It’s Mark Giordano night! The beloved former Calgary Flames captain, who played 15 seasons with that franchise, makes his regular-season Kraken debut at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday. The (hopefully) triumphant return comes at a time when his old mates are on an absolute tear, winning eight straight games and dismantling opponents over that stretch. They’re winning every game handily right now, with their last five straight victories coming by a margin of at least three goals.
The Kraken, meanwhile, have lost five of their last seven, so this feels like a perfect night for them to shock the hockey world and knock off the first-place Flames.
A highly anticipated return
Giordano practically owns the city of Calgary, and even now, he gets love from fans around town. “I went out with a few guys for dinner [on Friday, so there were] a couple people saying good job to the boys,” he said Saturday morning. “I had to remind them that I wasn’t on the team anymore.”
He will certainly get a heartfelt ovation at some point during this game.
Interestingly, Giordano has had some of his best offensive performances for the Kraken against the Flames in both pre- and regular-season play. He scored in a 4-3 shootout win in Calgary during the pre-season. Then when Calgary visited Climate Pledge Arena on Dec. 30 for the first official meeting between these teams, Giordano had a goal and two assists. The Flames did come out on top that night with a 6-4 win.
The Kraken captain did not leave Calgary by choice, and the timing has to sting a bit even now, being that the Flames are putting everything together. “I was here for so long, so to see these guys—they’re having a great year—you know, there’s mixed emotions, both ways. But I’m seeing some of the individual performances they’re having this year, it’s pretty cool, and a lot of those guys are my close friends, so happy to see that.”
The Flames are… hot
Even beyond this eight-game winning streak, the Calgary Flames are the real deal this season and have earned their spot atop the Pacific Division. They get outstanding goaltending from Jacob Markstrom, who will start on Saturday. Their top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, and Matthew Tkachuk has 64 combined goals on the season, while Andrew Mangiapane has erupted for 25 goals.
Calgary also added Tyler Toffoli last week in a big-time trade that brought the well-rounded forward over from Montreal.
This is a good, balanced team, that has taken huge steps under coach Darryl Sutter. It looks poised for a division title and a deep playoff run.
Projected lineup
After returning from a lower-body injury in Seattle’s painful 5-3 loss to the Jets on Thursday, Carson Soucy—who played 14:12 in that game—will come back out of the lineup Saturday. Haydn Fleury will replace him on the third defense pairing. That’s an interesting decision by coach Dave Hakstol, because Soucy had earned a full-time role prior to his injury.
Up front, Morgan Geekie will sit, while Austin Czarnik will draw back in for his third game with the Kraken.
The latest
The Flames put together a heart-warming pre-game presentation for Giordano, which brought some fans in the building to actual tears (seriously, we saw them).
Mark Giordano gets a minute-long standing ovation in his return to Calgary. 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZJGlvVEAIi
We tried to warn the Kraken about the top line of the Flames, but they apparently didn’t listen, as it took Tkachuk all of 3:02 to put Calgary ahead. Lindholm won a puck battle against Jared McCann and Vince Dunn below the goal line, then found Tkachuk in front, who was oddly forgotten about by the rest of the Kraken.
Just like that, the Kraken found themselves in familiar territory, trailing 1-0 in the first few minutes.
The Kraken answered at 12:26, leveling the score at 1-1. Calle Jarnkrok got his 10th goal of the season when Noah Hanifin handed him a beautiful gift with an errant between-the-legs pass right on the doorstep. Jarnkrok made no mistake.
CALLE JARNKROK SNIIIIIPE! 🎯
Jarnkrok gets time and space in the slot and makes no mistake with the 1-1 equalizer! #SeaKraken
Although the goal was officially unassisted, Hanifin probably could have gotten a point on that one.
Philipp Grubauer made a phenomenal save on Andrew Mangiapane in the closing minutes of the period. Hanifin, trying to make up for his mistake a few minutes earlier, passed to Mangiapane in the slot. Grubauer looked dead to rights, but he kicked the left pad out and stole a sure goal away from the high-scoring winger.
I'm writing to the government about this crime against Italians. Grubauer is a monster. pic.twitter.com/9VobYinlad
Markstrom got a highlight reel save of his own early in the second period. Off a two-on-one rush, Alex Wennberg set Jordan Eberle up with a prime scoring chance. The Vezina Trophy candidate came across in a rare-for-modern-times two-pad stack and kicked Eberle’s shot away.
Grubauer was not distracted by Markstrom’s flashy save at the other end, though. The Kraken netmindre continued his strong play for the remainder of the period and remarkably went to the dressing room after the second with 28 saves on 29 shots.
Third period highlights
Early in the third, we thought Grubauer had made an even better save than the one in the first period, diving back with his glove to rob Gaudreau. Really, though, it was Adam Larsson getting his foot in the way and deflecting the puck into Grubauer to save the day.
It reminded us a lot of the save Larsson made against the San Jose Sharks earlier this season. So, that’s two rounds of “grand Larssony” on the year.
The Flames kept pushing, though, and finally broke through. Lindholm, who has been on some kind of tear lately, chased down a loose puck in the slot, spun, and fired a deceptive wrister past Grubauer to make it 2-1 at 7:31 of the third.
The Kraken had a big push in the last couple minutes with Grubauer off for an extra skater. Markstrom made a couple great saves, though, and Seattle ran out of time.
Grubauer deserved better, stopping 35 of 37 shots on the night.
It’s game day! The Kraken begin a three-game road trip north of the border on Thursday when they visit the Jets in frigid Winnipeg, where the beer flows like wine, and… I forget the rest.
Anyway, it’s super cold in Winnipeg.
The Souce is loose
Carson Soucy is expected to play his first game since injuring his leg in the first period of a Jan. 23 Kraken win over the Florida Panthers. His return means that Seattle’s blue line is back to full health, and it also means that the carousel of healthy scratches will begin anew. Will Borgen sat last game, and coach Dave Hakstol indicated that Haydn Fleury would join him in the press box on Thursday.
Soucy had solidified his role in the lineup and was playing good hockey before he got hurt. He brings elements of size and physicality that are sorely missed when he is out, so it will be good to see him back in there. The six-foot-five Viking, Alberta, native has six goals and seven assists in 33 games. His injury caused him to miss eight games in total.
Jets still provide a tough test
It’s been a weird season for the Jets, who are mired in sixth place in the Central Division and are well out of a playoff spot. They saw their long-time coach, Paul Maurice, resign from his post in December, and he was replaced behind the bench by Dave Lowry on an interim basis. Since the change, Winnipeg has seen mixed results, going 8-8-3 under Lowry, and doing little to get itself back in the hunt.
These teams played each other in Seattle on Dec. 9. Winnipeg got a 3-0 win that night with solid play from netminder Connor Hellebuyck, who earned the first-ever shutout at Climate Pledge Arena, and an outstanding game from All-Star forward Kyle Connor. Connor has been excellent all season long and has put up 26 goals and 24 assists.
So, watch out for that guy, along with Blake Wheeler, who scored five points on Feb. 12 against Nashville, and Mark Scheifele, who has 11 points in his last five games. Scheifele had a hat trick and four points on Wednesday in a 6-3 win over a good Minnesota Wild team. Combined in those same five games, Wheeler and Scheifele have 21 points and are both red hot.
Hellebuyck is reportedly getting a rare night off and will hand the net over to Eric Comrie for the Jets against the Kraken. Comrie, a 26-year-old journeyman, has only had a few chances to play this season, but has done well in his opportunities, posting a 4-2-1 record with a 2.34 goals against average and a .920 save percentage.
It should be an advantage for Seattle that Winnipeg played on Wednesday, but again, the result for the Jets in that very recent game was a convincing win over an excellent team. So, they’re playing well right now.
Brown and Fitzhugh making history
JT Brown and Everett Fitzhugh will have the TV call, making history as the first-ever all-Black broadcast booth for an NHL hockey game. John Forslund called the Golden Knights versus Avalanche game in Vegas on Wednesday, so Fitzhugh was needed to slide into his spot covering TV play-by-play, while Ian Furness will have the radio call.
Projected lineup
First period highlights
Remarkably, the Kraken’s struggling power play converted just 3:21 into the game. After some good movement, Jared McCann teed Vince Dunn up for a blast, and Dunn wired it through traffic and into the bottom corner to give Seattle an early 1-0 lead.
Marcus Johansson extended Seattle’s lead to 2-0 at 12:15 when he got the puck from Alex Wennberg low in the Winnipeg zone. He swung around by the right hash, circled right into the slot untouched, and fired a shot to the low gloveside on Comrie.
It was a smart play by Johansson to take the ice that was given to him but a pretty atrocious defensive play by the Jets.
The poor version of Seattle’s power play once again reared its ugly head in the closing seconds of the period and gave a big hit to the momentum that the Kraken had built. With Pierre-Luc Dubois in the box after high sticking Joonas Donskoi, the Kraken gave up a shorthanded goal to Dominic Toninato. Toninato and Adam Lowry got a two-on-one rush, and Toninato put it away for his second goal in as many games against Seattle.
The goal came with just :12 left in the period, a time when you just can’t give up goals, especially when you’ve had a positive period.
Seattle went to the room with a 2-1 lead, but it should have been 2-0.
Second period highlights
…And… the lead was GONE!
Winnipeg killed off the rest of the Dubois penalty to start the second period. A rim-around actually got all the way out of the Kraken zone, but Jordan Eberle tried to pass it back and handed it over to Blake Wheeler inside the Seattle blue line. Wheeler found Dubois, who scored just seconds after leaving the penalty box with a snipe from a sharp angle that went off the far post and in.
The Jets got their first lead of the game at 11:54 of the second when Jamie Oleksiak lost the puck behind the Kraken net to Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Stastny. Stastny fed Wheeler in front, and the red-hot Wheeler put it away.
The second period ended with Winnipeg leading 3-2.
Third period highlights
The Kraken found an equalizer at 7:02 of the third period. Johansson picked up the puck below the goal line, after it had caromed off the endboards, and fed a sneaky little pass through the crease. Eberle was on the far post and just tapped it in to make it 3-3.
That was Eberle’s second goal in three games after going 22 games without scoring.
Seven minutes later, the Jets took the lead back, though. On a rush, Connor made a nice dish to Josh Morrissey, who had found a quiet spot on the weak side. Morrissey made a nice shot against the grain and put the Jets up 4-3.
You can see how Morrissey capitalized on the focus on the right side…Jets got the puck to him and got their goal. pic.twitter.com/2UR88xMgeB
Connor got an empty-net goal with less than a second left to make the final score 5-3.
That loss stung more than others. Seattle had a 2-0 lead and gave up a goal with 12 seconds left in the first period, completely taking the wind out of the Kraken’s sails. When Eberle got the tying goal in the third, it seemed like good things were coming, but a defensive over-commitment by the Kraken and a nice pass by Connor gave Morrissey a wide-open look. Bummer.
Check back throughout the game, as we will continue to update this article with highlights and news.
That one was pretty ugly. Coming into this game against the Maple Leafs, we were somewhat hopeful that—although they were overmatched on paper—the Kraken might build on their exciting 4-3 win over the Ducks on Friday. Instead, Seattle laid an egg, and Toronto leaned on its special teams to salvage its three-game road trip.
Nothing went right for the Kraken, and in the end, it was one of the more miserable losses we’ve seen this season. Here are our Three Takeaways from a 6-2 Kraken defeat to the Maple Leafs.
Takeaway #1: Kraken and Grubauer victims (and beneficiaries) of weird bounces
The opening Toronto score came just 3:56 into the game, a very typical timeframe for Seattle to fall behind. That one was a good, clean goal by Alex Kerfoot, but the subsequent three goals, including the one Calle Jarnkrok scored for Seattle, were results of odd bounces.
First, Willie Nylander tried to cycle a puck low into his own zone to regroup, but it hit the referee along the halfwall. Mason Appleton picked up the loose puck, which was just sitting there for the taking. He passed to the slot for Jarnkrok who scored his ninth goal of the season to make it 1-1.
NHL Video Highlight – Calle Jarnkrok scores against the Toronto Maple Leafs to make it 1-1. pic.twitter.com/vnbmRkDLK7
The tie score lasted just 1:59, as the Kraken turned to its other greatest hit, giving up a goal right after scoring. Michael Bunting tried to poke a loose puck past Vince Dunn in the slot, but it ricocheted off Dunn’s skate and oddly seemed to pick up speed as it turned right into Seattle’s net.
Then three minutes after that bad bounce, with the Leafs on the power play, Bunting redirected a Jason Spezza slap pass and looked to be sending it wide of the net by several feet. But it again took a carom off Ondrej Kase’s skate and slipped by Grubauer, effectively ending the Kraken netminder’s night after he officially gave up three goals on just 11 shots. Bad bounces or not, that’s a stat line that will typically land you on the bench.
“Mostly just trying to change a little bit of the momentum at that point in time,” coach Dave Hakstol said of his decision to pull Grubauer. “We were in a hole and you’re at a point where you give up another one and now you’re in a real deep hole. So really just wanted to change the momentum and try to push the other way.”
The move didn’t necessarily hurt the Kraken, but it didn’t work either, as Chris Driedger also had a tough go in relief and gave up three goals on 14 shots.
Bounces happen during the course of a hockey game, but you need to manage through them. Seattle did not do nearly enough to overcome those bounces on Monday, and in the end looked overmatched against an elite offensive team. That is something we really haven’t said on too many occasions this season.
Takeaway #2: A tale of two very different power plays
Speaking of looking overmatched, there’s a bit of irony in the Kraken scoring a power-play goal against the Maple Leafs. That’s because it came in a game where the special teams units of the two squads looked lightyears apart from one another.
Aside from the power-play goal off Kase’s skate in the first period, Mitch Marner scored another goal with the man advantage in the second. Auston Matthews wired a shot from the left side, which John Tavares tipped on goal. Driedger kicked it away and right to Alex Wennberg, but Wennberg mishandled it and pushed it onto the tape of Marner. Marner had plenty of time to decide where to shoot, and he helped the best power play in the league improve to a 31.5 percent success rate on the season.
The Leafs have so many weapons, it’s almost unfair when they get a power play. Seattle actually did a decent job of staying out of the box and only took two penalties on the night, but Toronto converted on both of its opportunities.
On the other hand, the Kraken power play looked paltry despite Jared McCann’s third-period tally. Not only did they fail to score on their first three opportunities, the Kraken actually gave up a short-handed goal to David Kampf. Marner made a great play to poke the puck past Eberle at the Toronto blue line, then flew in on a breakaway. He surprised everyone in the building by dropping the puck for Kampf, who had an easy tap-in.
“We couldn’t get a whole lot going on our power play,” Hakstol said. “It was nice that we got one finally at the end. Hopefully that gives us a little bit of momentum and loosens us up a little bit because we looked tight on the power play.” And as for the penalty kill? “They went two-for-two, so obviously, we didn’t get the job done.”
Even with McCann squeaking one through Jack Campbell’s pads and just over the line in garbage time, Seattle still has just four power-play goals in the last month, while Toronto has 12 over that period.
Takeaway #3: McCann’s 20th goal the lone bright spot for Seattle
On a night of few positives for the Kraken, McCann’s goal—which required video review to prove it had fully crossed the line—was a milestone marker. Against the team that traded for him just prior to the Expansion Draft and then exposed him to Seattle, McCann reached the 20-goal mark. That is a career high for the sharp shooter and a good round number to hit at this stage in the season.
“He’s growing his game,” Hakstol said of McCann. “We put him in the middle, asking him to play a significant role… He’s a shooter. He can beat goaltenders one-on-one… but along with that, the responsibility as a centerman in one of those top-two roles is an area of growth for him and he’s working hard at that.”
McCann wasn’t in a great mood after the bad loss, but he did share some thoughts on what it has meant to him to get an expanded opportunity in Seattle. “It’s obviously very special. It’s something that I’ve worked very hard for especially in the summertime. It’s a dream come true always to be in the NHL, so I’m just tying to take advantage of it.”
If it feels like you’ve been waiting an extra-long time to see the Kraken play the Maple Leafs, that’s because these two teams were supposed to play each other back in December, only to have that game get postponed due to COVID issues. But the long-awaited first meeting between these clubs will finally happen on Monday, in what will surely be a tough challenge for the Kraken.
Maple Leafs are tough matchup for Kraken
Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol was an assistant for the Maple Leafs the last two seasons before getting hired by Seattle, so he is very familiar with the high-flying stars that Toronto employs.
“You got great people over there, obviously a very talented group,” he said after morning skate on Monday. “And they compete and play hard. For us tonight, against this team, our play with the puck is real important. They’re a team that generates second and third opportunities through puck recoveries, and they extend zone time very well that way.”
The Leafs are wrapping up a three-game road trip. So far, they have come up empty on this jaunt, losing 5-2 to Calgary on Thursday and 3-2 to Vancouver on Saturday. They are likely to play with desperation so as to avoid returning home empty handed. Toronto is currently third in a very good Atlantic Division, five points back from the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place and six points up on the Boston Bruins.
Could the floodgates open for Eberle?
Meanwhile, the Kraken are coming off a thrilling 4-3 win in Anaheim on Friday, a night when Jordan Eberle broke through with the game-winning goal. It was the All-Star’s first goal since Dec. 6, and it came off a beautiful back-hand saucer pass from fourth-line forward Riley Sheahan.
Remember, Eberle was Seattle’s best goal scorer for some stretches early in the season, so let’s see if that tally will open the floodgates for him. Linemate Jared McCann recently went on a much shorter six-game goalless skid, but once he scored against Nashville on Jan. 25, McCann potted goals in four of his next five games. Perhaps that same thing can happen for Eberle.
McCann, by the way, has a unique “revenge” game scenario against Toronto. Remember, the Penguins traded McCann to the Maple Leafs on July 17. The Maple Leafs then exposed McCann to the Kraken for their Expansion Draft on July 21. So, Seattle’s top scorer was with Toronto a whopping four days.
Projected lineup
Marcus Johansson was a surprise scratch with a minor injury for that game against the Ducks on Friday, but he is expected to return Monday. Carson Soucy is nearing a return from injury, but Hakstol indicated that he needs a little more time. Philipp Grubauer will be back in net for Seattle after watching Chris Driedger get a victory Friday.
The latest
Happy Valentine’s Day!
It’s time for another Gameday Commute with @DarrenFunBrown.
The Maple Leafs dominated the first few minutes of play, so it wasn’t surprising to see them take an early lead. After Seattle lost a puck battle along the boards, John Tavares got it on his stick in the right circle. He passed to Alex Kerfoot at the top of the left circle, who rifled a shot through traffic and beat Grubauer at 3:56.
The Kraken temporarily tied after a lucky bounce. Willie Nylander bumped a pass back into his own zone, but he hit the ref on the halfwall. The puck just sat uncontested for Mason Appleton, who picked it up and swept it to Calle Jarnkrok in the slot. Jarnkrok fired it home at 9:05.
The fortunate bounce for the Kraken was quickly paid back to the Maple Leafs, who regained the lead fewer than two minutes later (as is tradition). Michael Bunting attempted to simply poke the puck past Vince Dunn at the top of the Kraken crease, but it bounced off Dunn’s skate and went right through Grubauer to make it 2-1.
Just a few minutes later, the Leafs’ lethal power play struck on another bad-luck goal against Grubauer. Jason Spezza made a slap pass from the right hash to Bunting. Bunting redirected it, but was missing the net by a mile. To Seattle’s chagrin, it hit off Ondrej Kase’s skate and went right through Grubauer.
That goal made it 3-1 Maple Leafs, and that was how the first period would end.
Second period highlights
Chris Driedger replaced Grubauer in net to start the second period. Grubauer allowed three goals on 11 shots, but he did have two very unlucky ones off skates.
Soon after Seattle’s first man advantage opportunity was easily killed off by Toronto, Dunn tripped Pierre Engvall and gave the Maple Leafs’ vaunted power play its second opportunity. Sure enough, Toronto converted again after an Auston Matthews shot was kicked out by Driedger to Wennberg, who softly pushed it right onto the stick of Mitch Marner. Marner beat Driedger and made it 4-1.
The Kraken just didn’t get much going offensively through two periods and deservedly trailed 4-1 when the second horn sounded.
Third period highlights
Just when you thought Seattle’s power play couldn’t get any worse, it stooped to a new low. Marner poked a puck past Jordan Eberle at the Toronto blue line and flew in on a short-handed breakaway. He somehow sensed David Kampf trailing and made what would typically be considered an ill-advised drop pass. It worked to perfection, though, and Kampf had a wide-open net to make it 5-1.
Believe it or not, Seattle did get a power-play goal of its own in this game. McCann took a one-timer from the top of the right circle. It squeezed through Jack Campbell’s pads and barely trickled over the line.
The ref did not originally call it a goal, though, so play continued until the play was reviewed and the horn sounded to halt the action.
The goal was McCann’s 20th of the season, a new career high for him.
Toronto threw one last dash of salt in Seattle’s wound when Jake Muzzin blasted a one-timer from the right point that beat Driedger. That made it 6-2 late and was enough to finally send Kraken fans to the exits.
Post-game
After scoring his 20th goal and setting a career high in goals, Jared McCann says the opportunity has been special and something he’s worked really hard for.
SEATTLE – It’s Monday, Valentine’s Day, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in Seattle again. Yes, again.
When the Maple Leafs face off against the Kraken Monday night it won’t be the first time that Toronto has played in Seattle or under the historic roof of Climate Pledge Arena. Monday will be the first time the Maple Leafs have played in Seattle since Oct. 8, 1968, when they played the Seattle Totems in the Seattle Center Coliseum in an exhibition game.
It was the third time the Maple Leafs ventured west to play the Totems after playing in 1962 (winning 7-4) and in 1964 (winning 7-1).
The game in 1968 would end the Maple Leafs win streak over the Totems as the locals got a win, 3-2, with Seattle legend Guyle Fielder picking up an assist. The Maple Leafs were a year removed from winning the Stanley Cup while the Totems were coming off back-to-back Western Hockey League titles.
Today’s Maple Leafs are just as formidable as the 1968 version but aren’t recent champions, having lost in the first round of last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. They are hoping to get out of the first round this spring and end the franchise’s long championship drought.
Toronto has lost it’s past two games but is still loaded and will present a significant problem for the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.
Maple Leafs offensive firepower
Toronto can score. Like, a lot.
The Maple Leafs average 3.53 goals per game which is fourth best in the NHL. While that is a scary proposition, Seattle has beaten two of the three teams ahead of the Leafs (Florida, Colorado, Minnesota).
Auston Matthews leads the way and already has 32 goals on the season. He’s going to be the one to watch. He’ll play on a line with Mitch Marner who only has 16 goals but does have 24 assists and 40 points.
On the back end, former Moose Jaw Warrior Morgan Rielly has five goals and 35 assists on the year. He’ll man the power play for the Maple Leafs, a power play that is ranked first in the NHL with a 30.5 percent success rate.
Yanni Gourde figures to spend a lot of time on the ice against Matthews and crew and knows what is in store for him. “They’re a great team,” Gourde said after morning skate on Monday. “We’ve got to limit their second chances and how you do that is having back pressure, making sure that they don’t have time and space when there’s a shot. You [get] five guys around, make sure that if they get something else out of it, it’s going to be contested, there’s going to be people around them.”
Maple Leafs Pacific Northwest connections
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol spent the past two seasons on the Maple Leafs bench as an assistant to head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Matthews was a third-round pick by the Everett Silvertips in the 2012 Western Hockey League Draft. He was willing to come and play in Everett but was given an opportunity to play professional hockey in Europe for the Zurich Lions. That was enough to keep him from signing with the Silvertips, robbing local hockey fans of some fun hockey.
Jordan Eberle broke a 22-game goalless drought with one that mattered Friday at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was Eberle’s goal late in the third period that vaulted the Kraken to a 4-3 win against the Ducks.
Dec. 6 was the last time he scored and it felt longer than that. But at 18:18 of the third period and with the score tied, Eberle took a perfect back-hand saucer pass from Riley Sheahan and scored bar-down for what would be the game winner.
“I just yelled at [Sheahan] to try and let him know I was over there, and he made a great play and just tried to find a space up top,” Eberle said. “Definitely one of the longer slumps of my career, probably is the longest. I’ve played in this league a long time and you’re gonna have times where the puck’s not going in. But, especially this one, I felt like every night I was getting three or four and hitting crossbars and getting Grade A’s, getting robbed. Eventually they go in and then they always seem to come in bunches.”
It was a win against a Western Conference playoff contender and wiped some of the bad taste away from Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at home to the Arizona Coyotes.
Ryan Donato scored twice, Yanni Gourde had two assists, and Chris Driedger made 24 saves for the Kraken (16-28-4) who are 6-6-0 in their past 12 games.
“Biggest thing, we got back to our competitiveness,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “That was one of the big things that we talked about coming into today’s game coming off the first one back after the break.”
Isac Lundestrom scored twice, and John Gibson stopped 23 shots for the Ducks (23-17-9) who had not played since Jan. 31.
How it played out for the Kraken against the Ducks
Donato got Seattle on the board 2:00 into the first period to make it 1-0 with a one-timer from the left circle. Newly acquired Austin Czarnik picked up an assist on the goal for his first point as a member of the Kraken.
“I always pray that [goals] come,” Donato, who ended his own lengthy drought, said. “They come in bunches. Some guys are streaky, and they go a couple of games without a goal. But then they put two or three in and then they’re right back in it. So, for me, I just try to stay levelheaded and not really worry about that. Try and do the small things right and I know that those will come.”
The Kraken gave up a response goal 12 seconds later, however, when Lundestrom scored to tie the game at 1-1.
Gourde won a puck battle along the boards at 14:41 and made a cross-ice pass to a pinching Vince Dunn who’s top-shelf shot made it 2-1.
The Ducks evened the game up 2-2 at 5:34 of the second period when Lundestrom was allowed to park in the crease while three Kraken defenders surrounded him and watched.
Anaheim took its first lead, 3-2, three minutes later when a power-play point shot off of Rickard Rakell’s stick found its way past Driedger.
Donato would get the Kraken tied at 3-3 after a steal by Gourde at 13:35.
Full marks to Donato for two goals this game, but wow is Gourde creating opportunity for his teammates, too. His second primary helper here is an impressive bit of work. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/Zx2r80NaWg
Seattle ended the first period up 2-1, which was in many ways thanks to Driedger making 10 saves. Anaheim owned the possession numbers early, with 74 percent of all shot quality in the first period. It was more of the same in the second with the Ducks owning 63 percent of the quality.
“They pressed hard in the first. I thought we did a good job of finding a way to be up after one,” Eberle said. “Then obviously fighting back. It’s just a big road win.”
The Kraken turned things around in the third, however.
Seattle had 51.97 percent of all shot quality in the final frame and held the Ducks to one shot on goal over the final 13 minutes of the game.
“In the first half we just didn’t handle their pressure and their speed as well as we needed to,” Hakstol said. “We were able to grind through it and push back at the right times, make plays at the right times and come up with key plays, so that was obviously real positive for us.”
Was there divine intervention for the Kraken?
“It’s funny, I have a story,” Donato said when asked about Eberle’s game winner.
Donato went on to detail how he and Eberle were talking during the second intermission, sharing their disbelief they hadn’t scored. They commiserated about all the chances they had that didn’t end up in goals.
In Donato’s stall was a rosary that his dad had given him, and he suggested Eberle touch it and say a little prayer. Eberle obliged after the second period.
“And then he scores in the third, he looked at me he’s like ‘that’s insane,’” Donato said. “I was happy to see him score and I’m not saying that’s the reason, but I think that definitely helped.”
Tentacle Tales
+ Donato scored for the first time since Jan. 17.
+ Morgan Geekie had an assist on Donato’s first goal for his first point since Jan. 20.
+ The Kraken next play Monday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena.
