by Andy Eide | Nov 27, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
It may not have been the prettiest game, but the Kraken found a way to outlast the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 at the Honda Center Sunday night.
The Kraken held 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2 leads, but the Ducks held their own and eventually tied the game 4-4 thanks for three power-play goals.
Daniel Sprong put the Kraken ahead for good 3:41 into the third period when he got the puck in the slot, and showing tremendous patience, waited to shoot until an Anaheim defender fell into goalie John Gibson and knocked him down. Sprong then fired a backhand into the net to give Seattle the 5-4 lead.
“Donnie gave it to me wide,” Sprong said. “I kind of wanted to dump in and go for a line change and I think I ended up hitting [Mason] McTavish in the foot or something and it came right back to me in the slot. I think instinct just took over and put in the net.”
Matty Beniers had a goal along with two assists, and Sprong added an assist to his goal. Martin Jones started in net and stopped 25 Anaheim shots for the Kraken (13-5-3).
“Third period, we liked the way we played, we were a little bit better and more sound,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “First two periods we felt like we were too sporadic, there were stretches that were really good, but gave up too much, too easy at different times during the first couple periods. So, it was good to go flip the switch in the third period and lock it down a little bit and play a good 20 minutes on the road.”
Troy Terry had a goal and assist for the Ducks (6-15-1). Gibson started the game and made 14 saves. He left due to injury after the Sprong goal and was replaced by Anthony Stolarz who finished with six saves.
“Right now we have a little good motor going, we feel like we were just playing good hockey and obviously playing against teams in our division,” Alex Wennberg said. “It’s huge points for us obviously, right now. We think we’re doing a good job and getting rewarded.”
How the Kraken and Ducks played out
For the 12th time this season, the Kraken opened the scoring on Sunday. This time it was Jared McCann who went to the net after a face-off win 33 seconds into the game. Jordan Eberle threw a perfect pass, and McCann picked up his eighth goal.
Wennberg gave Seattle its first two-goal lead at 6:53 when Andre Burakovsky found him on the doorstep and he made it 2-0.
“Obviously, scoring goals is a lot of fun too, and helps the team to get confidence,” Wennberg said. “It’s great, but I mean all that matters is the two points, so to be able to help them out with that was just great.”
Anaheim got back into the game with a power-play marker from Troy Terry when he got the puck down low and slid it through Jones’s five-hole at 14:16 to make it 2-1.
Just before the end of the first period, Vince Dunn would make it 3-1 at 19:33 when he got the puck at the top of the zone. Inexplicably, the Ducks defense opened up the middle of the ice and Dunn walked into the high slot and beat Gibson with a wrist shot.
The Ducks, refusing to go away, made it a one-goal game again, 3-2 at 1:48 of the second on a goal from Derek Grant scored from the slot.
Beniers would quickly reinstate the Kraken two-goal advantage at 4-2 when he scored a power-play goal of his own, putting back a rebound from the crease for his seventh of the season. Beniers has nine points in his last four games and spent the second half of the game double shifting due to Morgan Geekie leaving with an injury after he skated into Adam Larsson’s shoulder in the second period.
The Kraken then started a parade to the penalty box and the Ducks made them pay.
First it was Mason McTavish at 16:34 cutting it to 4-3 on a power-play goal, scoring on the back door. Just over a minute later, at 17:55, Adam Henrique tied the game with the third power-play score from Anaheim.
“We’ve found different ways to win games,” Hakstol said. “I don’t really like the term ‘find a way to win,’ we built good wins so our team has a confidence in that we’ve done it in different ways for the most part. We found a pretty good rhythm out on the road, and you get a group of 20 guys every night, whichever 20 guys it is, in the lineup are working hard for one another.”
Tentacle Tales
- Beniers recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season, which leads all NHL rookies.
- The Kraken have their second five-game win streak of the season.
- Seattle is 10-1-1 over its last 12 games.
- Beniers’ nine points in his last four game is the most by a Kraken skater over a four-game span in franchise history.
- Hakstol did not have an update on Geekie after the game.
by Andy Eide | Nov 25, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
Vegas for a birthday is a popular destination, and that’s where Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer spent his 31st Friday night. Grubauer, making his first start since Oct. 21 against Colorado, kicked away 20 Vegas Golden Knight shots to earn his first victory of the season as Seattle came away with a statement type 4-2 win at T-Mobile Arena. The Kraken (12-5-3) scored twice in the second period to win their fourth straight overall and fourth straight on the road.
“It’s probably, besides my dog, the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten,” Grubauer said. “Two points.”
Andre Burakovsky scored twice and Adam Larsson had two assists for the Kraken who inched closer in the Pacific Division standings, climbing to within six points of the Golden Knights.
Nicolas Roy scored a goal, as did Phil Kessel. Former Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Shea Theodore had two assists, and Adin Hill made 24 saves for the Golden Knights (16-5-1) who fell to 7-4-0 at home.
Seattle gave up a two-goal lead in the first period but pulled away in the second and shut down the Vegas attack during the third period. The Golden Knights only had six shots in the final frame, and their big guns, Mark Stone and Jack Eichel, were held off the scoresheet.
Burakovsky was the offensive star, but it was a team effort for Seattle to win the game.
“We just wanted to get back to playing the way we play, ” coach Dave Hakstol said. “We were really happy with the two points the other night [against San Jose]. You gotta find different ways to get ’em, but we got back to the way we wanted to play tonight.”
“Just amazing to watch from back there how everybody is contributing and no selfish plays,” added Grubauer.
How it played out for the Kraken and Golden Knights
Ryan Donato got the scoring going early in the first period. He was parked in front of the Vegas goal and made it 1-0 at 2:30 when he cleaned up an Adam Larsson rebound and scored from just outside the crease.
“Lately, we get rewarded when we get pucks on net,” said Larsson. “That was a prime example of just close your eyes and shoot it, and it really landed pretty much on his stick in front of the net, so that was nice.”
Burakovsky then continued his hot play when he stepped into a wrist shot that Hill got a piece of but couldn’t keep from trickling in to make it 2-0 Seattle at 8:00.
Vegas would work the game back when Nic Roy cut the lead to 2-1, banging a rebound in at 10:46 during a Golden Knights power play.
Kessel then tied the game 2-2 at 12:50 when he got a piece of a Theodore shot in front of Grubauer.
Burakovsky scored again at 5:20 of the second to put the Kraken up 3-2 after Jamie Oleksiak drove the puck deep. He found Burakovsky outside the circle and buried a wrister. It was the third goal in the last couple games to go along with five points.
Jordan Eberle reinstated the Kraken’s two-goal lead at 4-2 when he scored a highlight reel goal at 18:46. Hill stopped his initial shot but he got the rebound and put it back.
That was all Grubauer needed. After the two goals against in the first period, he was perfect the rest of the way, including an impressive glove save on Theodore in the second. Grubauer said, “You can’t get too high or too low,” after saves like that, but he recognized the importance of timely stops and said that was probably one of them. He gave the credit to his teammates for the win, though. “They made it really easy for me tonight, and once you make a couple saves, everything is kind of settling in a little bit.”
Tentacle Tales
- Donato opened the scoring for Seattle Friday for the fifth time as a Kraken. He trails only Eberle (6) and Jared McCann (7) for most game-opening goals in team history.
- Adam Larsson had a pair of assists for the Kraken, and it was the second multi-assist game for the defenseman since becoming a Kraken.
- The Kraken were 6-20-0 against the Pacific Division last season but are already 5-2-1 this season.
- Seattle will have a chance to improve against the division with a game at Anaheim Sunday followed by a rematch with the Kings on Tuesday.
by Darren Brown | Nov 23, 2022 | Gameday Coverage, Three takeaways
That’s… *not* Kraken hockey, baby! You don’t often see Seattle in track meets (or swim meets, since both teams were sea creatures?), but that’s what happened Wednesday against San Jose. In the end, the Kraken outran (out-swam?) the Sharks with an 8-5 win to improve to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and close out their six-game homestand 4-1-1.
“It was fun for the fans, but it stunk for the coaches,” coach Dave Hakstol joked about the high-scoring affair. “Sometimes there’s nights like this. It kind of had that feel right from the go.”
With the win, Seattle now officially jumps over Los Angeles in the standings and holds sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with three games still in hand. That was a big two points.
It’s another new way for the Kraken to win, earning a franchise record eight goals and overcoming a Timo Meier hat trick. And although coach Hakstol couldn’t have been thrilled about his team continuously letting the Sharks back in the game, the boys prevailed in the end.
“You gotta win games all different ways,” Hakstol said. “This isn’t the way that you draw it up, but it’s still a win, and you got to find different ways to win hockey games.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a wild 8-5 Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: Everyone off the schneid!
It had been a long time since we had seen Jaden Schwartz score a goal. It had been longer since we had seen Ryan Donato pot one. And it had been really really long since Oliver Bjorkstrand had gotten one.
Schwartz, who had two goals, had last scored Oct. 29 against Pittsburgh. Donato, meanwhile, hadn’t scored since Oct. 19 against St. Louis, and Bjorkstrand hadn’t scored since the team’s very first game of the season in Anaheim.
Bjorkstrand getting on the board feels especially important. The key offseason acquisition has scored more than 20 goals in three of his last four seasons, but he has been mired with just one this season thanks to a shockingly low shooting percentage.
He finally got the monkey off his back against the Sharks. With the game tied early in the third period, Brandon Tanev forced a turnover at the San Jose blue line. The puck went right to Yanni Gourde, who found Bjorkstrand all alone with oodles of time. Bjorkstrand waited out Kaapo Kahkonen and tucked a backhander up under the bar.
“He scores that goal, and we all went nuts on the bench,” said Matty Beniers. “He’s so deserving of it. He’s getting so many offensive chances every night, and now one’s going in, and you’re probably going to see they’re all going to start falling for him.”
Andre Burakovsky shared that Bjorkstrand had a secret weapon Wednesday. Bjorkstrand recently switched to a new stick and had been scoring a lot in practice recently. So, when he buried one Wednesday, Burakovsky told him, “It’s the new stick, bud.”
“It’s great for him,” Hakstol added. “That’s a heck of a goal. He’s had some really good opportunities here over the last 10 games. That play is— first of all, it’s off of hard work on a re-load in the offensive zone, and he made no mistake.”
It was a big goal in the game and perhaps an even bigger goal for the player, who Seattle certainly hopes can get going offensively.
Takeaway #2: Jamie Oleksiak is back
Though the Kraken had some success with Jamie Oleksiak out of the lineup, the Big Rig was a sight for sore eyes on the Seattle blue line Wednesday. It is our belief here at Sound Of Hockey that consistent and balanced right-shot/left-shot defensive pairs has been hugely helpful to this team. Without Oleksiak, Seattle had temporarily lost that balance, plus a big, physical presence on the back end was suddenly missing.
In his first game back from his lower-body injury, Oleksiak found his way onto the scoresheet. Midway through the second period, San Jose had a delayed penalty coming. With Martin Jones off for an extra skater, the Kraken maintained possession for an extended period. They worked it around the offensive zone until Justin Schultz found Oleksiak open on the doorstep. Oleksiak redirected it by Kahkonen to make it 4-2 Kraken.
“He was good,” Hakstol said of Oleksiak. “Obviously, we love his defensive game and the hardness that he brings there. He chipped in with a goal in the six-on-five with the delayed penalty. So it’s not really a defensive two-way defenseman’s dream tonight at 8-5, but he contributed in a lot of different ways, and he’s a big part of our group. It’s nice to have him back in the lineup.”
Just like how the Kraken saw immediate results in three-on-three overtime after practicing that scenario, they also practiced six-on-five situations this week. Lo and behold, an extended opportunity came up in the middle of the game, and they took advantage. As we said after last game, practice makes perfect.
Takeaway #3: The Killer B’s come through in a big way
Not only did Bjorkstrand score an important goal Wednesday, the other two of the “Killer B’s” had an enormous night as well.
Burakovsky had Seattle’s first goal of the game on a five-on-three power play, then assisted on Oleksiak’s goal and Schwartz’s first goal.
Beniers had three points of his own, with a beautiful goal off a rush to seal the game at 7-5, and an even better assist on Vince Dunn’s goal in the second period. He made something out of nothing, attacking an offensive zone full of Sharks, despite being completely outnumbered. Beniers flew deep into the zone, then somehow snuck a pass between Jaycob Megna and Luke Kunin. The pass found Dunn driving to the net, and he tied the game at 2-2.
“I loved his game three nights ago,” Hakstol said of Beniers. “If you go back and look at that hockey game, he did so many really good things. High-level, good two-way play, good offensive plays, and he followed it up tonight.”
We’ve quietly had just the smallest inkling of concern that Beniers may have been hitting a bit of a wall. This is, after all, his first full pro season and the first time he’s experienced the grind of an 82-game campaign. After a torrid start to the season, Beniers had gone six games without a point before earning two assists against the Kings on Saturday. Wednesday was a breakout.
It’s a great sign to see Matty back to his contributing ways after a quiet stretch.
by bliesse | Nov 9, 2022 | Gameday Coverage, Photography
All photos taken by Brian Liesse. Photos are property of Sound Of Hockey and cannot be reused.
by Andy Eide | Nov 3, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
Scoring thrice in the second period, the Seattle Kraken won their third straight game for only the second time in franchise history with a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday.
“We’re having fun; it’s way more fun to win,” Kraken center Morgan Geekie said. “We’re having a good time, we’re playing solid hockey at both ends of the rink.”
It was about as complete a game as the Kraken have played this season, and it was punctuated by Martin Jones making 22 saves for his first Seattle shutout, plus another good night from Seattle’s fourth line which had a goal from Geekie and two assists from Daniel Sprong.
“We checked well all game,” Jones said. “In the D-zone we took away the middle of the ice. Then we were able to get some exits and get on the forecheck.”
Alex Wennberg scored twice for the Kraken (6-4-2) who move to 4-1-1 on the road this season.
“It was straight up 60 minutes of hockey,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We just wanted to come play a real good road game in a tough building. It’s a building where momentum can get rolling.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for the Wild (5-5-1) who had won their previous two games.
After a low-event first period, the Kraken exploded in the second.
Geekie tipped in a Sprong shot at 5:02 of the second to open the scoring and give the Kraken a 1-0 lead. It was Geekie’s fourth goal in his last five games and third straight game with a goal.
“I just stick to my game for the most part,” Geekie said of his hot streak. “I have a couple of good linemates, which helps. I think we have a lot of chemistry, and I just try to be in the right place at the right time and create offense.”
Jamie Oleksiak scored his third at 11:34 on a back-and-forth passing play with Yanni Gourde. Oleksiak had one goal in 71 games last season.
A little controversy gave Seattle a 3-0 lead at 14:47 during a Kraken power play. Sprong’s shot deflected off a Minnesota stick and up into the air. Wennberg appeared to head butt it past Fleury. That is not allowed, and initially the goal was disallowed. But replay showed that Wennberg did not contact the puck with his head, and it instead bounced off his back; that is allowed. The play was reviewed, and Wennberg was credited with the goal.
“I saw the puck right away, so I had plenty of time [to think],” Wennberg said. “The first thought was to try to hit it sideways because [Shane Wright] was there, but you’re not allowed to score with your head. So, I feel like I ducked last second. It’s hard to say that’s what I wanted to do, but I’ll keep it that way.”
Wennberg scored in a more conventional manner at 10:35 of the third period when he tipped a shot from Will Borgen in for his second of the night to make it 4-0.
The Jones file
Playing his first game since leaving the team briefly in Calgary to take care of a personal issue Jones, showed no ill effect of missing time.
His best period was the second period. While his teammates were scoring three times, Jones had to make 12 saves. With the lead in the third, he was sharp and didn’t allow a momentum-changing goal.
“He picked up right where he left off from the Pittsburgh game,” Hakstol said. “He obviosuly had a couple days in between, but he did a really good job of being mentally and physically ready to go… Jonesy had a couple saves from in tight [in the second]… I thought in the third period we closed it out really well.”
Jones had great help from the guys in front of him, who mostly kept the Wild to the outside and limited dangerous shots against. It was the first shutout for Jones as a Kraken and his 26th career blanking. Jones had previously shut out the Wild three times in his career.
Overall, he’s stopped 55 of his last 56 shots faced, going back to a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh this past Saturday.
Tentacle Tales
- Jared McCann did not play Thursday, and Hakstol said the forward was out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
- Shane Wright played in McCann’s place, centering a line with Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev. He established a career high with 13:45 of ice time, including 1:55 on the Kraken’s power play. “I thought Wrighter and his line played a solid game,” Hakstol said. “Five-on-five, they were reliable in a 200-foot sense. I thought Shane’s confidence grew throughout the game.”
- With Jones’s return to the lineup, the Kraken sent goalie Christopher Gibson back to the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
- Seattle enjoyed its second straight game with a blank sheet on the penalty kill, killing off both of the Wild attempts. The Kraken were 1-for-2 with their own power play.
by Andy Eide | Nov 1, 2022 | Gameday Coverage
They gave up two goals in 17 seconds early in the third period in a tie game, and it looked like a frustrating loss was in order for the Seattle Kraken. But not this night. Not this season. Instead of folding the cards, the Kraken stormed back to score the next three goals and beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.
The heroes were aplenty, starting with goalie Joey Daccord, who was making a last-minute start and kicked out 36 shots. It was his second NHL win, first for the Kraken, and came in his first start of the season.
“Hockey’s a crazy game, it was a nuts game,” Daccord said. “You give up two quick in the third and its 4-2 you think ‘that’s probably it.’ Just an amazing effort out of our team and I think it shows the character we have in this room to battle back like that. Our PK was awesome all night, blocking shots and making my life easy… a huge character win for us and I’m just happy to be part of it.”
Yanni Gourde scored his first of the year, a short-handed goal, to tie the game, and Matty Beniers scored his fifth to win the game for the Kraken (5-4-2) who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
It was looking bleak
After surviving a second period where they were outshot 20-8, the Kraken left tied 2-2, but the Flames (5-3-0) struck early in the third.
“We were able to right the ship a little bit in the second, the last eight minutes,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “To start the third, we give up a quick face-off goal and then a little miscue coming out of the zone up the wall. Those are the kinds of plays that will get you beat… we showed really good resiliency to find a way back in the game.”
Calgary took a 4-2 lead in a matter of 16 seconds on goals from Tyler Toffoli and Trevor Lewis starting at 1:51 of the period. It was a script that played out numerous times a season ago. Seattle would give up goals to fall behind and lacked any firepower to come back.
The comeback started at 8:31 when the Kraken were on the power play, and Daniel Sprong scored after Alex Wennberg found him down low with a cross-crease pass. It cut the lead to 4-3 and was Sprong’s second of the season.
Gourde tied it up while killing a penalty at 11:26. He stripped the puck in the neutral zone, picked it up, and snapped a quick shot that Flames goalie Dan Vladar, who made 21 saves, couldn’t stop.
“I don’t read anything,” Gourde said when asked what he saw on the play. “ I close my eyes, honestly. I saw low blocker, that’s usually my shot, I just took it and it worked.”
The game was tied at 4-4. Exactly two minutes later, Jordan Eberle led a jailbreak Seattle rush and found Beniers across the ice and buried it, top shelf for what would be his first NHL game-winning goal.
“I was fired up” Beniers said about seeing Eberle with the puck. “I was smiling skating down the ice because he’s dangerous with the puck no matter what he’s going to do. He ended up making a perfect play, gave me the open net on the back side.”
How it got there
Carson Soucy opened the scoring at 14:58 of the first period when he jumped into the zone and swept a wrister from the face-off circle for his first goal of the year.
The Flames started the second period pushing the pace and tied the game, 1-1, when defenseman Nikita Zadorov crashed the net and Toffoli fed him with a cross-ice pass for a tap-in goal at 6:28 of the period.
Nazem Kadri gave the Flames the lead moments later at 8:14 when he attacked the net and was initially stopped by Daccord. However, the puck rebounded right back to Kadri who flung it over Daccord for his fifth goal of the season. Seattle challenged the play for goalie interference. The replay did show that Kadri’s skate brushed Daccord’s pads when he skated through the crease, but it was deemed not to have interfered with Daccord’s ability to make the save. The goal made it 2-1.
Morgan Geekie continued to stay hot and scored for the second game in a row to tie it 2-2 at 13:10. The puck was stolen by Jamie Oleksiak at neutral ice, which developed a mini two-on-one rush. He slid the puck to Geekie for the score.
Seattle special teams were mostly good
Coming into Tuesday’s contest, the Kraken penalty kill was a mess. They were third worst in the league, but against the Flames, Seattle killed off all four power plays they faced and were one for four themselves. Gourde’s short-handed goal was a boost as well.
“The PK was good all night. They were moving together, we did a better job holding the line, maybe than we’ve done all year,” Hakstol said. “On the power play, we weren’t sharp tonight. Weren’t getting in the zone clean… but the bottom line with the power play is that if you stick with it and get one at a critical time, you’ve done a great job, and we did that.”
Soucy and Gourde scored for the first time this year meaning the Kraken have had 19 different players score a goal this season. That’s the most in the NHL. Seattle is getting widespread scoring, but with Soucy’s goal, every defenseman who has played a game for the Kraken this season has scored. That’s also the best in the league so far.
Tentacle Tales
- Beniers’ goal gives him a five-game point streak which ties his career best. It is the most by a rookie in the NHL this season.
- Tuesday’s win was the second in franchise history for the Kraken where they came back from a third-period multi-goal deficit. The first was March 19 when Seattle came back to score four goals in the third period against the Detroit Red Wings to win 4-2.
- 36 saves are a career high for Daccord.
- Daccord was starting for Martin Jones who left the team to deal with a personal matter. Christopher Gibson was called up earlier in the day from AHL Coachella Valley to back up.
- The Kraken’s road trip continues Thursday when they play the Minnesota Wild and ends Saturday in Pittsburgh with a rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
