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.