Seattle Kraken at Arizona Coyotes 7 p.m. Pacific time Gila River Arena, Glendale, Arizona TV: ROOT Sports Radio: 950 AM KJR
There are winnable games, and then there are games against the Arizona Coyotes, who still have a zero in the ‘W’ column after 10 games. At 0-9-1, it’s easy to look past a matchup like this, but the Kraken will need to bear down and make certain they come away with two points in the standings Saturday.
Philipp Grubauer is getting the nod in goal once again. We dig into this decision a bit more below.
Power play remedy?
Morgan Geekie was shifted to the left halfwall on the power play in Thursday’s 5-2 Kraken win over the Buffalo Sabres. Seattle still didn’t score on the man advantage that night and are now 30th in the league in this category, clicking at a miserable 8.33 percent. But Geekie’s first-period goal came just seconds after a Sabres penalty had ended, when Seattle was still clearly in power play mode.
The reason it’s notable that Geekie was on the left side is that he was already opened up and ready to fire when an Alex Wennberg pass through the seam found him in the left circle. Previously, when he was on the right side, he had to circle around the puck before he could shoot. We like this setup a lot more, as it puts one of the Kraken’s biggest cannons in a position to get the puck away with less time for the goalie to come across.
Keep a close eye on Seattle’s power play Saturday to see if it can finally break through and start improving on those dismal numbers.
By the way, Geekie brought the house down after practice on Friday. You must watch this if you haven’t already.
During preseason, we saw Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz, and Jared McCann (the J’s) form impressive chemistry. As the team struggled to score in the early parts of the season, coach Dave Hakstol started mixing things up to try to find a new formula, then McCann went into Covid protocol.
On Thursday, Schwartz and Eberle were put back together halfway through the game, with Wennberg in the middle. Collectively, the group took off offensively, as Eberle potted the first hat trick in team history and Schwartz added an empty netter and assisted on two of Eberle’s goals.
It goes without saying that the trio will be back together on Saturday.
What’s the deal with Seattle’s goalie usage?
Hakstol confirmed that Grubauer will start again on Saturday for Seattle, which will bring him to 10 starts in 12 games for the team. There is some context to consider here, because Chris Driedger was out with a knee injury from Oct. 18 until earlier this week, and they’re being careful with him. Nonetheless, Hakstol has really been deploying Grubauer as a true No. 1 netminder, rather than rotating him with Driedger or—in Driedger’s absence—Daccord.
We did not expect this to be the case entering the season, especially with a guy like Driedger on the roster. After all, he stole the net away from Sergei Bobrovsky for good chunks of last season with Florida, and Bobrovsky makes $10 million a year.
We asked Hakstol this week if we might see more of a shift toward a platoon as the season progresses. “That’s not a prediction that I want to make as we go forward,” he said. “Too many things change in the short term from injuries to performance to the different segments of the schedule.
“The rhythm that we’ve had Phil in has been comfortable. We’ve had good practice time over the last two weeks here. We’ve had a pretty good rhythm in terms of rest and days off, and the games for—whether it’s Chris or in the case of the last couple weeks Joey to step in and play—will be very important. In terms of the numbers of [starts], I don’t have a prediction for you on that right now.”
So, that doesn’t sound like a shift toward more consistent rotation is coming any time soon.
It’s not how we expected things to shake out, but leaning on one guy is still very normal in the NHL. A look at netminder usage around the league confirms this.
Only the New Jersey Devils are excluded from the above graphic because none of their goalies have started more than 50 percent of their games.
Arizona Coyotes
After the Coyotes missed last season’s playoffs for the seventh time in eight tries, Rick Tocchet was replaced in the offseason by Andre Tourigny. Tourigny, a former NHL assistant coach, head coach of the Ottawa 67’s, and head coach of Team Canada at the World Junior Championship, certainly did not foresee the first 10 games of his tenure going this badly.
It’s also not a huge surprise, though. Arizona demonstrated that it was ready for an even deeper tank mode than before when it traded Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to Vancouver for the No. 9 overall pick in this past draft, plus Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.
Seriously, the Coyotes have been terrible. They rank last in the NHL in goals for with 14 and are in a league of their own there, seven goals behind the next-worst club in Dallas. Clayton Keller leads the team in goals with a whopping three, while Phil Kessel, Arizona’s other top scorer, has just one on the season.
Defensively, they aren’t much better, ranking second-to-last in goals allowed with 44. That’s three better than the 32nd-ranked team, Chicago, who fired coach Jeremy Colliton on Saturday.
A bad offense plus a bad defense do not make a winning team.
The one concern for the Kraken against the Coyotes is that they have had a hard time finishing on their many, MANY chances this season, and Karel Vejmelka—the starting goalie for Arizona—has been better than his 0-7-1 record would indicate.
Believe it or not, Vejmelka has so far turned in a very respectable .920 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average. He has only given up more than three goals one time this season, and that came against the first-place Edmonton Oilers on a two-goal night for Connor McDavid. The most crooked numbers, which have skewed Arizona’s team stats, have come on nights when Carter Hutton or Ivan Prosvetov have started.
Making things tougher for the lowly Coyotes is that they are on the second of back-to-backs after losing 3-1 Friday in Anaheim.
Projected lineup
Marcus Johansson, Colin Blackwell, and Mason Appleton remain on injured reserve, though Johansson and Blackwell both skated with the team at practice for the first time on Friday.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. The Kraken were the better team Thursday but had a hard time finishing on their many chances. Sounds familiar right? The difference between this contest and others, though, was that Seattle did not come out and immediately concede a goal in the opening minutes. The team was not chasing the game early, as it did in Edmonton on Monday and against the Rangers on Sunday.
On Thursday, it almost always felt like the Kraken were going to come out with a win, but as players squeezed their sticks into sawdust and fumbled away breakaway after breakaway, doubt certainly crept in for some.
One guy who is officially no longer gripping his stick too tightly after Thursday’s game is Jordan Eberle, who was held goal-less through the team’s first six games of the season. He scored once against Montreal, once against New York, and Thursday he erupted, posting the first hat trick in the history of the Seattle Kraken franchise.
“Definitely, when you’re scoring, you feel good, and the net looks a little bigger,” Eberle said after the game. “There’s a lot of different ways to score… The biggest thing is getting one or two looks a game and when you’re finishing them and you have the confidence to do it, that’s big.”
His performance in leading the Kraken to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres should give Eberle plenty of confidence moving forward.
Off on the right footthis time
The Kraken clearly made a point of not falling behind early in this one. After seeing the opposition score early in so many first periods this season, Seattle came out flying on Thursday and controlled the possession for the bulk of the opening frame. But as has become the norm, the Kraken were having a hard time breaking through on netminder Dustin Tokarski early.
13 minutes into the game, Jamie Oleksiak got tied up along the wall in the defensive end with John Hayden. It’s hard to say if Hayden knew who he was challenging, but he started swinging and left Oleksiak with no choice but to drop the gloves. In a blink Hayden had consumed half a dozen knuckle sandwiches from the Big Rig. Adding insult to injury, Hayden got an extra two minutes for roughing and put the Kraken on the power play.
That extra Hayden penalty proved costly for Buffalo. Seconds after the penalty ended, Alex Wennberg threaded a pass through the seam and found Morgan Geekie in the left circle. Geekie wasted no time and blasted it past Tokarski.
The second period left Seattle fans groaning at times. Fortunately, Eberle made them believe again before the end of the frame because otherwise there may have been a mutiny on the S.S. Climate Pledge.
With the Kraken continuing to dominate possession, they somehow let Tage Thompson walk the puck from his own end all the way through the neutral zone and into their end. On what amounted to a one-on-four rush, the 6-foot-7 Thompson lumbered in untouched and eventually let a shot go that—with the help of a Haydn Fleury screen—beat Grubauer.
Max McCormick then took an ill-advised offensive zone penalty at 16:10 when he boarded Will Butcher, causing the Buffalo defenseman to hit his face on the glass. The Sabres took advantage. With Zemgus Girgensons screening Grubauer, Kyle Okposo scored from the right hash, giving Buffalo a 2-1 lead and temporarily sucking the air out of Climate Pledge Arena.
That was when Eberle put the team on his back. Just 26 seconds passed between Okposo giving Buffalo its only lead and Jaden Schwartz digging out a puck in the corner and putting it right on the tape of Eberle in front. Eberle buried it just under the bar, and Seattle was back in business.
Schwartz and Rasmus Dahlin—who had a tough night that featured two embarrassing self-inflicted nosedives—got into a shoving contest at the horn, meaning the third period would open four-on-four.
A sigh of relief for Kraken fans
With the extra space afforded by the four-on-four and Butcher inexplicably swimming in the slot, Eberle had plenty of room to work. Wennberg was at the blue line and slipped the puck to him at the top of the left circle. Eberle danced around Okposo, got in close with Tokarski, and lifted it over his right pad for his second of the night.
Another look at Eberle’s second of the night…he had all the space in the world to set up for the finish off the backhand. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/8sp0RtSZ6e
Eberle struck once more six minutes later when he took a Schwartz pass in the neutral zone, rushed in, and snuck one through the pads of Tokarski, a goal the Sabres goalie probably wanted to have back.
Down came the hats, as Eberle celebrated the first hat trick in franchise history with his mates.
Takeaway #1: The Kraken could use some more finish
If you were to look at the score alone, you’d probably think that was a solid offensive night by the Kraken. In a way, you would be right with that assessment. The team put up five goals, and Eberle blew open the floodgates with a hat trick. But in a game that should have been out of reach midway through the second, Seattle found itself trailing 2-1, albeit for a very brief period.
We counted five breakaways for the Kraken, on which they converted zero times. They dominated every possession metric from start to finish, and yet the game was close enough in the end that Buffalo pulled its goalie to try to level the score. Frankly, Seattle should have put up at least eight against the Sabres on Thursday, but the team’s lack of finish continues to be a bit concerning.
The good news is that there was an eventual breakthrough, which hopefully relieves some of the pressure to start scoring goals. The guys that the Kraken need to be their offensive leaders—the Eberles and Schwartzes of the world—are starting to produce. Seattle also now heads to the desert to face an atrocious Arizona Coyotes team that has given up 42 goals in 10 games.
Here’s hoping the desert dogs can help Kraken players build up some more offensive confidence.
Takeaway #2: Morgan Geekie belongs on the left side on power plays
We’ve never been fans of having your biggest cannons on their strong side for the power play. As a right shot, putting Geekie on the left halfwall allows him to open up and be ready to blast away when pucks are fed to him. Previously, he had been on the right, where he had to catch the pass and circle around it before he could let it go.
Though it wasn’t technically a power-play goal, Geekie’s goal came just seconds after a Buffalo penalty had ended in the first period. It was created by the power play, no question, and having Geekie on the left feels like a key that could unlock something for this struggling special teams group.
“There’s a couple different looks,” Hakstol said. “With wanting to simplify a few things, you know, you put guys on their one-timer sides, and you’re looking to get the puck to the inside. Buffalo came a little harder with their kill tonight than maybe they usually do, but he was able to get off a couple of good shots from that spot. That second one found its way into the back of the net… It was nice to see it go directly in, but if it doesn’t that should give us a good opportunity at a rebound.”
Speaking of the power play, we’ve also always thought it’s a good sign to see passes through the seam rather than around the perimeter. Those passes are harder to complete, but when they get through, they’re also harder to track and give the goalie a lot less time to get across. Again, it wasn’t technically a power-play goal, but Geekie’s goal came off a seam pass by Wennberg.
Seeing a goal set up this way and scored by one of Seattle’s big shooters is a great sign for the struggling power play, which is now officially 3 for 36 on the season.
Takeaway #3: Eberle throws a mean fish
After rightfully being named the first star of the game, Eberle was handed the traditional salmon stuffed animal to throw into the crowd. Rather than softly tossing it over the glass, he twisted that thing around and whipped it a good ten rows deep into the lower bowl. We asked him about the throw after the game.
He explained, “I live downtown, so I go to Pike with my little girl quite a bit to get groceries, and I see them throwing the fish, so I wanted to make them proud.”
Seattle Kraken versus Buffalo Sabres 7 p.m. Pacific time TV: ROOT Sports Radio: 950 AM KJR
Typically when we prepare these game previews, we’re very focused on what has been happening with the Seattle Kraken. Other than Chris Driedger returning from injured reserve and Joey Daccord being assigned to Charlotte, there hasn’t been all that much happening the last few days, though, so move along, nothing to see here.
And obviously there’s nothing happening on the other side with the Buffalo Sab— [record scratch, author listens to breaking news in earpiece]… They did what?! Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just received word that something major has happened with the Buffalo Sabres after all! It turns out they’ve traded their former captain and former No. 2 overall pick, Jack Eichel, to the Vegas Golden Knights for a package that includes Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, and draft picks.
Wowza!
Seattle Kraken
The Kraken are expected to come back with a very similar lineup on Thursday to what we saw in Edmonton on Monday, but Haydn Fleury is slotting back in for Carson Soucy on the blue line, and Philipp Grubauer will get the start.
The Fleury/Soucy rotation has been an interesting one. Really neither deserves to be scratched, and both have been contributing offensively lately—Fleury had two goals against Minnesota, and Soucy had one against the Oilers—but this is what happens when you have this many NHL defensemen on your roster. Simply put, somebody has to sit.
And let’s not forget about Will Borgen, who has yet to even dress for a game and will be scratched again Thursday against his former team.
On Wednesday after practice, coach Dave Hakstol indicated that this won’t change any time soon for Borgen, adding that the seven players that have played for Seattle at this point won their spots out of training camp.
Also at practice on Wednesday, the Kraken spent a few minutes working on their power play. Seattle has struggled in this area, clicking just three times in 32 attempts, good for 30th in the NHL, though it has gotten good looks and plenty of zone time.
“We need to get one to go for us,” Hakstol said of the power play. “You’d like to have a little bit of puck luck somewhere along the way. Until that starts happening and falling our way, we got to get a little hungry around the blue paint. We got to get a little hungry on seconds and really working to find one.”
Jack Eichel no longer a Sabre
The fact that Eichel was on the trade block was the worst-kept secret in hockey after he had publicly requested a trade, was stripped of his captaincy, and was closing in on filing a grievance against the team for not allowing him to get the disc replacement surgery that he desires. So while it wasn’t shocking to hear that he had been traded, it still felt like one of those things that might never really happen, especially after it dragged out all summer long.
But traded he was to the Vegas Golden Knights in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
Since Eichel was out with the long-term neck injury anyway, Tuch is still working his way back, and Krebs is heading to the AHL, there really is no impact on Buffalo’s lineup for tonight. The effect down the line will be dramatic from a Seattle perspective, however, as it now will have to face Eichel and an already loaded Golden Knights team up to four times per season.
As for the current Sabres, the hockey world was surprised to see them get off to a hot start, winning their first three games to begin Don Granato’s tenure as their full-time head coach. Since those three games, they lost two, won two, and lost two more, with those most recent defeats coming at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings and a COVID-riddled San Jose Sharks squad.
This is a winnable game for the Kraken, but Buffalo also cannot be taken for granted, as they have already caught several opponents off guard this season.
Leading scorer Victor Olofsson is out tonight for the Sabres, which should make things a bit easier defensively on the Kraken. Dustin Tokarski gets the start in net. He has been good in three appearances, posting a 1-1-1 record with a 1.92 goals against average and .936 save percentage.
Seattle Kraken at Edmonton Oilers 6:30 p.m. Pacific time Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada TV: ROOT Sports Radio: KJR AM 950
Sunday’s game against the Rangers was always going to be a tough test for the Seattle Kraken, but things ratchet up another notch Monday against the Edmonton Oilers for a number of reasons. Not only do the Kraken take on one of the best offensive clubs in the NHL, which features two of the league’s best offensive players, but they’re doing it on the second night of a back-to-back set with travel. Winning on the road in this scenario is no easy task against any opponent, let alone against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Coach Dave Hakstol made the decision on Sunday to stick with starting netminder Philipp Grubauer for the first game of the set, rather than saving him for when the team would be tired and facing an even more dangerous offense. So Joey Daccord gets the nod tonight, and with Chris Driedger looking closer and closer to a return, this could be Daccord’s last start before he gets returned to AHL Charlotte.
Daccord’s first start came in a pinch the last time the Kraken were on the second of back-to-backs. After Driedger was surprisingly placed on injured reserve after coming on in relief in Philadelphia on Oct. 18, Daccord got the call-up and the nod against New Jersey on Oct. 19. He played well that night, especially under the chaotic circumstances. Daccord stopped 29 of 32 shots and made some very timely saves against the Devils, but the Kraken ultimately came up short.
Last-second lineup changes becoming the norm
Just before Sunday’s game, Kraken PR broke the news that Jared McCann and assistant coach Paul McFarland had been placed into COVID protocol. To deal with McCann’s absence, Max McCormick—recalled after Mason Appleton was officially placed on IR over the weekend—was slotted onto the fourth line and Ryan Donato was elevated.
That alteration seemed to have the lowest possible disruption to what the team had practiced with the day prior, as Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg, and Joonas Donskoi stayed together, as did Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and Calle Jarnkrok.
On Monday morning, Hakstol was asked in his media availability if there would be any other changes coming to the lineup, and he said, “We’ve got some decisions to make at gametime and as we go through the afternoon.” Does he mean shuffling the lines again, or does he mean players coming in or out?
The team has shown a few times now that it prefers to hold on announcing significant changes to Seattle’s active roster until as close to gametime as possible. Examples are the clearing of four key players from COVID protocol prior to the Vegas game, Yanni Gourde returning from injury for the New Jersey game, and now McCann missing Sunday’s game against the Rangers.
Perhaps we’re reading into it too deeply, but we’re curious what those decisions are that Hakstol and his staff need to make, especially with a player and a coach in COVID protocol as of Sunday.
With that in mind, we aren’t even going to take a stab at the projected lineup for now, but we will add it after warmups, so feel free to circle back here at gametime.
Update: The only change to the lineup is Carson Soucy drawing back in for Haydn Fleury. Hakstol loves to keep us guessing.
Edmonton Oilers bring a potent offense
Hakstol was also asked Monday what makes McDavid so good. “Well, how much time do we have?” he quipped. “He’s a very special player. There’s not much that I can say that can bring to light anything new on Connor McDavid. He’s an absolutely dynamic player, and one of the things that stands out for me is his competitive nature. It seems every year that I’ve been able to see him there’s a new piece to his game, something new that he’s tried to round out and improve upon.”
Hakstol’s point is that McDavid—who has already proven that he is in a league of his own—continues to push to get even better, and it somehow continues to work. Last season, McDavid put up 105 points, an impressive total for an 82-game season. But last year was not an 82-game season, it was a 56-game season.
Though the current season is young, McDavid is on an even hotter pace so far with seven goals and nine assists (7-9=16) through just seven games played.
The Oilers also added a key piece in the offseason in Zach Hyman who has been impressive, scoring six goals in seven games. The former Maple Leaf is expected to skate on a potent top line with McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi, while Draisaitl will go with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Spokane’s Kailer Yamamoto.
Where the Oilers have always been vulnerable is on the blue line and in net. The roster took a hit from this standpoint when Adam Larsson was selected and signed by the Kraken during the Expansion Draft, and there was plenty of interest from the Edmonton media about the defenseman’s return, showing that he was valued in that market.
Despite this, former NHL Seattle advisor and now Oilers coach Dave Tippett has his team playing well at both ends of the ice, and the result is an impressive 6-1-0 record.
The Kraken lost Sunday due to a couple of lapses in transition. They will need to really batten down the hatches in the neutral zone to avoid a track meet with this explosive Edmonton Oilers team.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
As Seattle netminder Philipp Grubauer said after Sunday’s 3-1 Kraken loss to the New York Rangers, sometimes you win games you’re supposed to lose, and sometimes you lose games you’re supposed to win. On Sunday, the Kraken should have won, but instead got Shesterkinned.
Ranger goalie Igor Shesterkin followed up a dazzling 31-save shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday with another outstanding performance against the Kraken, stopping 31 of 32 this time and carrying his team to victory.
It’s a disappointing loss for the Kraken, no doubt, as they finish their first homestand with a 2-2-0 record, bringing them to 3-5-1 overall. This team is still learning and building, and coach Dave Hakstol was rightfully pleased with the effort. But not getting at least a point out of a game like this has to hurt.
A familiar game script
The Kraken started the first period against the Rangers in similar fashion to how they have started several other games this season… by conceding an early goal.
Chris Kreider—who has had a hot start to the season—streaked into the Kraken zone on a two-on-one with Mika Zibanejad. He looked off Zibanejad and snapped an absolute missile over Grubauer’s glove and right under the crossbar. It was one of those that hit the back bar and came out so quickly that not everyone in the arena was sure it had gone in. Indeed it had, and just like that, the Kraken trailed 1-0 3:38 into the first period on Kreider’s seventh of the season.
As we’ve also seen in prior games, Seattle began pushing back after allowing that goal, but Shesterkin stood tall to turn away several good chances, especially by Morgan Geekie and Jaden Schwartz.
Kreider had a bid for his second of the night and fourth in two games midway through the period when a pass hopped off of Vince Dunn’s stick at the offensive blue line. Kreider jumped on it and raced through the neutral zone, but Grubauer came up big and steered the shot away with his blocker to keep the Kraken within one.
Do the Kraken love second periods or what?
Once again, Seattle came out flying in the second and owned the puck for the bulk of the period. When the horn sounded, they had an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal during those 20 minutes of play.
Midway through the second, Shesterkin was continuing his dastardly ways and was especially unkind to Schwartz, who continues to look for his first goal as a Kraken. Shesterkin stole a sure goal from Schwartz by sliding from left to right in a full split. He lost his stick on that play, but with his team scrambling, he still managed to stop two shots by Mark Giordano and one by Ryan Donato to get a needed whistle.
Six minutes later, Jordan Eberle broke through. He took a simple drop pass from Schwartz at the right face-off dot. In one motion, he spun onto his backhand and lifted a shot over Shesterkin’s glove, clearly catching the netminder off guard with the deceptive shot.
Eberle’s second of the season knotted things at 1-1 at 13:46, and though Seattle continued to push, that score would remain through the end of the second period.
A disappointing finish
Compared to a completely dominant second for Seattle, the third was a bit more open for interpretation as to who had the better of the play.
With eight minutes left, Haydn Fleury forced a turnover at the Ranger blue line, and suddenly Brandon Tanev was in alone with Shesterkin. He deked and tried to tuck the puck around the outstretched pad of the Ranger netminder, but couldn’t get it to go. The Rangers countered, and off the rush, Artemi Panarin pulled up at the top of the left circle. He then found a trailing Adam Fox as he came over the blue line, and Fox made no mistake.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Fox won the Norris Trophy last season and why Panarin continues to be one of the more dangerous forwards in the NHL.
With Grubauer pulled for an extra skater in the closing minutes, the Kraken did get one last good push to try to level the score a second time. A shot from the point got deflected by Yanni Gourde, and he found the rebound and with one hand on his stick poked it past Shesterkin. It just bounced off the base of the post, and again, the Rangers countered and Barclay Goodrow ended up with an empty-net goal at the other end to seal it.
Things don’t get easier on Monday
Hakstol has talked a lot about improving the team’s play in transition. Seeing New York score its goals off the rush Sunday was a bit surprising, especially after we had watched Seattle clog up the neutral zone to perfection at times on this homestand. Seattle’s coach gave credit to the Rangers after the game, though, saying that’s one of the things they do especially well, and his group knew that coming in.
As Seattle goes right back to work against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton on Monday, it will need to do a better job of cutting down those odd-man opportunities, or it could be a painful night.
By the way, at Hakstol’s media availability on Sunday night, we asked him what the Kraken need to do to beat Edmonton, which has a lot of starpower. At the end of a relatively long presser, Hakstol looked at us and said, “Well, first off, we need to wrap this up so we can get out of here.” That got a good chuckle in the room.
Point taken, Dave.
Jared McCann and Paul McFarland in COVID protocol
Kraken forward Jared McCann was a late scratch from Sunday’s game, as the team announced that he and assistant coach Paul McFarland had been placed in COVID protocol. Last time Seattle had players in protocol, they ended up being cleared in time for the season opener in Vegas, but Hakstol did not want to speculate on what might happen with McCann.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
There was an eerie sense of, “Oh, we’ve seen this one before,” in Thursday night’s game between the Minnesota Wild and the Seattle Kraken. It had hints of the Kraken home opener against the Canucks, when Seattle dominated the second period, but Vancouver somehow got the only goal on a stinker through Philipp Grubauer’s legs. Then an ill-timed penalty in the third allowed the Canucks to tie that game a second time, and it was downhill from there.
There were a few distinct differences on Thursday, though, that showed the Kraken are learning from their mistakes and allowed them to emerge victorious against a good Minnesota Wild club.
The Kraken again dominated the second period Thursday, and again Grubauer faced only a handful of shots during those 20 minutes. Seattle did find one goal this time, and when the big chance came for Minnesota to tie it, Grubauer made a game-breaking save. Then when the ill-timed penalty was again taken halfway through the third, the Kraken netminder again came up huge, making a sequence of mind-boggling saves and getting some puck luck along the way to keep Seattle in front.
It was an impressive 4-1 win by the Kraken, who improved to 3-4-1 and fourth place in the Pacific Division.
A sloppy start and a turning point
Things got off to a shaky start for the Kraken. Minnesota had them hemmed in for much of the first 10 minutes, and the Wild drew first blood. Budding superstar Kirill Kaprizov gloved a puck down behind the goal line, dropped it to himself, and found Ryan Hartman in the slot. Hartman banged it home to give his team a 1-0 lead at 6:27.
Just seconds later, the Wild appeared to score again when a puck caromed off the skate of Marcus Foligno and into the back of the net. The officials immediately called no goal on the ice, but then reviewed to see if there was a distinct kicking motion. Haunting visions of opening night in Vegas surely came racing back for Kraken fans, but this time video confirmed that it was kicked. The goal was negated and Seattle dodged a huge bullet.
“The kicked-in goal is a real turning point, but it’s only a turning point if you take advantage of it,” coach Dave Hakstol said after the game. And Seattle did take advantage of it.
After that, Seattle started to find its sea legs, connected on some passes through the neutral zone, and quickly turned the tides of the game.
Haydn Fleury—a healthy scratch for the home opener on Saturday—scored his first of the season. From the corner, Jaden Schwartz threw the puck through the crease, hoping to find a deflection. Instead, it slid all the way across the ice surface, bounced off the side boards, and came out to Fleury in the high slot. Fleury dusted it off and snapped it through traffic. The puck changed directions on the way to the net and eluded Cam Talbot, bringing the Kraken level at 1-1.
The first period closed with Marcus Foligno taking a four-minute double-minor for high sticking Joonas Donskoi. The Wild killed it off to start the second, but the power play, which gave heaps of zone time to the Kraken, set the tone for the period.
Seattle absolutely owned the puck during that 20 minutes, outshooting Minnesota 17-4.
Talbot was standing tall for the Wild, but Fleury broke through again at 7:33 for his second of the game. He took a sharp-angle shot that Talbot stopped with his shoulder, but the rebound dropped right onto Fleury’s stick, who was in full stride behind the net. Before Talbot could blink, Fleury had looped around and stuffed it into the open cage on the far side, giving the Kraken defenseman the first multi-goal game of his career.
With under 30 seconds left on the clock, Kirill Kaprizov stole the puck from Yanni Gourde at center ice. He raced in on a breakaway and deked to his forehand, but Philipp Grubauer shut the door for just his fourth save of the entire period. Had Kaprizov scored there, it would have unraveled a near-perfect period by Seattle.
Gourde took full responsibility after the game for the turnover, and heaped praise upon his netminder for bailing him out.
Bend but don’t break
The Wild threw everything at the Kraken in the third, as the comeback kids from Minnesota sought another victim of their late-game dramatics. The best opportunities came after Fleury interfered with Kevin Fiala at the 10:01 mark.
During that penalty kill, Grubauer showed why Seattle signed him to a six-year, $35.4 million free agent contract in the offseason, making a whole host of point-blank saves. He also got a bit lucky, when Joel Eriksson Ek had him dead to rights, but somehow pushed the puck through the crease, off the far post, and out the other side.
On the sequence of saves by Grubauer, Fleury said, “I was in the penalty box, so I was really thanking him for that. That was huge. I think that’s why he makes the big bucks.”
Two empty-net goals, one by Brandon Tanev and one that Mark Giordano remarkably banked off the boards from the defensive zone, sealed it for the Kraken.
Three Takeaways
Kraken are progressing
It’s still early in the season, but this was a big-time victory against a good club that has played well in the early stages. Hakstol seems pleased with the progress the team is making, and rightfully so. It’s fascinating to watch the Kraken learn from their mistakes from night to night, and comparing the Canucks game on Saturday with the Wild game on Thursday is a great way to see that happening in almost real time.
The odd-man rushes that plagued the team early on have been mostly curtailed, and when things have broken down—like they did at the end of the second on Thursday—Grubauer has been a saving grace the last couple games.
Meanwhile, the score-by-committee approach seems to be working suddenly. It’s been well documented that Seattle does not have a star scorer that will put up 30 or 40 goals, so it has to get production from its lower lines and its defense. Well, Tanev leads the team in goals and added to his total against the Wild, and Fleury scored two on Thursday. So… it’s working.
Can’t help rooting for Fleury
It’s hard not to root for Fleury. At the home opener, where teams traditionally announce the entire roster, he had to come to the bench in street clothes and give a wave to the fans, despite being a healthy scratch that night. He got back in on Tuesday against Montreal and played well, earning himself another game Thursday. Against the Wild, he took full advantage of his opportunity and earned first star honors for his two huge goals, including the eventual game winner.
The Kraken are proving to be a second-period team, and they showed it against the Wild in what Grubauer called one of the best periods he’s ever seen. They don’t always get off to hot starts, but they’ve tilted the ice in the second frame on multiple occasions now.
Explains Fleury, “Hak really stresses valuing the puck in the second period, trapping the other team in their zone with the long change. Our forwards did a really good job of that in the second. They really wore their D out down low in the offensive zone, and we were able to have a couple of quick-up plays where they weren’t able to change. And then their forwards and their D are out there for two minutes.”
It’s good to know that there’s a shift in the game script coming when Seattle is slow out of the gates, but the starts are the next problem that needs fixing. That will continue to be an emphasis for Hakstol and his staff moving forward.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
