by Andy Eide | Feb 28, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
As a fourth-line center, Morgan Geekie’s role for the Seattle Kraken isn’t necessarily to score goals. Yet Tuesday night, he reminded viewers that he has a scoring touch, notching a pair of goals to pace the Kraken in an important 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak scored to give Seattle a 4-2 lead at 9:46 of the third period after a great shift by Yanni Gourde and Ryan Donato. The Blues pushed back, however, and cut the Kraken lead to 4-3 on a Pavel Buchnevich goal at 14:29 to force some nervous moments at the end.
“We played a good road game,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had a response each time they scored, we bounced back and scored within a couple of minutes to push the momentum back the other way.”
With the net empty and an extra Blues player on the ice, Brandon Tanev scored an empty-net goal with seven seconds left to secure the win and solidify the 5-3 final.
For Geekie, it was his first multi-goal game as a Kraken and his third in the NHL, and he helped the Kraken end a three-game losing streak.
“The release on his first shot was outstanding,” Hakstol said. “He gets that away and puts it in the right spot. You don’t beat Binnington with many of those. The second one, go to the net and good things happen.”
Eeli Tolvanen had three assists, Daniel Sprong had two assists, and Jared McCann and Oleksiak each scored for Seattle (33-21-6), who played the first game of a four-game road swing. Martin Jones made 22 saves.
Buchnevich had a goal and assist and Robert Thomas and Brandon Saad each scored for the Blues (26-29-5), who lost a second straight. Jordan Binnington kicked away 21 shots.
“We tried to play below the goal line as much as we could.” Geekie said. “We’re a heavy team and we move the puck well. I think we played really well, I think we stuck to our game plan. It was pretty simple coming in.”
Despite the Blues taking eight of the game’s first nine shots, it would be Seattle who opened the scoring at 9:30 of the first period when Geekie scored top shelf to make it 1-0. It was Geekie’s sixth of the year and was set up by Daniel Sprong who returned to the lineup after missing two games.
“We have good chemistry, kind of play off each other,” Geekie said. “Normally, it’s Spronger who is the one scoring, not me, so he returned the favor tonight. It was lots of fun.”
St. Louis tied the game with a short-handed goal after a Seattle turnover, Thomas lugged the puck up ice at 5:11 of the second period and his shot beat Jones on the short side.
As the power play was ending, Jared McCann scored to make it 2-1 from right inside the left face-off circle at 6:57. It was McCann’s 27th goal of the season, which ties his career high that he set last year.
“I really don’t care about that stuff,” McCann said. “I wan’t to make the playoffs, I want to get a shot at the Stanley Cup. Your time in this league flies by, ask some of the older guys, and I want to compete for a Stanley Cup.”
Brandon Saad tied the game 2-2 at 9:03 after it appeared Vince Dunn started a line change, leaving Saad alone in the middle of the ice. He flung a shot and somehow got it past Jones.
Geekie scored again to put Seattle back ahead, 3-2, at 13:32, sliding in a rebound after a Justin Schultz shot was slid across to him by Sprong.
Oleksiak’s goal would end up as the deciding goal.
Tentacle Tales
- Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn played his 400th NHL game.
- The Kraken won on the road for the 18th time this year, which is the fourth most in the NHL trailing Boston (22), New Jersey (21), and Buffalo (19).
- With the win, Seattle jumped over the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers were idle on Tuesday.
by Andy Eide | Feb 14, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
In a time of the season when all points are critical, the Seattle Kraken picked up one Tuesday night but could not get a second, falling 3-2 in a shootout to the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre.
Seattle is 0-3 in the shootout this year and wasted a top-notch effort from Philipp Grubauer who made 38 saves. Neither of the two Kraken shooters converted during the shootout, but Pierre-Luc Dubois and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets.
“Tonight is a hard-fought road game for us,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s a good team, a lot of respect for their ability and the way they play. We’re disappointed not to get two, but that’s a real important road point for us.”
Blake Wheeler and Dubois each scored a goal for Winnipeg (31-19-1), who became the fourth NHL team this year to win 20 home games. David Rittich made 27 saves after being a late starter when Connor Hellebuyk became ill during the day.
John Hayden and Jared McCann each had a goal for the Kraken (31-18-6), who return home after a 1-3-1 road trip.
Seattle was outshot 40-29 and was 1-for-4 on the power play, including three opportunities in the first period.
Grubauer was the star for Seattle, making big save after big save, especially during stretches where Winnipeg was controlling the play.
“He was awesome, he kept us in the game,” Morgan Geekie said. “His save at the end there, in the third. There were so many saves I can’t just pick one. He’s been awesome for us, and both our goalies have been great… good to see him have success. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done for him tonight.”
Winnipeg broke a scoreless tie at 7:01 of the second period. Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak tried to reverse the puck behind the net, but it was intercepted by Nikolaj Ehlers who got it to Wheeler, and he walked the puck in front and scored to make it 1-0.
Despite being on their heels for parts of the second, the Kraken struck back.
First, it was fourth-line magic at 13:20 when John Hayden scored his second of the season after attacking the net and deflecting in a Geekie pass to tie the game at 1-1.
“Would have been nicer to get the win, but my linemates have made it a pretty easy transition so far so we’ll look to keep it going,” Hayden said.
Seattle would break through on a late power play at 19:33 from McCann. It was a lucky bounce, and McCann’s shot rebounded off a defenseman before hitting former Kraken Mason Appleton and deflecting in to give Seattle a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Call it karma or whatever you’d like, but the Jets evened the game in a similar way. Josh Morrissey took a shot at 9:39 of the third period that Grubauer got a glove on but couldn’t hold for a whistle. Dubois shot the rebound wide, but it hit Vince Dunn in the shin and caromed past Grubauer to make it 2-2.
“They’re a good team over there, similar styles, they’re heavy, they’re fast, and play well at both ends of the ice,” Geekie said. “I think that’s something we do well too and two evenly matched teams tonight. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end but we got a point out of that.”
Scoreboard watch
The point that the Kraken earned Tuesday night put them a point clear of the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers were idle, but Seattle has 66 points, one behind the Los Angeles Kings for second place and two behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first. The Kraken have a game in hand on the Kings.
Looking at other Western Conference races, Colorado has 61 points and is in third place in the Central Division and also lost Tuesday, 4-3, in a shootout to Tampa Bay. Dallas leads the Central and lost to Toronto in overtime Tuesday, so the Stars also picked up a point.
None of the other teams in the hunt for a Western Conference playoff spot were in action Tuesday night.
Tentacles Tales
- Tuesday was Hayden’s 28th birthday.
- He has two goals this season in the NHL with Seattle in four games played.
- Seattle returns home for a rematch with the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena.
by Andy Eide | Jan 17, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
The Kraken returned to the place their historic seven-game road win streak started but could not recreate the success, falling to the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-2 score at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Playing the second night of a back-to-back, Seattle failed to generate offense and allowed a pair of greasy goals in the second period. The Kraken fell behind and could not muster life or energy to come from behind.
“You give up two right from inside the blue paint in the second period, that’s the difference in the hockey game in a lot of respects,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “In games like this, you have to have everybody going, and we had a couple of guys below the bar tonight. On a night like this, we’ve talked about this in a couple of our wins, when we have everybody digging in and doing their part. We didn’t have that to a high enough level tonight.”
Spokane native Derek Ryan broke a 1-1 tie at 3:11 of the second period when a shot squeezed through goalie Martin Jones’s pads. Ryan found it first and tapped it in to make it 2-1 on his sixth goal of the season.
Edmonton took advantage of another scramble in front of the Seattle net after Jones made a couple of in-close saves, but the rebound was flipped in by Warren Foegele at 12:30 to make it 3-1.
Vince Dunn increased his franchise-best eight-game scoring streak with a shot that snuck through Jack Campbell’s glove to pull the Kraken to within one at 3-2 just 22 seconds into the third period.
“I said this last game, there’s no excuse for being tired right now,” Dunn said. “We’ve got to find a way to win games. We’re just halfway through the season and if we’re tired now, we’re definitely in a lot of trouble. I don’t think that’s it, I think it’s our execution right now. It needs to be better, our details, a lot of the chances other teams are getting right now are coming from little plays.”
The Oilers responded, however, to reinstate a two-goal lead at 4-2 1:01 later when Seattle’s Eeli Tolvanen attempted to stick check Zach Hyman and knocked the puck into the net past Jones.
Hyman added two assists and Connor McDavid scored a goal for the Oilers (25-18-3), who got a small measure of revenge for Seattle’s win two weeks ago. Jack Campbell stopped 28 shots.
Daniel Sprong set a career high by scoring his 15th goal of the year and Jones made 28 saves for the Kraken (26-14-4), who have lost two in a row.
Sprong’s goal came on the power play at 3:11 of the first period and gave Seattle a 1-0 lead. Shooting from the half boards, Sprong’s shot hit an Oilers stick in the slot and deflected in. Jordan Eberle was initially given credit for the goal, but after review, it was credited to Sprong.
McDavid tied the game, 1-1 with a rush down the ice where he deked a couple of defenders, and Justin Schultz lost an edge and fell, leaving McDavid room to move in and score his league-leading 38th goal at 14:08.
“We had a really good first ten minutes, we took a bad penalty and that slowed our momentum,” Hakstol said. “We did a nice job on the penalty kill but that broke our momentum.”
The playoff implications
We are nearing the point of the season where division games like Tuesday’s have an impact on the standings and the playoff race.
With the Oilers picking up two points, they move to three points shy of the Kraken who still have two games in hand. The Kraken had a chance to make up ground on the first-place Vegas Golden Knights who lead the division by two points. Seattle still has two games in hand, though, so Tuesday would have been a good opportunity to cash in a game in hand and tie Vegas in standings points.
Seattle has dropped a couple in a row now but has a chance to make up for it with a five-game home stand before the All-Star break at the start of February.
“We talked before the game, this was a big one,” Dunn said. “We need the two points. It’s really disappointing not to get the results.”
Tentacle Tales
- Dunn’s goal was his 14th point since Jan. 1, which ties him with New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes for the most in the league in the calendar year of 2023.
- Dunn’s eight-game point streak is not only the longest in Kraken franchise history but his personal best.
- McDavid also extended his point streak to eight games.
- McDavid scored his 38th goal in 46 games this season. Of the five players who scored 60 goals or more in the past 27 years only Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux had 38 in their 46th game of the season.
by Andy Eide | Jan 14, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
The Kraken took any drama out of their attempt at NHL history Saturday in the first period. Trying to win a record seventh straight game on a road trip, as well as a franchise-best eighth straight overall, Seattle scored six times in the first period on their way to an 8-5 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.
The Kraken became the first team in NHL history to win all seven games on a seven-game road trip. They head home after banking all 14 standings points available on the road and have not lost since the calendar turned to 2023.
“The two points are what matters,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a great accomplishment for the players to do that. It shows the consistency and work they’ve put in to start this road trip. For me it’s more about the players and accomplishment and consistency in play throughout the road trip.”
Opening the game by scoring six times on their first seven shots, the Kraken built a lead that was insurmountable and got all their players involved. All 12 forwards recorded a point in the first period. Defenseman Adam Larsson ended with a plus-seven mark and his partner had a plus-six rating.
“It was a crazy first period,” Hakstol said. “We had a couple of nice offensive plays, we had a couple that had eyes and found the back of the net, so obviously it’s a positive way to start a hockey game. There’s a long way to go from there. Our second period was pretty sloppy, our third was pretty good until the last couple of minutes. We don’t like giving up a couple of late goals.”
By the game’s end, 15 of Seattle’s 18 skaters had recorded at least one point.
Jared McCann recorded his first NHL hat trick, Matty Beniers and Oliver Bjorkstrand each had a goal and assist, and Yanni Gourde, Ryan Donato, and Alex Wennberg chipped in a pair of assists each. Martin Jones made 22 saves for the Kraken (26-12-4), who look to make it nine straight wins Monday afternoon at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“[The first period] was a tough period (mentally),” McCann said. “You can’t sit back, and we did in the second and third period. It showed in our play but mentally for players, it’s tough to go through something like that, when you have to just stick with it.”
Taylor Raddysh had a goal and two assists, and Jonathan Toews and Max Domi each had a goal and assist for Chicago (11-26-4), who had won three in a row. Defenseman Isaak Phillips scored his first NHL goal and Seth Jones had three assists. Petr Mrazek started for the Blackhawks but was replaced by Alex Stalock after allowing four goals on five shots. Stalock played 47:50 of game time and made 21 saves in relief.
It started early for Seattle who went up 1-0 at 2:50 of the first when Morgan Geekie sent Sprong in alone, and he slid in his 14th of the season.
Chicago tied the game 1-1 at 4:40 when a Toews shot went off Jamie Oleksiak’s stick and past Jones. But the game wasn’t close after that when the Kraken scored five unanswered goals.
Seattle scored five times over the next 3:59 on goals from Beniers, McCann, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, and a second by McCann.
The Blackhawks scored the only goal in the second period, by Phillips, to cut the lead to 6-2 after two periods. Domi made it 6-3 with a power-play goal 51 seconds into the third period to get everyone’s attention, but McCann answered with his hat trick goal at 1:54 and Bjorkstrand followed with his seventh of the year at 2:37.
Raddysh and Patrick Kane scored cosmetic goals in the game’s final four minutes for the 8-5 final.
“Whatever we are doing out there, it seems to work,” Larsson, who did not know Seattle had set a record, said. “Obviously we’ve been having a lot of fun lately and moving forward, now we’ve got a lot of games in a short span, so 24 hours rest now and we’re back at it.”
McCann scoring
With the hat trick, McCann upped his goal total to 22 on the season which is only five off his career best of 27 that he scored last season.
“My linemates created a lot of ice space for me,” McCann said. “Ryan [Donato] was huge, he’s a big boy out there, he was able to find me in the slot there and I was able to put it in. I’m very fortunate to play with two very skilled players.”
McCann has reached the second-best total in his career, and Saturday’s hat trick was the first of his career. He came into the game with a scorching 25.7 shooting percentage, and he’s doing it all by averaging 1.9 shots per game. With a deeper Kraken roster, that’s a little below last season when he averaged above two shots per game.
“His shot, I mean it’s world class,” Larsson said. “I don’t know how many he has but he’s having a career year already. We’ve had scoring from everybody in the lineup this year. It’s been nice but now and after the All-Star break, that’s when we really have to elevate our game.”
Tentacle Tales
- McCann’s hat trick was the first for Seattle this season and the second in franchise history.
- Jordan Eberle has the other Kraken hat trick and Saturday played in his 900th career NHL game.
- Jaden Schwartz was a scratch Saturday. Hakstol said the winger was day to day but would not go into detail as to what the injury was.
- The Kraken scored eight goals for the fourth time this year which is the most in the NHL. The last team to do that was the 2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Seattle outscored its opponents on the road trip by a combined 37-15 for an NHL record +22 goal differential for a road trip of seven games or more.
- After two straight shutouts, Jones’ shutout streak ended at 139:20, which is the fourth-longest streak in the NHL this season.
by Andy Eide | Jan 12, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
A statement game? Playoff intensity? The biggest win in Kraken franchise history? All and any of the superlatives thrown at Seattle are appropriate after the Kraken won for the seventh straight time while handing the Boston Bruins their first home regulation loss of the season in a 3-0 shutout at TD Garden Thursday night.
“We played a really good road game tonight,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a tough place to win, obviously, nobody’s been able to do that here this year. Our guys should be proud of that. We did all the little things that you have to do to win. We scored a couple of timely goals and had really good goaltending. For long stretches of the game, we managed the puck extremely well.”
The Kraken stifled the Bruins offense, which leads the NHL in scoring, by sticking to them like glue with a tremendous defensive effort. Seattle was stout in their own end, caused trouble with the forecheck, and managed the neutral zone.
Holding on to a two-goal lead late, the Bruins pulled goalie Linus Ullmark for the extra skater with over 4:30 on the clock. Boston controlled the puck and pinned the Kraken in their own zone but couldn’t get pucks past the defenders and especially past goalie Martin Jones.
Jaden Schwartz finally flipped the puck down the ice at 18:10 of the third period, and it trickled its way into the empty net to make it 3-0. At that point, the breath came back, the nerves settled, and the Kraken had it in hand.
“Obviously we got an early lead,” forward Brandon Tanev said. “We weathered some great chances, and our goaltender played incredible. Jonesy was incredible and we had some great blocks by our group down the stretch and everyone was committed to playing the right way.”
Jones ended with 27 saves for his second straight road shutout after he made 21 saves against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. Tanev and Eeli Tolvanen each had a goal for Seattle (25-12-4), who have won the first six games of a seven-game road trip.
Ullmark stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced for Boston (32-5-4), who had won four straight.
After causing a turnover via the forecheck, Tanev threw the puck around and behind the Boston net to Daniel Sprong. Tanev raced in front of the net and Sprong took a shot that Tanev deflected from a tight angle past Ullmark to put the Kraken up 1-0 at 7:14 of the first period.
That ended up being all the goals Jones would need, but Seattle got a big, momentum-swinging goal near the end of the second period.
Tolvanen got a pass between the circles at 19:21. He waited a beat, spun, and fired a shot that hit the post and went in to give the Kraken a big 2-0 lead.
Was it a statement win?
“I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it,” Hakstol said. “It’s a good win. I love it and I’m proud of the guys and the effort the guys had tonight, and they should feel good about it. You don’t come in here with any passengers and win a hockey game. For me, that’s what you hope to do in any road game.”
Jones in the zone
Given a 2-0 lead, Jones did the rest.
He kept his calm demeanor and kicked away every Boston attempt. The highlight save came in the second period when Bruins forward David Pastrnak got loose behind the defense. Jones calmly knocked the breakaway attempt into the corner.
“He’s obviously got a great shot,” Jones said. “I just tried to have a good gap on him and stay patient and I was able to get the blocker on it.”
After Tolvanen’s goal, Jones stood tall again as the Bruins attacked the net. Also on that play, all five Kraken skaters packed in the goal, including Jordan Eberle who was in the net, to help keep the puck out.
Jones has started six of the seven games that the Kraken have won since Jan. 1 and only allowed eight goals.
“We checked well,” Jones said. “In front of the net I thought we did a really good job with blocked shots, we picked up sticks, we cleared pucks out, that was probably the biggest thing.”
Tentacle Tales
- Jones last had consecutive shutouts during the 2015-16 season with the San Jose Sharks. He is the first Kraken goalie to do so.
- The shutout was the 27th of his career.
- Seattle has yet to lose in the calendar year of 2023 and is the seventh team in the past decade to start a calendar year with seven consecutive wins.
- The Kraken have two seven-game win streaks this year and are the second expansion team to do so in their first two seasons, equaling the Vegas Golden Knights.
- Tanev’s goal opened the scoring and was the 14th time this season the Kraken have done so, second most in the NHL behind the Dallas Stars.
- The last NHL team to open a road trip by winning the first six game were the 2015-16 San Jose Sharks. The goaltender on that team? Martin Jones.
by Andy Eide | Jan 5, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
Two games into a grueling 14-day, seven-game road trip, the Seattle Kraken are 2-0-0. Thursday night it was a 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Kraken have 11 road wins so far this season, which matches their total number of road wins for all of last season.
It was the second period again on Thursday, and for the second straight game, they scored four in the middle frame. They also scored four goals in the second period of Tuesday’s 5-2 win in Edmonton.
“We weathered the storm,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “First ten minutes they were skating through the neutral zone, they had a lot of speed and pace coming through. We weathered that, but that’s a dangerous way to start the hockey game. But once we got through that ten minutes, we settled the game down a little bit. That set us up for a big second period.”
Martin Jones made his third consecutive start for the Kraken (21-12-4), who have won three straight, and made 26 saves for his 17th win on the year. Vince Dunn had a goal and two assists, Eeli Tolvanen, Matty Beniers, Jared McCann, and Alex Wennberg each scored a goal.
John Tavares had a power-play goal for Toronto (23-9-7), who lost at home for the second straight game. Matt Murray made 21 saves.
Toronto had the early edge and took the game’s first eight shots, forcing Jones to make nine first-period saves to keep Seattle in the game. The Maple Leafs outshot the Kraken 9-3 in the first period.
“Once we got our legs and started checking and started skating we were able to, I thought, control a lot of the play tonight,” Jones said.
It was a different story in the second period as the Kraken came to life.
Tolvanen scored on a one-timer from the circle to give Seattle a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the second. It was the third straight start for Tolvanen since being claimed off waivers back on Dec. 12th. In those three starts, he has two goals and an assist.
The Maple Leafs tied the game, 1-1, on a goal by Tavares at 10:54 on the tail end of a four-minute double-minor power play. Seattle had killed off the first three minutes of a high-sticking call on Yanni Gourde but couldn’t hold the potent Toronto power play off forever.
A potential game-changing goal by Toronto was answered quickly.
Just 14 seconds later, at 11:08, Dunn gave the Kraken their lead back, 2-1, with a slap shot from just outside the top of the circle. Oliver Bjorkstrand provided an excellent screen in front and Murray never saw the shot as it flew by him.
That goal changed the two teams’ fates.
McCann would follow that up with his team-leading 18th marker at 13:50 to make it 3-1, and then Beniers spun and fired the puck to make it 4-1 at 17:25. Beniers leads all NHL rookies with 13 goals, and moments after he scored, it was announced that he had been selected to the NHL All-Star Game.
“I’m just happy we won,” Beniers said. “They’re a great team; playing them on the road is hard. We’re getting a little momentum back and playing good hockey so I’m excited about that. The All-Star Game is pretty special, so I’m excited about that as well.”
Wennberg added a goal at 2:57 of the third, scored on a cross-ice pass from Gourde to make it 5-1.
The road trip continues for Seattle with a game at the Ottawa Senators Saturday night.
“I’ve never been on a trip this long,” Hakstol said. “We’re taking it a piece at a time. We got a good win at home before we left town. A nice win on the road within the division in Edmonton and to be able to come in here and play well again, that set us up well, but we have a long road ahead of us.”
Vince Dunn shines in homecoming
Growing up in the Toronto area, Dunn had quite the homecoming Thursday.
He had three points, played over 19 minutes, and took three shots. When he was on the ice at even strength, the Kraken had 73.53 percent of all shot attempts and 53.28 percent of the shot quality.
“I think a lot of bounces went my way,” Dunn said. “All my points were created by the forwards working hard, finding me to get the puck so a lot of credit to them. They make it easy for me to play my game.”
Beyond that, he and defensive partner Adam Larsson played a tight-checking defense and held Toronto superstar Auston Matthews to no even-strength points and three shots.
Tentacle Tales
- Tolvanen becomes the fourth player in Kraken history to record a point in the first three games he’s played.
- He joins Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, and Daniel Sprong in doing so.
- Larsson did not register a point, ending his seven-game point streak.
- All three of Dunn’s points came in the second period, which is the first time in his NHL career he recorded three in one period.
- The Maple Leafs had not lost a game at home in regulation since Nov. 11.
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