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Three Takeaways – Kraken come close but lose to Avalanche, now losers in nine of 10

Darren Brown

The Seattle Kraken gave it their all against the vaunted Colorado Avalanche and nearly came away with an unlikely victory. But in the end, Colorado’s stars proved to be too much and handed the Kraken their ninth loss in 10 games.

“I thought we played hard, like we have been,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We just can’t find a way to get it over the finish line.”

Here are Three Takeaways after a 5-3 Kraken loss to the Avalanche.

Takeaway #1: Every chance to win it

If you put this game in a vacuum and forget about the fact that the Kraken have gone 1-8-1 since Nov. 23, you’d feel great about their performance. Ostensibly, they played one of their best games of the season, going toe to toe with a team that came in with just TWO regulation losses through 31 games.

In fact, the Kraken had every chance to win this one, taking a 3-2 lead after Chandler Stephenson scored his second power-play goal in as many games at 19:24 of the second period to send Seattle into the third in the driver’s seat.

But Nathan MacKinnon did Nathan MacKinnon things, racking up two goals (one an empty-netter) and an assist in the third period to help Colorado rally back for its NHL-leading 24th win of the season.

The Avalanche converted on essentially the same play twice in a six-minute span. Both times, Cale Makar walked across the top of the zone from left to right, then passed it back across to MacKinnon in the left circle. On the first such look, MacKinnon one-timed it off Adam Larsson and in to tie the game 3-3 at 2:40 of the third.

The Kraken then got a power play AND a penalty shot after Josh Manson put his hand over the puck in the crease. They failed to convert on the power play, and Jordan Eberle hit the post on the penalty shot.

Just 26 seconds later, Vince Dunn went to the box for tripping, and the Avs struck again on the Makar-to-MacKinnon connection. This time, the puck got a friendly bounce off the end wall for Brock Nelson to bang it home.

“We made a big mistake at the end on the last kill,” Lambert said, during his very strange media availability (more on that in Takeaway 3). “We can’t make that. The power play scored for us, so, aside from the goal we gave up, which was a critical situation and a critical error, [special teams] were fine, but again, not good enough. Didn’t get the job done.”

I believe the “critical error” Lambert was referring to was Ben Meyers shading from the left side over to the right and leaving that side unprotected. Meyers also got his pocket picked by MacKinnon earlier in the sequence, which eventually led to MacKinnon’s first goal.

Takeaway #2: Nyman / Wright / Kakko

Lambert shuffled up his lines for this one, making the “top line” Eeli Tolvanen, Chandler Stephenson, and Freddy Gaudreau. That was clearly a matchup play, hoping to get three players he trusts defensively out against MacKinnon as much as possible.

He also gave Shane Wright another look between the two big Finns, Jani Nyman and Kaapo Kakko. All three looked effective against an outstanding team and were rewarded with a good, hard-working goal at 3:03 of the second period.

That’s a trio I’d like to see stick together and try to develop some chemistry. It’s high time for all three to get going, and they seem to work well together.

Takeaway #3: A strange post-game experience

The post-game experience after this one was quite bizarre, with media availability handled in an especially peculiar way. Considering that—even though the Kraken took yet another ‘L’—they played a great game, players and coaches shouldn’t have felt embarrassed or hesitant to face the media, which is generally quite fair to them in this city.

But they received extra protection on this night in a way I’ve never seen before in my five years of closely covering the organization, with Lane Lambert only fielding a few questions from a team employee and none from reporters.

To set the scene and give you a peek behind the curtain, I’ll speak personally. In addition to my Sound Of Hockey duties, I’m also the local Seattle correspondent for NHL.com. That means wearing a lot of hats on home game nights: writing the neutral game story for NHL.com on a deadline, running the Sound Of Hockey Twitter (but don’t tell anyone it’s me), and trying to ask meaningful questions of players and coaches in post-game scrums so I can complete the NHL.com article and eventually Three Takeaways here on Sound Of Hockey… dot com.

After all that, I drive home, usually around midnight, and start actually writing Three Takeaways, which takes at least an hour. If all goes well, I’m asleep by 2 a.m.

That’s all to say that I—and others in the local media corps—invest a lot into covering the Kraken and filling gaps in a sports landscape dominated by the Seahawks and Mariners. The Kraken need us.

One challenge of the NHL.com role is that I’m expected to tell the story from the perspective of the winning team, with commentary from the losing team mixed in. While I’d prefer to always go to the Kraken dressing room, a stretch like this one means I’ve been visiting the opposing locker room more often than not. Even so, I typically still make it to Lane Lambert’s press conference, where I ask at least one question. (I’d prefer to ask more, but I understand the dynamics of a shared presser and can’t always hog the mic.)

On this particular night, I went to the Avalanche dressing room, where players were understandably celebratory after the comeback win. I asked Mackenzie Blackwood what it’s like playing behind Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar just as MacKinnon walked back in from his TNT interview. Somewhat jokingly—but very much on the record—Blackwood said, “He’s fucking nasty!” while nodding toward MacKinnon. MacKinnon shouted back, “Next question!”

Blackwood then doubled down: “No, those guys are fucking unbelievable leaders, and I love to watch those guys on a nightly basis.” That unnecessary on-mic cursing got a chuckle from the room.

After that, I asked Colorado coach Jared Bednar a few questions in the hallway outside the Avalanche dressing room and then headed to the Kraken media room, where Lambert had not yet arrived. When Lambert did come in, the microphone—normally passed from reporter to reporter—was already in the hands of a Kraken employee, who asked a short series of questions. Lambert gave brief answers, and the Kraken PR representative then cut off the presser without allowing anyone else in the room to ask a question.

It was peculiar behavior and a bad look for a team desperately trying to maintain interest in a crowded sports market. I included the background on my night not to complain (I absolutely love doing all this; otherwise, I wouldn’t do it), but to illustrate how much effort goes into covering a team that has lost nine of its last 10 games and frankly isn’t earning much positive attention right now.

All that said, following the availability, it was communicated that this approach was a one-off decision and would not be repeated.

Bonus Takeaway: Brandon Montour potentially injured

The Kraken had their jump back in this game after looking sluggish on Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres. Many on the team have been sick, with Mason Marchment missing that game, and then Kaapo Kakko and Vince Dunn missing practice on Monday. All three were back in the lineup, making things feel like Seattle was inching in the right direction in terms of its many health- and injury-related issues.

But early in the third period, Mason Marchment found himself throwing gloved fists with Josh Manson.

Chaos ensued, and Brandon Montour ended up on the ice, punching Brent Burns. Montour left the game after this and did not return. Lambert did not give an update on his status.

Needless to say, the Kraken simply cannot survive adding Brandon Montour to their injured list.

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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