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.
by Andy Eide | Jan 3, 2023 | Gameday Coverage
A week after being embarrassed on home ice by the Edmonton Oilers, the Kraken exacted some revenge by scoring five unanswered goals in an impressive 5-2 win over the Oilers on Tuesday.
“Absolutely great feeling,” Yanni Gourde said. “To come out with the win in their building, I thought we played well.”
Seattle erased a 2-0 deficit and won their second straight game while starting the longest road trip of the season in fine fashion.
“I think we played pretty well in the first,” Gourde said. “We came out, we played hard, did the right things, put the puck deep, and played down low. Second period, we got one goal and it really gave us some wings offensively.”
A key moment came early in the third period when the Oilers appeared to cut the Kraken lead to 4-3 after Leon Draisaitl scored a power-play goal. There were over 18 minutes left, and the knuckles in Seattle were turning white.
However, Seattle coach Dave Hakstol called the officials over and challenged the goal, saying Edmonton was offside prior to the goal being scored. It was a risky move as a failed challenge would put the Oilers and their league-best power play back on the ice with a chance to tie and gain momentum.
The video review proved successful, it was offside, and the Kraken killed off the remainder of the power play for a huge kill.
“That’s the guys in the back room,” Hakstol said. “That’s Tim [Oshashi] and Brady [Morgan] doing a great job. Working through their process, taking the short amount of time they have and they got it right.”
Later on, at 17:29 of the third, Alex Wennberg raced down the ice and slid the puck into the Oilers empty net to make it 5-2, and the knuckles returned to their normal color.
Wennberg had a goal and an assist, as did Matty Beniers. Jaden Schwartz scored a goal and had two assists, Justin Schultz had two assists, and Martin Jones made 32 saves for the Kraken (20-12-4), who are unbeaten in Alberta so far this season.
“It wasn’t anything overly spectacular in this game,” Hakstol said. “We were moving slowly with the puck, especially in the first ten minutes, but we were checking well. But we cleaned up our puck play… we were able to battle back. The power-play goal was obviously a big goal for us to get going. We were able to execute on a delayed penalty and then some face-off goals.”
Edmonton (20-17-2), got goals from Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Stuart Skinner started the game and allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced in the second period by Jack Campbell, who made three saves.
When they played last week, the Oilers had three goals by the four-minute mark. It took them longer Tuesday, but it was Edmonton who scored first again, while on their NHL best power play at 12:47 of the first. Jones made an initial save, but an off-the-mark shot by Draisaitl slid right to Nugent-Hopkins, who had the entire net to shoot at and did not miss to make it 1-0.
McDavid turned on the jets and raced by everyone 48 seconds into the second and slid his 33rd of the season past Jones to make it 2-0. That caused a déjà vu feeling that the Oilers were going to run away with it.
But a mid-period power play would turn the tide for Seattle, who would go on to score five straight.
First, it was a power-play score from Beniers at 4:44 of the second with his 12th of the year. Beniers was at it again 31 seconds later, during a delayed penalty, when he found Schwartz at the goal mouth for a tally that tied the game.
Gourde would give Seattle a 3-2 lead at 12:43. He scored his fifth of the season after Schultz got a shot on a rush, the rebound came out in front, and Eeli Tolvanen tapped it to Gourde.
The Kraken extended the lead to 4-2, and chased Skinner from the net at 15:48. Wennberg spotted Jared McCann streaking for the net and got the puck to him for McCann’s team-leading 17th of the year.
Tentacle Tales
- With an assist, defenseman Adam Larsson extended his point streak to seven games.
- It was also the seventh game Beniers has recorded multiple points this season.
- Tolvanen played in his second game with Seattle and recorded an assist, giving him points in both games he has played for the Kraken.
- The win was the 10th road win for Seattle (10-4-2), one away from the 11 road wins they totaled all of last season.
by Andy Eide | Dec 15, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
Philipp Grubauer did everything possible to will the Kraken to a win Thursday, but it wasn’t enough in a game the Carolina Hurricanes badly outplayed Seattle and held on for a 3-2 win at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. The Hurricanes (17-6-6) outshot the Kraken 39-17, which included hitting double-digit shots on goal in all three periods, but Grubauer gave Seattle a chance.
At morning skate it was announced Martin Jones would start the game, but it was Grubauer who led the team out on the ice. He would stand on his head and make a season-high 36 saves. Grubauer was a one-man show for Seattle, which would have been blown out if not for several big saves.
“He battled hard,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He gave us a chance to stay within striking distance in this game, so his performance was good.”
Three different Hurricanes scored including a penalty-shot conversion by Stefan Noesen in the second period which ended up being the game winner. Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves.
Ryan Donato and Daniel Sprong each scored for Seattle (16-10-3), which lost for the fifth time in six games, ending a four-game road swing 1-3-0.
Seattle played one of the worst first periods in franchise history, being outshot 14-4 and posed little to no threat offensively.
“They came out hard and I think we sat back a little,” Sprong said. “We didn’t get into the O-zone much.”
Carolina got on the board when an errant pass from Jared McCann was scooped up by Andrei Svechnikov who was in alone and scored his 16th at 10:10 of the first period. The Hurricanes doubled the lead to 2-0 at 17:16 on a goal from Derek Stepan.
“Their five-man pressure is outstanding and they were on it throughout the majority of the game,” Hakstol said. “Their sustained five-man pressure in the first period was relentless. We got caught with a couple of soft puck plays, a little slow in our response and that’s what that pressure will do.”
Grubauer kept the game within reach by making 12 saves, many of which were of the ten-bell variety, but it wouldn’t take Carolina long to extend the lead. Noesen got behind the Kraken defense at 2:08 of the second period and was hooked by Adam Larsson. A penalty shot was awarded and Noesen converted to make it 3-0.
The shot barrage continued as the Hurricanes would test Grubauer on 13 shots, but the Kraken would manage to get on the board. At 11:26 Carson Soucy took a shot from the point that Ryan Donato got a stick on to make it 3-1.
That goal felt cosmetic heading into the third period.
In the third period, the formula was the same. A lot of Hurricanes shots and Grubauer saves, but Daniel Sprong got a shot at 9:14 of the third that trickled into the goal under Kochetkov’s right arm to cut the lead to 3-2.
Suddenly Seattle had a chance to steal points in a game where none were deserved, but the Kraken could not find the equalizer.
“We’re coming through a tough road trip, we knew what this stretch looked like,” Hakstol said. “We’re disappointed to come out with two of the eight points. We’ve got to get back to Seattle, have a good day of practice and get this turned around.”
The fancy numbers were ugly
The shots-on-goal numbers tell one story, but if you look at some of the analytics it gets worse.
In the dominant first period, Carolina took 80.77 percent (21-5) of the shot attempts at five-on-five and 91 percent of the shot quality. On the night, the Hurricanes had 66.67 of the five-on-five shot attempts.
If not for Grubauer this game would simply have been a blowout.
Tentacle Tales
- Yanni Gourde had an assist on his 31st birthday.
- Hakstol didn’t have an update on Jones’ status, only saying that ‘something’ developed between morning skate and game time.
- The Kraken ended Kochetkov’s shutout streak at 151:26. The rookie goaltender had recorded two consecutive shutouts heading into the game.
- Seattle will next be in action Sunday at home against the Winnipeg Jets.
by Andy Eide | Dec 13, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three goals in the second period to blow open the game on their way to a 6-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.
Seattle fell behind early and got back into the game, only to watch the Lightning skate away from them over the second half of the contest.
“We carried the play at the end of the first period,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had a great second period, we had one hell of a PK in terms of effort and execution. When that third goal goes in, that took a lot out of us… We did a lot of really good things, we deserved a little bit better in terms of where the scoreboard was.”
Nikita Kucherov had three assists for the 29th time in his career. Andre Vasilevskiy was solid in making 36 saves for the Lightning (18-9-1) who are 3-0-0 all-time against Seattle.
Jared McCann and Ryan Donato each scored a goal for Seattle (16-9-3), which is in a mini-slump having lost four out of the last five games. Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced at 14:28 in the second period. Martin Jones came in and allowed two goals and made eight saves.
Tampa Bay struck early in the first period. After Seattle failed to clear the puck, Lightning defenseman Ian Cole flung a shot from the point that found the net to make it 1-0 at 1:31.
With the Kraken still searching for their game, the Lightning got another goal at 7:24 from Erik Cernak.
“The first ten minutes, that was the biggest piece,” Hakstol said. “Our forecheck has to be better, we were a little slow on everything and they’re going to take advantage in a big way. I felt like it should have been a 1-1 hockey game after the first period.”
Over the second half of the period, Seattle got its game going and calmed things down defensively. At 18:39, the Kraken cashed in when Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann broke out with a two-on-one, and Eberle gave it to McCann who scored his 13th with a laser-type wrist shot.
Down 2-1, the Kraken started the second well, matching the Tampa Bay attack and getting good looks. Brandon Tanev was called for tripping behind Tampa Bay’s net at 10:17, and the game took a turn for the worse.
As the ensuing power play was winding down, Corey Perry scored with a wrist shot to make it 3-1 at 12:13, and then Brayden Point made it 4-1 at 13:28 with a great individual effort through the defense. That ended Grubauer’s night, and Jones came in but didn’t fare any better.
Ross Colton got a stick on a Mikhail Sergachev shot and tipped it past Jones to make it 5-1 at 15:36. The Bolts scored three goals in 3:23 of play, and the game was completely changed.
“Our group was really tough today,” Hakstol said. “We need a little better on the second goal from Grubi, we need a little better on the third. Our group pushed back pretty well throughout… If you’re questioning the mental toughness of our group, you’re dead wrong.”
Steven Stamkos made it 6-1 at 5:29 of the third period, and Donato added a cosmetic goal to make it 6-2 at 19:55.
“I thought we worked hard,” Jaden Schwartz said. “We had some decent spurts… I thought for 40 minutes of the game we worked hard, probably didn’t get on the inside enough in the offensive zone, but that momentum swing in the second period really hurt.”
Kraken offensive woes
Seattle was seemingly scoring at will during their seven-game win streak, but the goals have dried up of late. They’ve lost four out of five and only scored six goals in the four losses. Things looked to turn when they scored four Sunday in a win at Florida, but Tuesday it was a struggle again.
The Kraken outshot Tampa Bay 38-30, but 15 of those shots came in the third period when the score was 4-1. Vasilevskiy is among the league’s best goaltenders, which may have been the issue Tuesday, but Seattle needs to find a way to score more than one or two goals per game.
Tentacle Tales
- Seattle defenseman Justin Schultz was a late scratch Tuesday despite looking like he was going to play during morning skate. Gustav Olofsson played 15:20 and had three shots on goal in Schultz’s place.
- Kucherov has the fifth most career three-assist games among active players. He trails Sidney Crosby (59), Nicklas Backstrom (44), Evgeni Malkin (34), and Connor McDavid (33).
- Carson Soucy played in his 200th NHL game.
by Andy Eide | Dec 9, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
The Kraken got the goaltending they needed from Philipp Grubauer Friday but struggled to score during a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. They have suddenly lost three straight after a franchise best seven-game win streak.
Grubauer was on his game allowing two goals on 36 shots including 12 saves in the first period and 13 in the second.
“He was really good,” Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson said. “He was awesome. We’ve got to score more than one goal.”
Seattle lost the game in the second period when the Capitals (13-12-4) scored twice and had the Kraken on their heels. Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was lost for the game after being assessed a five-minute checking to the head call that carried a match penalty with it.
The Kraken did a good job killing the first part of the ensuing major power play, but former Kraken Marcus Johansson scored after his shot hit Grubauer’s shoulder and fluttered over him and in. That broke a 1-1 tie and came at 13:15 of the second period.
“They beat us on the one entry that got wide and beat us to the net,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of the power-play goal. “Beyond that, the PK did a pretty good job.”
Washington was one for four on the power play for the night.
Anthony Mantha tied the game at 1-1 when a scramble happened in front of Grubauer at 5:20 of the second, and Mantha poked the puck off Oleksiak and in.
“The biggest problem was in the second period,” Hakstol said. “We couldn’t find our legs, we couldn’t find any momentum during that period.”
Larsson scored a goal for the Kraken (15-8-3), who lost their second game in regulation on the road. Alex Ovechkin picked up career goal 796 and is now five away from tying Gordie Howe’s career mark of 801, which is the second most in NHL history.
Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves for Washington.
Larsson opened the game’s scoring and gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 17:51 of the first. Morgan Geekie won a faceoff in the Washington zone, and Larsson took a wrist shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and in for Larsson’s first goal in 21 games.
Just prior to the faceoff, Larsson and Dunn switched sides, which helped Larsson create a shooting lane.
“I think it’s more about what line you line up with and what threat the forwards have. It worked out,” Larsson said.
Lars Eller scored an empty-net goal at 18:54 of the third to make it 3-1, followed by Ovechkin who hit the empty net at 19:56 to round out the scoring at 4-1.
Second period woes
Not only did the Kraken give up two goals in the second, but they were outshot 15-6. The Capitals also had a 24-10 advantage in shots attempted at five on five and 77.68 percent of the shot quality.
That disparity played out throughout the game. The Kraken recovered somewhat in the third period, but Washington ended with 54.95 percent of the shot attempts and 78.96 percent of the shot quality.
Those numbers point out how huge Grubauer was as this game should probably have been out of hand earlier than it was.
Tentacle Tales
- The Kraken fall to 8-2-1 on the road this season.
- Seattle had won six straight road games before Friday’s game.
- The upcoming Kraken schedule is tough, and they will next be in action Sunday at Florida. “We just go back to work,” Hakstol said. “Tough stretches, they’re part of this. You have stretches where you play well and things go your way, and you have tough stretches on the schedule where you’ve got to step up and go play good hockey. Our group is strong in the dressing room, and we remain confident.”
- Seattle was without forward Jaden Schwartz who was scratched due to an upper body issue and is day to day.
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