In a game that had a little bit of everything, the actual Seattle Kraken — the majority of whom will be in the lineup come Opening Night — took down the Calgary Flames 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
And despite most of the lineup being regulars, the Kraken let the Flames, who played with a group of largely inexperienced players at the NHL level, hang around.
It would be more concerning if it wasn’t the preseason. But good news, everyone! It is still preseason!
Here are Three Takeaways.
Takeaway 1: Shaking off the rust
For most of the Kraken roster, this was the first game they had played together in over five months. The first couple of periods of the night, the rust was apparent. But with the games in the preseason not counting in the standings, Kraken head coach Lane Lambert would rather have the mistakes and growing pains come now versus when the games count.
“A lot of guys on our team hadn’t played a game for quite a while, and it showed,” Lambert said. “I thought we got better and a little bit more connected in the third, but for the most part, a lot of stuff that we’ve been talking about in Training Camp about playing with speed and putting on pressure, we establish that tonight the way we want to. So, we will continue to build.”
Ryker Evans’ charge down toward the goal late in the third period tied things up before Matty Beniers and Berkly Catton helped win it in the shootout. Evans recognized the importance of a game like this in creating early chemistry and helping lessen the corrosion, even if it’s against a team without many NHL regulars.
“They came out to play, and we’re just getting their feet under us,” Evans said. “It was good to get the cobwebs off there. I think by the second period, especially the third, we kind of started to play our game. But it’s always good to get the first one out of the way.”
Takeaway 2: Chippiest of chippiness
It doesn’t matter if it’s the preseason; if you’re a Seattle Kraken player, chances are you HATE seeing the red, white and yellow jerseys of the Calgary Flames. While people might go with the logical Vancouver or Vegas as their biggest rivals, I’d venture a guess Calgary’s pretty high on that disdain list for many players in the Seattle locker room.
Trying to describe the chippiness in the second period is a tall task, but let’s give it a shot.
It all started with the Kraken on the power play, of all things. Flames defenseman Chase Harrington caught Mackie Samoskevich with a hit up high that sparked a skirmish towards center ice. Samoskevich was slow getting up off the ice, though he looked fine through the rest of the game.
Then, an awkward hit by Flames center Sam Morton on Chandler Stephenson spurred Vince Dunn and company to respond.
The talk of the night, though, has to be Ville Ottavainen and his sucker punches of Flames left-winger Brennan Othmann. Othmann, who had two assists on the night, also checked him hard during Sunday’s game in Calgary.
Chaos ensued thereafter. Ottavainen is a player who’s on the cusp of making the team out of Training Camp, but for Lambert, he didn’t have trouble with how he responded.
“I didn’t mind it,” Lambert said. “Othmann ran him in Calgary with a high hit and got kicked out of the game. So, really good job by Otto to respond to that. I don’t have a problem with that at all.”
There were 16 total penalties in the second, totaling over 40 minutes of box time. Getting it all out of the way now seemed to be the messaging.
“Not a bad thing for sure,” Lambert said, joking there was everything but a 5-on-3 power play or 4-on-4 to go off of tonight. “It was a good opportunity to take a couple of looks at a couple of things that we’ve been talking about.”
Takeaway 3: Mackie Samoskevich making an immediate impact
It’s no secret the Kraken have needed a spark offensively, especially with its top line. The Kraken got a little sneak peek of what Mackie Samoskevich could potentially bring to that group.
He was quick with his up-ice rushes and tried a lot of leading passes. We saw some of that Michigan Wolverine chemistry with Beniers tonight, too.
“It was fun,” Beniers said. “He’s got a lot of speed. He’s got a lot of skill. He makes a lot of plays. So I thought we worked well together out there and had a lot of speed coming up the ice together.”
When the Kraken cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third period courtesy of a Brandon Montour laser beam, Samoskevich was the one that stripped the puck from a Flames attacker in the neutral zone, then immediately turned up ice to create the forechecking opportunity that led to the goal.
“He’s got speed coming up the ice, and we have to continue to use that,” Lambert said. “I thought he did a really good job on Montour’s goal. We just need to keep using his speed.”
One more week, everyone! One week before the Seattle Kraken open season six against these same Calgary Flames.
But first, the Kraken head up to Vancouver for their final preseason game against the Canucks, which is set for Saturday at 4 p.m.
Header photo by Brian Liesse.
I never felt guilty about desperately wanting a win before. It is not that the team did not deserve to win after a game that looked like the Charlestown Chiefs vs. the Syracuse Bulldogs. It is more that it was preseason and that the final score has no impact on the standings. I wasn’t the only one investing way too much emotion into a points-wise meaningless contest. Did you see Jared McCann diving desperately to the ice to throw his body in front of an open shot attempt from the right of the cage? Or Brandon Montour flying through the air to the blue paint just in time to swat a bouncing puck away? The boys wanted it badly, so when Philipp Grubauer kicked the puck wide with just the pointy tip of the blade of his skate at the end of the shootout, it felt like an enormous win even without two standings points for a reward.
They deserved it. They were obviously the better team on the ice, Calgary having only held the lead for as long as they had due to the penalties that ensued from the early brawls that put the penalty boxes at capacity. Vince Dunn, after getting drawn behind the net on Calgary’s first goal, looked like the unknown star from previous seasons shutting down odd-man rushes with aplomb and driving the puck up the ice with confidence to speeding forwards. Berkley Catton, despite taking some hits, looked surprisingly dangerous on offense centering a line with Shane Wright and Kaapo Kakko that appears greatly improved since last season. Was the difference just Wright and Catton flipping spots and Kakko moving to his natural position? When Josh Mahura wasn’t throwing punches he made it clear that he is the correct choice for the third pair left defenseman. Despite three goals, Grubauer was a hero making clutch saves on second and third opportunities.
And how about Coach Lambert supporting his players to the media, letting the refs hear it, and not at all discouraging guys from standing up for one another. He has a nasty edge that both Bylsma and Hakstol lack. Lambert is looking to win hockey games, but he realizes that sometimes that means making cowards pay a price. I don’t know what was with the refs that night, but they seemed content to let the players protect themselves and then punish them afterward for doing the refs’ job for them. I wish fighting wasn’t a part of the NHL game, but good on Coach for not pretending that it isn’t.
And good on the team for recognizing when that was over, and it was time to win a hockey game. They didn’t let it derail their comback when a guy slid blades-first into Grubauer. They just focused on the prize, the big zilch that it is from a standings perspective, and outplayed their opponents to the very finish. It may be just a preseason win–and a shootout win at that–but it is a win that fans, players, and coaches can feel good about.
All through the lens of a preseason game, though it was a pretty good one…
1) Samoskevich is better than advertised. He was clearly the best Kraken on the ice last night. Every time he had the puck, you felt like something was about to happen. Even when he didn’t have it he gets open and he’s ready. Very handy offseason work by The Kraken.
2) Second best player was Ryker Evans. He returned bigger, faster and stronger. He could be the best skater on team. Also a solid two-way player who can join the rush, plays really solid D, can drive the net and apparently go top cheddar over the goalie’s shoulder.
3) I was very impressed by Calgary, especially as it was The Wranglers. Cooley played very well. How do teams get players like Suniev in the 3rd round? Hopefully we have one or three of those with prospects like Fyodorov, Caswell and Josephson.
Very impressed by Cooley and Suniev as well.
Fun game to watch and nothing like a bit of the old ultraviolence to ramp up the excitement for the season opener! I thought offensively the Kraken were very promising. Still work to do in the defensive zone, clearing pucks and shutting down shooting lanes. Samoskevitch looked good in his first outing and I’m excited about what he might add this season. Evans and McMann were both great as well, and Grubauer was on fire. Can’t wait to watch the Kraken beat up on the Flames a couple more times next week!
I think most of my observations have already been said by others. Rust in the first two periods was frustrating to watch, but I was also happy to see the guys start the pre-season by sticking up for themselves and each other. I’m happy to see Matty has built on his shootout success from last year. He looks confident in those situations, and that can add up to a few wins down the line. Berkly looked confident on his attempt as well, and Samoskevich was high but had the right idea. I know shootouts are a minor aspect of the game, but they can add up to a few wins that could make the difference between a playoff berth.
Those first two periods reminded me of the season opener against the Ducks last year. They looked gawd-awful in the first period but got it together in the second and third and won that game. Lane got them off to the best 10 game start (13 pts) in franchise history last season, let’s hope they can do it again.