chance in this game.
Still, that first one stings…
Takeaway #2: Second period was all Detroit needed
The Kraken followed up the aforementioned stinker by allowing two Red Wings players into the middle, with a double-deflection working its way around Daccord and in off rookie Nate Danielson for his first NHL goal. That second goal came 45 seconds after the first.
Soon after that, it looked like Detroit had taken a 3-1 lead again with a nifty dangle by Danielson after a loose defensive play by Adam Larsson. But Tim Ohashi struck for a brilliant offside challenge and what felt like a massive break for the Kraken.
Indeed, Seattle scored the next goal and tied the game 2-2, with a Ryker Evans shot from the point pinballing in off a Red Wings defender.
But a cheesy goalie interference call on Jani Nyman—after he was bumped into Talbot by Simon Edvinsson, then jumped by the entire Red Wings team (none of whom were penalized)—proved costly. We’ll talk more about the Lucas Raymond goal that came on the ensuing power play in Takeaway #3, but Lambert summed up the second period nicely.
“We knew going in, they had like a plus-62 shot differential in the second period before the game. And I think Joey probably wants the first one back, so that’s one. We don’t box out on the second one, which goes into our net. We get a great call from our video coach to overturn the third one and get a goal to tie the game, and then we make a mistake on the penalty kill that we can’t make.”
Takeaway #3: A costly PK mistake
On the play that Lambert called “a mistake on the penalty kill that we can’t make,” Seattle’s PK really did momentarily lose the plot.
“That’s the bottom line,” Lambert continued. “It’s a mistake you can’t make. We’re not asking anything else other than proper positioning.”
Here’s the full sequence that led to the goal.
I believe what happened is that when Emmitt Finnie rimmed the puck around to Andrew Copp, Jamie Oleksiak got a piece of the pass. I think that triggered Oleksiak and Jaden Schwartz to pressure Copp on the halfwall, thinking they had him under duress and could win the puck away with a numerical advantage. Copp maintained control, though, and successfully made a pass to Danielson, which suddenly put Seattle in chase mode.
What I’m really not sure about, though, is why Chandler Stephenson shaded so far left—beyond the left face-off dot—when Oleksiak and Schwartz were already over against the boards. By drifting that far to the left, Evans was left alone in the slot as the last defender, with Finnie now fully unmarked and in a dangerous position.
The only thing Seattle’s PKers could have done to thwart a scoring chance at that point was get a stick on Danielson’s pass through the slot, but neither Stephenson nor Oleksiak could reach it.
Instead, Danielson put it right on the money for Finnie, and Daccord was hung out to dry.
That goal made it 3-2, and then—as Lambert pointed out after the game—Seattle just didn’t get enough pucks toward Talbot in the third period to level the game.
In the end, I liked Seattle’s effort in this game, but there were some costly mistakes from up and down the lineup and a not enough of an offensive push in the third to equalize.
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.
Detroit played an outstanding game and beat the Kraken just by checking tight and making fewer mistakes. Lambert said that the team did not get enough pucks on net in the third, and the reason was that the Red Wings were not giving up an inch in their own end, and Seattle could not win enough one-on-one battles to make them pay for playing so tight.
A big problem that the Kraken have when playing a team that checks aggressively and makes few mistakes seems to me to be that they do not have anyone who can create space with strength apart from Jani Nyman and Shane Wright. Unfortunately, Nyman is a double edged sword, and Wright is in the middle of an ugly cold streak. The wing position seems Ill-suited to Wright, or at least he is unfamiliar with it. Nyman is a liability on zone exits and in the neutral zone, which is offset some by his offensive zone skill. I hope that he does not get stuck like he is and become another Daniel Sprong where the coach really wants to play him but just can’t. That leaves the Kraken in a bad position, relying on a few tough guys without an unusually dangerous shot to generate greasy goals. Mason Marchment, Jaden Schwartz, and the emergent Ryan Winterton have thus become of outsized importance.
The team has some skilled offensive guys of the small variety (eg. Jordan Eberle, Berkley Catton, and Matty Beniers), but those guys need room to create. Give them the full court press like Detroit did, and their favored avenue for scoring closes (kudos to all three of them for adding battling net front to their list of talents this season). That does not get rectified by Jared McCann’s imminent return either, although McCann is on a higher level of skill all around. So, when teams that make few mistakes check tightly, that leaves the Kraken in the position of relying on getting lucky with greasy goals or hoping that Wright can emerge from his funk soon.
Of course, there is one forward on the team with a deadly shot and enough muscle to fight off checkers: Eeli Tolvanen. He does not really generate offense on his own, though. He is more of a finisher (that could be his nickname if not for Patrik Laine having it already) who relies on a linemate with high-end passing skill like Chandler Stephenson or Eberle to set him up for a dagger shot. I think that is why when Stevie is really feeling it on a given night Tolvanen usually scores.
Nyman is not totally lost on transition and in the neutral zone, but he is a young player very much learning the league. His skating has improved hugely from last year. This year he, like everybody else, are asked to play like grinders. I think his main problem is that his positioning needs a bit of work. That said, it’s pointless to play him on the 3rd or 4th line. If he makes it, it will be as a scoring powerforward and nuisance e.g when he walked the Detroit D man starting from the neutral zone and drove hard to the net crashing the goalie because the D couldn’t stop him. He has the natural physicality this team almost completely lacks, and he can do the net front presence thing. Last year he could use his cannon of a shot, but Lambert prioritizes grinding over offense and Nyman simply does not have a setup guy on his line(s) like he did when playing with the more skilled players like Eberle last season.
There is a player there, but that player cannot be allowed to drown in a grind system. Nyman has much more upside than someone like Marchment. But this is what we get when management prioritizes making the playoffs with a bubble level team.
Right after he earned plaudits from detractors like Curtis and me, Stephenson had a rough night.
Also geez, Marchment. He skates and puck-handles like he is stuck in molasses, and then passes to the other team. He’s gotta be playing hurt, no?
I really don’t get why SOH and announcers keep talking about how Marchment’s breakout is imminent. Is anybody actually watching this dude play? He is dragging down Eberle and Beniers. It’s not just his point totals. He is a horrific passer, a slow skater, and a compulsive giveaway machine. At least Stephenson still looked pretty fast at times last night.
Also Joey, woof. If he’s a sub-.900 goalie now, this team is screwed. That leaky goal was very Grubauer-esque.
Agree, it’s bout time someone called out Marchment. He is flat out terrible.
2 players disappointed me. Ni sense in naming them. I will mention that Catton is too small still and Eli was just plain bad on the boards, again. He wasn’t the only one who was bad but Detroit was better and smarter. We could not adjust. I am not a fan of Eli’s playing for almost a year now.. We could start early Christmas shopping now. Catton is young and small, comments I made about him to start the season. We have no one on the farm that has impressed yet.
Correction on the point of nobody on the farm impressing: Jagger Firkus currently leads the AHL in points (18) with just fourteen games played. It’s still early, but keep an eye on him.
Sometimes throwing stuff into the blender makes a tasty smoothie. Sometimes it makes undrinkable sludge. I think the latest batch of lineup changes has yielded the latter.
Putting Marchment with Beniers and Eberle looks like an exercise in damage control – put the liability with the players who have enough skill to cover the mistakes, and more time in the offensive zone keeps his turnovers further away from the kraken’s goal.
In the battle of the youngsters, Detroit came out decidedly on top in a battle that was head-to-head for much of the night. Wright and Catton were on the ice for the Evans goal, but also for the first two Detroit goals (which actually occurred at opposite ends of the same shift) as well as the disallowed third goal. They really struggled with the pressure from Detroit’s tight checking.
I want to be patient since Gaudreau just returned from IR, but the fourth line has had zero chemistry in his games back. The Kartye / Meyers / Winterton combo played as a connected trio moving the puck, brought tons of energy and was capable of shifting momentum.
This has been three guys filling space. If Nyman wants to stay on the roster, he needs to recognize he’s part of a team and that he can’t always have the puck. Interesting that someone above mentioned Sprong, because I’m getting some of those vibes from Nyman as well.
ETA on Nyman – I am wondering if there may be a language barrier at play. Last season, he was on lines with Kakko and occasionally Tolvanen. I recall Beniers mentioning that he was communicating with Nyman through Kakko at times.
Nyman did a few interviews last year where he’d get a question and the answer really didn’t match what he’d been asked.
Last night, there was a faceoff where Gaudreau got kicked out of the circle. He gestured and said something to Kartye, who made a move to take his place but Nyman had already planted himself there. Gaudreau and Kartye both looked confused but kind of shrugged and let it go.
I was watching a bit of the Blackhawks game last night. They were talking about what a “steal” Burakovsky was (“with all due respect to Joe Veleno”…). Burky has 7 goals and 8 assists. So, more points than anyone on the Kraken. I guess the best you can say is that the Kraken didn’t have Bedard for him to play with… but that’s the problem. The Kraken have zero first-line caliber players, with none on the way (except some very hopeful projection for Catton). Anyway, get ready to watch Burky torch the Kraken tomorrow.
Burky has always been good. He just got stuck in his own head after the injuries. The change of scenery was what he needed to get back to being his old self. Hockey is oddly psychological like that. Chicago was clever to take advantage of the opportunity.
Molgaard called up this afternoon. I think there was technically a roster spot available, but assumed it was for McCann’s hopefully imminent return. Does this mean McCann isn’t ready or has had a setback, someone else is headed to IR, or someone (Nyman? Fleury?) is going back down?