This was the third meeting between the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken in October. Seattle won the first two by identical 6-1 scores, but this game felt different coming in.
Calgary entered with four straight home wins as it tries to make the most of its final season at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Flames have also beaten some good teams lately, with wins over Carolina, Minnesota and Toronto. They had some swagger and a chip on their shoulder after getting embarrassed by the Kraken in their Oct. 1 home opener.
It had all the makings of a trap game, and the Kraken fell right into it. Calgary extended its home winning streak to five games with a 6-2 win over Seattle.
The Kraken played a decent first period and went to the intermission tied 1-1. Then things fell apart over the final 40 minutes.
After the game, coach Lane Lambert did not mince words.
“I would say probably the worst 40 minutes I’ve been a part of here since I got here. Losing battles, turning pucks over, mistakes on the wall, allowing power play goals. List goes on and on.”
Philipp Grubauer started the game but was replaced by Joey Daccord after allowing four goals. Neither goaltender was primarily at fault, but neither delivered the timely save Seattle needed.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Takeaway 1: Douglas decision disrupts the lines
In his pregame media availability, Lambert said Curtis Douglas would be a game-time decision. Douglas ended up playing but logged just 4:29 of ice time, his lowest total of the season.
The 6-foot-9 forward has appeared in all three games against Calgary but only four games overall.
Douglas dropped the gloves for the first time this season on his opening shift, squaring off with Adam Klapka at center ice.
The fight itself did not amount to much, but Douglas also received an extra roughing penalty for throwing punches after both players had fallen to the ice.
On the ensuing power play, Morgan Frost scored his fourth goal of the season. The goal seemed to set the tone for the evening.
With Jani Nyman on the roster, it was a suprise to see Douglas get the nod. That decision also shuffled the Kraken’s forward lines, and they looked disjointed at times.
The changes moved Freddy Gaudreau to the second line. Gaudreau scored his team-leading seventh goal, but the shuffle also broke up a fourth line that had been working well.
Takeaway 2: Penalty kill rides the struggle bus
The Kraken were disciplined and took only two penalties. The problem was Calgary scored on both power plays, leaving Seattle’s penalty kill 0-for-2 on the night.
Seattle entered the game ranked 27th in the NHL on the penalty kill. Allowing two more power-play goals certainly will not help.
Frost’s opening goal started with Calgary’s zone entry. Vince Dunn and Jordan Eberle both got pulled toward the boards while chasing the puck. Matt Coronato slipped a pass to Frost, who skated into open space and beat Grubauer short side.
Calgary’s second power play goal came with a little more luck. Matvei Gridin was credited with his fifth goal after the puck deflected into the net off Ryker Evans’ skate.
Seattle looked to have a good defensive box established. Gridin appeared to be trying to pass the puck through the slot. Had it gotten through Evans, Coronato was waiting for what likely would have been a tap-in.
Coronato had success all night, finishing with four points on one goal and three assists. He is now tied for the Flames’ team lead with 14 points. Joel Farabee, who had three points Friday, also has 14.
Penalty killing was also a major problem for Seattle last season, when it finished 31st in the NHL. It remains an area the Kraken need to address and certainly will come up in practice before facing Calgary again on Nov. 4 in Seattle.
Takeaway 3: Even strength play mistakes pile up
The Kraken surrendered four goals at even strength, and all four stemmed from lost battles or turnovers. On each goal, Seattle had an opportunity to get the puck out of danger and failed to do so.
The Flames made them pay.
Aydar Suniev put Calgary ahead for good in the second period. The puck bounced around before Dunn tried to move it to Adam Larsson. Instead, he put it directly onto Frost’s stick. Frost quickly moved it to Suniev for the one-timer.
The play happened quickly, and Calgary deserves credit for its forecheck and pressure. Still, those are mistakes the Kraken need to clean up.
On Calgary’s fourth goal, Evans tried to clear the puck by ringing it around the boards. Chandler Stephenson could not secure it at the blue line. Coronato held the zone and then found Farabee in the slot. The fourth goal ended Grubauer’s night and Joey Daccord would finish the game.
The final two even-strength goals followed a similar pattern of mistakes.
Mackie Samoskevich turned the puck over at center ice, creating a Calgary rush. Coronato snapped a shot past Daccord just 39 seconds into the third period.
The timing made the goal especially damaging. Samoskevich had pulled Seattle within two goals late in the second period, but Calgary quickly restored its three-goal lead.
With the game out of reach, Calgary’s sixth goal came off a dump-in. Cale Fleury appeared to have good position, but the puck got past him. Gridin collected it and found Ryan Strome for the final goal.
Gaudreau summed up the night pretty well afterward.
“They were better than us tonight”
It was not the way the Kraken wanted to finish the month, but October was still a successful one. Seattle went 8-5-1 and sits in third place in the Pacific Division.
very puzzling game… WTF was Was Douglas doing in the lineup. We put him in the lineup to not play!!! This is completely bull crap it’s time to admit that the goon phase of the NHL was dead over 10 years ago and it’s not coming back. The extra shots he took because he couldn’t get anything done during the actual fight was disgraceful and set the stage moving forward. Very good coaching to put in a played that can’t play hockey and forces you to rearrange most of the lineup… three cheers LL well done.
why was Gru put into this game to start with he didn’t look good last game and if maybe wasn’t the best call to put in a goalie coming off a bad game. Yes we won but did you see the other guy…. Going past that why was Gru pulled but Joey was left to fester in net as the team was falling apart. Sure I get it Joey wanted to keep playing but they always do, this was very interesting that there seems to be a different standard.
Chandler agin had a very bad defensive game, this is starting to become the norm watching his line fall apart during tough games.
My three takeaways.
This was disappointing in a number of ways. Perhaps most disappointing are Larsson and Dunn. They suck. Bad.
The Douglas fight was indeed a strategy thing, which is why it happened before any actual hits were thrown. The idea is to get the other team’s enforcer to drop the gloves early so that his teammates can’t play dirty and then hide behind their enforcer, because if the enforcer fights again he will be ejected and possibly fined. The two enforers thus neutralize one another and, theoretically, keep the game clean.
The puck control issue appeared to me to be the Kraken players being oddly slow to get the puck off their sticks and to a teammate, so when the Flames played a tight forecheck, which would otherwise be exploited by quick passing, it caused turnovers which then got turned into rushes which beat a clearly struggling Grubauer. Thank the schedulers for the Finland trip, because Gru needs a break right now.
I don’t know what Lambert would have used a timeout for except to slap the whole bench across the face like Moe Howard to wake them up.
For real, what is up with Vince Dunn? Is he hurt? That is the only thing I can think of, because in a contract year with millions on the line he should be tearing it up. Instead, he has been strangely sloppy this season. He has always been prone to the occasional turnover, but that is a thing a puck-moving defenseman has to risk to generate offense. Lately, though, it has been like he has caught whatever bug Sam Darnold has and can’t stop whipping passes to the opposing team. I have been against any trade for Simon Edvinsson, because we don’t need a top-pairing left defenseman with Vince Dunn on the roster and still in his prime, but whatever issue Dunn is having needs to go away before the trade deadline. I cannot believe I am even entertaining the idea of letting Dunn walk.
I’m no scout but Edvinsson is a compliment to a puck mover and not one himself. He’d be replacing Evans who doesn’t, in my opinion, have the defensive chops that Edvinsson does. Dunn/Larsson Edvinsson/ Montour.
Right now, in a trade situation I would expect Edvinsson to replace Dunn, not Evans, given Dunn’s contract situation. Evans is not a guy who it would make too much sense to move. I could see it, but it would create a hole in the line-up without a new contract for Dunn. Also, Larsson is just about at that point in his career where he is going to need fewer minutes going forward. I would expect the Edvinsson/Montour pair to be the top pair in that scenario.
I would assume Evans is going the other way and Dunn is extending. Larsson’s replacement is at Michigan State this year.
Two pairs with one mover and one shut down each.
Team did not play well but much of this loss was on the coaching. Agree with comment above
Continued comment: Douglas decision was poor. Without McCann need another scorer in lineup (Nyman). Lambert needs to give Nyman a chance and allow for some mistakes. Hard for young players to break lineup under Lambert.
PK is horrendous. They may have made some structural changes this year but its still bad and in my opinion the problem is not the players but the system. Must be the most passive power play in the league. Appears to rely on packing the front of the net and restricting cross passes; but allows the skilled players on other teams power play to skate and move around freely. High skilled players are always going to find an opening for a shot or pass if given time and space.
When I watch teams with good penalty kills they are aggressive; make zone entries difficult and pressure the puck hard in there defensive zone which gives the power play unit little time and space. Although shorthanded goals are not an indicator of a good penalty kill they are and indicator of the aggressiveness of the penalty kill. No surprise the the Kraken have only 1 shorthanded goal under lambert. You would think after over a year of horrendous PK the coaching staff would make significant system changes to the PK. That nothing has changed is inexcusable.
The PK is a disaster, and it has been the single biggest problem spot so far this season. Even though what they are doing is supposed to be preventing cross-crease passes, they don’t do that. Power play units are playing ping-pong in front of Daccord and Grubauer. Opposing guys keep sneaking behind them to the far corner of the net before standing there completely uncontested. Good on Ryker Evans in this game for being the only defenseman who did not give up that particular situation every time. Seriously, given how things went last season, how has the PK coach not been fired yet?
Odd that you bring up the short-handed goal thing. It is not yet something I would call a concern, but there is something there. Jared McCann and Chandler Stephenson have each regularly scored two short-handed goals every year of their respective careers until last year. Again, it is not much of a sample size, but it may be worth watching.
Over at Sportsnet:
“The Seattle Kraken are the biggest regression candidate
Probably not a playoff pick for most people coming into the season, the Kraken are 8-4-1, sitting third in a crowded Central Division. How long can they keep it up, though?
The Kraken are second in the league in PDO (the sum of a team’s shooting and save percentage, aka the luck stat), with a league-leading 14.18 shooting percentage that is well above expectation. For context, last year’s shooting percentage leader finished at 11.30 and the year before was 10.64.
When you consider that they’ve been outshot 313-261, have scored 14 more goals than expected, and rank 18th in high-danger chances at 5-on-5 so far, this screams regression. Bet you can’t guess who their two leading goal scorers are without looking.”
I saw this yesterday and immediately thought of John’s “Get off my lawn” from the podcast… this is a joke as “journalism”.
First of all, PDO is, to me, a worthwhile stat as a starting point. That said, it’s dubious this early in the season. Already, after last night, the Kraken are now fourth in PDO at 1.021 and their shooting percentage is under 14%. These are still high, but let’s talk about “regression”.
After six games this season the Kraken had a PDO of 1.075 (Wow!) and had collected eight of a possible 12 points. Over the next six games their PDO “regressed” to 1.027 on the season while they collected seven of a possible 12 points. While “regressing” they managed a .583 points percentage. On the season so far that percentage would be good enough for third in the Pacific. Last season it would have won the Pacific.
These early numbers can be very misleading, but if you’re national and don’t actually follow the team it’s an easy “go to”. You can spit out something that sounds “smart”. At this point, you can have regression and still maintain playoff position. Last season five teams finished October with a PDO above 1.027, three of them made the playoffs. Add in that Edmonton is three points ahead of Seattle in the standings and sporting a 1.042 PDO. If you’re buying the regression take then you surely see the comparative opportunity there.
PDO, blah, blah, blah… Regression, blah, blah, blah…
If you want to talk about the penalty kill or the goaltending or the top lines producing more or the blown leads… cool, I’m in for that. If you just want to throw PDO out there as if it’s an insight, you’re not saying anything.
So far this season we have been propped up by a very high shooting percentage and above average goaltending. It’s kind of a broken record just playing last year’s songs over again.
Two things are most likely going to happen.
1. our goaltending is going to come down to the real world.
2.the shots we are taking are not going to continue going in at the rate they have been.
disagree all you want about PDO but the national media isn’t wrong just like they weren’t wrong last season.
Unless they seriously change the way they play the passive hockey they play we will just have hot and cold streaks aligning with our goalies ability to steal games… LL hockey at it’s finest, seriously look deeply at his history as a head coach.
The national media is a broken clock that only ever gets anything right entirely by accident and because the law of probability keeps them from being wrong on absolutely everything.
Where is the stat for Douglas taking a stupid fight and getting an extra 2 for roughing, and the PK sucking?
Agree with Daryl. These stats are for people who ignore the most basic issues, or just don’t watch the team.
That’s fair enough but the stats do align with how the team places in the all important standings. You can ignore any stat that you don’t agree with but the issue still exists and like I said we’ve seen this before…. Of any team in the league the Seattle fans should fully understand by now that the real key is playing better than your opponent and until we can do that we won’t have true success other then the odd unsustainable winning streak.
Playing better results in more puck possession time and more shots on goal… keeping it basic here. Obviously there are times that playing better doesn’t equal a victory but throughout the season it evens out. Getting lucky as this is about is not sustainable.
Things like signing Douglas and letting him on the ice is also an issue 😂. Our PK is kinda a victim of the system that LL runs in general. Passive, keep players to the outside, protect the front of the net, allow zone possession if the above boxes are checked.
I watch the team and I can assure you that the stats are correct.
Yes we understand national media doesn’t watch games and just goes of stat sheets. Nothing to see here, move along.
1. Curtis Isacke would be more effective than Curtis Douglas.
2. Agree the PK needs to be more aggressive.
3. Wright for Edvinsson in some sort of package please.
Not wrong…
I’m really curious about how Douglas even ended up on the kraken, it was a horrible idea from the start signing a guy that can’t play hockey at an NHL level. You want a player that can come out and actually play the game or there is no point in having him in the rafters.
I’m leaning in the direction of LL asked for him more then our front office thought we needed him. I’d think that LL would have just sent him down or at least would not be playing him if this wasn’t his idea.
When Nyman gets scratched for Douglas you really have to be wondering if LL has the capacity to be a head coach.
Definitely wrong on No. 1. Lol.
Agree with trying to get Edvinsson. Trade Wright/Evans and maybe Tampa’s 1st round pick if thats possible.
Happy about the good start but do not buy that this is a playoff team which is ok as long as management trys to build a good roster for the future. Worried they just keep trying to patch together a marginal playoff team.
On a positive note happy to see the younger players looking better. Samaskevich, Winterton and especially Catton all look good with Catton possibly being a future star player in the league. Once healthy would like to see OFM promoted from Coachella and also give NHL looks to Firkus, Nelson and Jugnauth. Lambert seems like a good coach but not the best coach for developing young players.
I agree on Edvinsson 100%. He would immediately be their best penalty killer on the blueline.
I don’t agree this isn’t a playoff team… not completely. I think it has the potential as is but there are, to me, some concerns.
Obviously, the penalty kill.
The shooting percentage is high as well, but this time of year that’s not all that surprising. To stick with Sportsnet’s 5v5 take from above, right now seven teams have a SH% above last years best of 11.30%. In West that includes power teams Edmonton and Colorado, but it also includes Vancouver. Over the past five games Seattle has dropped from 14.66 to 13.57 and they won three-of-five. I expect it’ll continue to decline and hopefully they can also continue to collect at least six out of ten available points.
Another area of concern that’s emerging is the goaltending. After starting out strong, it’s been fading. Anyone who thinks goaltending has been carrying this team doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Over those last five games the SV% has been an abysmal .855 (25th) and GA/60 4.13 (27th). Some of that is the PK and from what I’ve seen those would be hard to pin on the keepers. At 5v5 they were .908 (17th) and 2.5 (18th) which is decent but I wouldn’t say it’s carrying the team. On the season their 5v5 .908 (12th) is respectable but their 2.72 (25th) is a little less so. They are facing the second most shots in the league so the disparity is understandable. I think the goaltending will be fine, but it’s trending the wrong way. According to MoneyPuck they’re -4.4 GSAx all situations and just 1.4 above at 5v5. The 11 goals scored above expected by the skaters is what’s carrying this team over it’s horrendous penalty kill.
Throw out the Toronto game because the goalie on the other end had a 70.6!!! Save percentage…. But even if you keep it take a look at what actually happened.
Take a look at the list… we won one game where we didn’t have the higher save percentage. ONE GAME!!! 🤮one game in the last 5… weeks were carried by goaltending in the games we actually won. This is your five game sample you chose? That one win was to Detroit and the save percentage separation was only 1%… basically even goaltending.
Opponent Result Kraken SV% Opponent SV%
Calgary L 2–6
Us 77.8% them 90.9%
Toronto W 5–4
us 81.8% them 70.6%
Minnesota L 1–5
us 86.1% them 95.8%
Utah W 5–3
us 91.7% them 80.0%
Detroit W 4–3 SO
us 87.5% them 88.9%
add to this our crazy shooting percentage so far and it’s not so surprising that we got picked for regression, especially because as you mentioned our goaltending is dropping down recently.
I don’t know about you but I’m not counting on handing our opponents a 70.6% save percentage very often.
Edvinsson would be the best D-man on this team, period. Unfortunately, I think DET is willing to let him sit out the season rather than trade him, just to make some point.
I think Edvinsson/Montour could be one of the very best top pairs in the NHL for the next few years and then you could be looking at Edvinsson/Reid for a decade. Seatttle is supposedly in the conversation. So is San Jose and heading that off is also in the teams interest.
I really don’t know what Detroit is going to do, but I have a hard time seeing him just sitting out. As November proceeds, Seattle is one of the only teams who could offer sheet him at $11.9m but that’s an awfully big risk with those next two firsts. If the Kraken are willing to play ball, he could force the Red Wings hand.
Agreed, biggest thing here is that it’s a player that has to want to be here. Another contract has to be signed… this is another thing we’ve seen before and I’m not holding my breath. He would be a great long term option, if he wanted to be here the kraken could probably make it happen. They want a center and we happen to have a lot of centers…. If the kraken are smart they keep this very quiet unless things move forward. We don’t feed another rejection story
I worded my “not a playoff team poorly”. Agree this could be a playoff team. If they stay healthy there is enough talent to make the playoffs especially with the weakness of the Pacific Division after Oilers and Knights. Point I was trying to make is I’d rather team management focus on a long term goal of building a perrenial contender rather than trying to create a roster every season that is a marginal playoff team that has little hope of moving far in the playoffs.
I agree but I think they have been building for the long term all along. I do think, however, the next step involves adding pieces from outside and getting players to sign often involves them believing they have a real chance at the playoffs. With the steps being taken by Catton and players like Samoskevich being added along with a ton of cap I think they’re well positioned to do just that. I think if they are out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline they’ll move players out like they have every time before.
I’m not a big fan of dropping the gloves in the first minutes of a game, unless you are truly going to kick his ass. If was a poor fight, got extra penalty and it did not motivate his team. So stupid and it completely bombed. It also set the tone for mistakes all night.
Do better!!
Its always funny seeing the overreactions when any team lays a stinker. Fans are always quick to run into the comments and use the game as proof of some garbage hot take they’ve been clinging to all season
Did you copy and paste that message from last season 😂
Berk is a beauty, just what till he gets a linemate (or 2) that can actually keep up with his game.