We are not in the prediction business, but if we were… well… let’s just say that the Kraken have looked like they are ready to get off this losing streak in the near future. It’s been six consecutive defeats for Seattle, including a disappointing overtime ‘L’ to Boston at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday. Still, it feels like the boys have been heading in the right direction over the last game and a half, and a win has to be on the horizon. Could that skid-snapping Kraken ‘W’ come against the Sharks on Sunday?
Improvements being made
Penalty kill
Despite the outcome, the Kraken had a good 60-minute effort against the Bruins and very nearly stole a win against a better team. It would have been quite the accomplishment, too, as Seattle spent more than half the first period shorthanded.
On that note, the penalty kill has gotten a lot better lately and was especially impressive Thursday. Coach Dave Hakstol indicated on Sunday morning that the team has made some changes to its kill, now taking a more aggressive posture. “We made that change a few games ago because we felt like we were really getting too stagnant and [would] just end up being dictated to, rather than dictating anything,” Hakstol said. “That was a real good change the players have done a real good job with, and we’re getting— you know, the detail of it is getting quicker and better and more efficient.”
He also explained the change is mostly in the way that the forwards are pressuring and rotating. One forward pressures the puck carrier, then gets back to the middle, and his forward partner then does the same.
It certainly worked on Thursday, as the PK held the scary Bruins power play off the board.
60-minute effort
The Kraken looked downright bad in the first half of their loss to the Islanders on Tuesday, but they got on their toes and attacked more aggressively in the second half and nearly turned that game around. The effort carried over to Thursday’s game, and in general, the Kraken looked much better that night. The difference in the game was a hard-luck shot by Jake DeBrusk from a bad angle that beat Philipp Grubauer in overtime.
Our belief is that when you’re on a losing streak, you have to bottom out, then make some positive baby steps before you can break out. We think the bottoming out happened at the beginning of the Islanders game, and those baby steps have been taken with the second half of that game and the impressive effort against Boston. So, is the breakout from the skid coming Sunday?
Goaltending
Grubauer was outstanding against the Bruins and absolutely deserved a victory. That’s twice in the last eight days that he’s had performances like that, with the other coming against Calgary on Feb. 19.
In his last three starts, including a not-as-stellar outing against New York, Grubauer has a .919 save percentage. He will get the start again in San Jose.
Kraken versus Sharks
It is interesting how—despite the club’s unimpressive results as a whole—Seattle has had the numbers of a couple teams this season. The Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres, and San Jose Sharks jump to mind as teams that have struggled with the Kraken.
Seattle has handed two losses to San Jose, one on the road and one at home. In the Jan. 20 home win, Seattle didn’t have its best effort but got away with it and earned the two points.
Projected lineup
First period highlights
The Kraken had a dominant first period going, en route to outshooting the Sharks 19-4. Still, San Jose somehow got on the board first. Off a three-on-three rush, Noah Gregor, Logan Couture, and newly claimed Ryan Dzingel connected on a nice passing play. Dzingel beat Grubauer through the wickets for his first goal as a Shark.
Morgan Geekie salvaged an excellent period for the Kraken just nine seconds later, though. Just off the center-ice face-off, Seattle broke into the San Jose zone. Ryan Donato chipped a bouncing puck to Geekie, who settled it down and lifted a backhander over the outstretched pad of James Reimer.
1-1
Nine seconds later, Geekie with the response goal.
That was Geekie’s first goal since Dec. 11, and it took Seattle into the room level at 1-1.
Second period highlights
Two minutes into the second period, Jacob Middleton laid a big hit on Mason Appleton in the neutral zone. In response, Jeremy Lauzon challenged Middleton, and the two dropped the gloves. As they tussled near the penalty box, the off-ice official stupidly opened the door, and the players fell into the threshold. It was a dangerous decision to open the door, but thankfully, neither player was injured.
After a big hit by Middleton on Appleton, Lauzon challenges Middleton, and the two have a good bout. Dangerously, the off-ice official opened the penalty box door, and the players nearly fell into the box.
Soon after the fight, it appeared the Kraken had taken their first lead of the game when Calle Jarnkrok scored. There was contact between Marcus Johansson and Reimer, though, and the Sharks successfully challenged to keep the game tied at 1-1.
A few minutes later, Scott Reedy put the Sharks ahead with his first NHL goal. Just off an offensive-zone face-off, Reedy skated through the circle and picked up the loose puck. He shot through traffic, and it eluded Grubauer.
The second period was more level than the first in terms of possession, but Seattle still led almost every metric except the one that mattered.
Third period highlights
The third period was fairly tight checking, though Grubauer made several nice saves in the frame on Timo Meier. Jonah Gadjovich joined Reedy in scoring his first NHL goal in this game, when a rebound bounced off his skate and slid past Grubauer to make it 3-1. Hakstol challenged that goal for goalie interference, but it was ruled a good goal.
The three goals for were more than enough support for Reimer, who was outstanding throughout. The Kraken only beat him once (legally), meaning they have now averaged just 1.86 goals per game during this now seven-game losing streak.
Our prediction that Seattle would have a good effort was accurate, but the result still was not there.
When news broke just before morning skate that Jared McCann was on injured reserve and would be unavailable for Thursday’s Kraken game against the Boston Bruins, we knew the deck was stacked against Seattle. It got stacked even higher, though, when the Kraken spent half of the opening period in the penalty box facing a team that scored two power play goals against them just three weeks ago.
Even so, Seattle put together a downright gutsy effort from the goal crease out on Thursday and nearly pulled off a stunner but instead took its sixth loss in a row.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an exciting but ultimately disappointing 3-2 overtime Kraken loss to the Bruins.
Takeaway #1: Philipp Grubauer almost stole that one
Philipp Grubauer was razor sharp from the opening face-off on Thursday, and he had to be. With Kraken players parading to the penalty box throughout the opening 20 minutes, the puck was in Seattle’s zone for almost the entire frame.
Grubauer was phenomenal, though, making saves of all shapes and sizes, and turning away 16 of the 17 shots he faced in the period. The only one that got behind him came off a fluky play where Jeremy Lauzon hit a foul ball trying to bat a wobbling puck out of harm’s way.
Somewhat comically, his best save of the night—which came in that impressive opening period—was friendly fire from Riley Sheahan. Trying to deflect a pass away, Sheahan redirected it right toward Grubauer, who was sprawling in the wrong direction. He was able to somehow stop his momentum, push back the other way, and do a full split to just barely get his left toe on the puck.
In honor of tonight's @WAFDBank Signature Save of the Game, we ask you to reply with your *loudest* GRUUUU below. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/ntj9lEaF3U
It’s rare that we agree with the “WaFd Signature Save” choice, but that was a truly a remarkable stop.
Grubauer didn’t want to take much credit for his performance after the game. “I think we did a better job of keeping guys to the outside, boxing them out, like taking options away,” he said. “It’s not just [about] a shot, there’s a backdoor option, a one-timer on the other side, so the guys let me read the game really well and focus on one guy or two guys. We keep doing that and taking sticks and rebounds away, we have a good chance.”
Just when we thought Grubauer was going to steal the victory, Jake DeBrusk beat him from a sharp angle 33 seconds into overtime.
It’s our opinion (we did not ask Grubauer about this, though we probably should have) that he was not expecting DeBrusk to shoot from that position in a possession-focused three-on-three period. Watch the clip above again, and look how Grubauer picks up his right pad just before the shot. He sets the inside edge of his skate into the ice, then puts his pad back down when he sees the shot coming, but by then it’s too late. So we think he was preparing to push to the other post to take away either a one-time opportunity or a DeBrusk wraparound.
Regardless, that was a memorable performance by Grubi, who made 36 of 39 saves in all.
Takeaway #2: Penalties are bad, mmkay?
The primary reason that Grubauer faced 39 shots on the night is that Seattle spent an absurd amount of time in the penalty box in the first period. Mark Giordano took a tripping penalty 20 seconds in, then Adam Larsson joined him in the box at 1:42. Larsson’s penalty was a four-minute high-sticking penalty, so Seattle essentially spent the first six minutes of the game down a man, including a 38-second stretch at five-on-three.
Yet, remarkably, the Kraken were ahead 1-0 by the time they killed off Larsson’s penalty, thanks to a beautiful shorthanded goal by Giordano that was set up by an exhausted Riley Sheahan.
Add an Alex Wennberg penalty and a second call on Larsson, and you have yourself one very tiring period. Seattle’s penalty killers did a fantastic job, and the team nearly got to the room with a 1-0 lead, but that lucky DeBrusk goal brought the Bruins level.
“That’s not the best formula to start with,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “I believe the entire first period, there’s about eight and a half or nine minutes of five-on-five hockey, so we were short-handed too much. But the penalty killers did a real good job through that, our goaltending was good through that, and our energy and momentum was good through that.”
Added Jordan Eberle, “Grubi stood on his head. Once we kind of weathered the storm there, and we got a shorthanded [goal], we ended up coming out over the top of it.”
They did indeed, but we still can’t help wondering what might have been if Seattle didn’t spend so much of its energy killing penalties in the opening frame.
Takeaway #3: Better, but still not enough
The first half of Seattle’s game against New York on Tuesday was among the worst stretches of hockey we’ve seen the Kraken play at Climate Pledge Arena this season. On Thursday, the team looked much better from the drop of the puck, despite the many penalties against in the early going.
The way the players seemed to be playing for each other, doing everything they could to keep pucks to the outside and blocking shots, was telling of the level of effort in this game, and made us believe they were going to pull out a victory.
“We played our asses off tonight for 60 minutes, bottom line,” Hakstol said. “Tough way to lose a hockey game, but you know, I’m proud of our effort.”
It was a continuation of the way the Kraken played in the second half against the Islanders on Tuesday, and a good sign that Seattle will soon break out of this latest six-game losing streak.
It is on nights like Thursday when we’re reminded that Seattle’s lineup is lacking in depth and top-end offensive skill. Despite playing their asses off, as Hakstol mentioned, Boston got a second period goal from David Pastrnak where he one-timed a perfect Charlie McAvoy pass and beat Grubauer. Grubauer had zero chance on the play, which was a pass from an elite play-making defenseman to an elite goal-scoring forward. Seattle just doesn’t have guys like that yet. A 100 percent effort still only gives the team a chance to win, and not necessarily a win.
By the way, we asked Hakstol what the difference was between the start on Thursday and the start on Tuesday, and he said: “We had fresh legs.” That was it.
In the end, it was a disappointing loss, but a positive step for the Kraken.
Things were already bad for the Seattle Kraken, who have lost five games in a row entering Thursday’s home matchup with the Boston Bruins. But they aren’t getting any easier, now that Jared McCann has officially been placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Coach Dave Hakstol made it sound like the McCann injury is not that bad, but he did not give a timetable, and being that the Kraken’s top scorer is actually on IR, he will miss at least a week. Seattle is still without fellow top-liner Jaden Schwartz, so the loss of McCann—the team’s leading scorer—becomes extra painful (pun intended).
Pre-game
Yanni Gourde a game-time decision
Potentially adding to the challenge for Seattle, Yanni Gourde was not present at morning skate at Climate Pledge Arena. Hakstol called Gourde a “game-time decision” and would not disclose the reason for his unexpected absence.
Kole Lind was recalled from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers to replace McCann on the roster, but we suspect he will be scratched if Gourde is able to go. If Gourde is not able to go, then we expect Lind to be inserted onto a line with Colin Blackwell and Mason Appleton. We shall see.
Kraken need to build on second half of previous game
The Kraken did not play well in the first half of their game against the Islanders on Tuesday and fell behind 4-0 before waking up in the second period. They flipped a switch and played much better in the second half, after Gourde scored to get them on the board (rhyming intentional).
“The two [halves] are very much connected,” Hakstol said Thursday after morning skate. “The biggest area that we didn’t execute on was entering the zone and extending that time. I mean we had five or six outnumbered situations in the first 15 minutes of that game, and I don’t know that we got a shot on goal. But more importantly, we didn’t extend that o-zone time. We were one and done in those scenarios.”
Hakstol also gave some credit to the way New York played in the neutral zone, but said Seattle consistently forced pucks into their structure. He also said the turnaround was thanks to “the decisions and the will that we had in terms of our puck possession” in the later part of the game.
The second half really was well played by the Kraken. If they can replicate that for a full 60 minutes on Thursday, they will have a good chance to win, even without McCann and (potentially) Gourde.
Boston Bruins
The Kraken and Bruins played each other a few weeks ago in Boston. That night, the Kraken came up empty on the power play, while David Pastrnak scored twice on the man advantage and led Boston to a 3-2 win.
On Thursday, the Bruins visit Seattle for the first time, and they will have one of their stars, Brad Marchand, back in the lineup after a six-game suspension for punching and swinging his stick at Tristan Jarry.
Marchand is a pest, and there’s no doubt about that, but he said Thursday morning that he understands the rules against him and needs to avoid getting himself in situations where he could be suspended again in the future. He also missed practice in Seattle Wednesday because his wife just gave birth to a baby girl, so he stayed back to help her get moved from the hospital to home. He was in a good mood Thursday morning.
“I’m sure he’s going to have a lot of jump [Thursday],” said former Bruin, Ryan Donato. “He’s such a good player and a tough guy to play against, so you got to have your head on a swivel when you’re against him, for more than one reason.”
The Bruins are in a playoff position, holding down the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Coach Bruce Cassidy said that their lineup is a bit more dialed in than before, especially now that Tuukka Rask has officially retired. They know that Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman are their two netminders moving forward, and their lineup feels more locked in than before with 50 games under the belt.
Ullmark will start for the Bruins against the Kraken.
Projected lineup
UPDATE: Yanni Gourde did participate in warm-ups and line rushes, so it looks like he’ll play. Here is the lineup.
The latest
The Kraken will sport special warm-up jerseys tonight, commemorating Black History Month. The jerseys will be auctioned off at the game.
The game began in thrilling fashion. Mark Giordano took a tripping penalty at :20 of the first period, putting his team immediately shorthanded. 1:22 later, Adam Larsson joined him in the box after catching Taylor Hall with a high stick and drawing blood.
Would you believe us if we told you that the Kraken not only killed the five-plus minutes of penalty time, but also came away with a 1-0 lead? It’s true!
Completely gassed after a long shift on the kill, Riley Sheahan huffed and puffed through the neutral zone with open ice ahead of him. He took the puck just across the offensive blue line and pulled up to wait for a trailing Giordano, whose penalty had just ended. Giordano had all day to pick his spot on Ullmark and sniped with Seattle’s first shot of the game.
A bit later in the frame, Charlie McAvoy narrowly missed a devastating injury. Alex Wennberg didn’t see him, and lifted his stick up. The stick got caught under McAvoy’s helmet, and lifted it off his head. McAvoy went down for a bit, but was able to recover. Scary play.
Meanwhile, Philipp Grubauer was standing on his head at the other end of the ice, turning away grade-A chance after grade-A chance throughout the first period. He almost escaped the frame without giving up a goal, but the Bruins got a very lucky bounce when the puck popped up in the air and over the net. Jeremy Lauzon tried to bat it out of the air, but didn’t get enough of it, and it dropped right on the goal line for Jake DeBrusk.
On their 24th shot in just 26:47 of total game time, David Pastrnak wired a one-timer from the left dot. Despite Grubauer being on top of his game at this point, there was no chance he was stopping that one.
The Kraken answered to make it 2-2 at 13:19. Off a broken play in the neutral zone, Seattle found itself on a three-on-one. Marcus Johansson passed to Jordan Eberle, and defenseman Mike Reilly just kept backing up. So, Eberle cleverly took the ice that was being offered and walked all the way into the crease before he dangled to his backhand and lofted it over a sprawling Ullmark.
NHL Video Highlight – Jordan Eberle scores against the Boston Bruins to make it 2-2. pic.twitter.com/P0bZ93PxGV
By the time the teams went to the dressing rooms after the second horn, Grubauer had already made 29 saves on the night.
Third period highlights
We didn’t forget to write anything in the third period, but compared to the hectic first two periods, it felt like little happened in the final frame of regulation. Things tightened up a lot defensively, so there just wasn’t anything all that noteworthy. The score remained 2-2, and after 60 minutes, we headed for overtime.
Overtime highlights
There was only one overtime highlight. This was it:
Thursday night, the Kraken will host the world-famous Boston Bruins at Climate Pledge Arena to try and put an end to a five-game losing streak.
Boston is the fifth original six team to visit Seattle, if you’re into that stuff. Even if you don’t care about history, the ‘B’ on their jerseys entices a ton of emotions, and some of those may be negative. The Bruins have had their share of rough and tumble teams over the years and the ‘Big, Bad Bruins’ stigma still follows them around.
That has been tamed somewhat, but Thursday will be the return of Brad Marchand, who is very skilled and has had his run-ins with players, teams, and officials throughout the league. Thursday will be his first game back after serving a six-game suspension for losing the proverbial ‘it’ against the Pittsburgh Penguins and their goalie Tristan Jarry.
“A lot of punches are thrown throughout the league and through games… that’s part of hockey and I didn’t expect it to get to where it went,” Marchand said after the Bruins morning skate on Thursday.
He also added that he knows he doesn’t have a long leash with the refs and that he’s going to keep the rage in check moving on.
“What I’m taking away from this is my threshold is very low right now,” Marchand said. “I really just have to stay away from anything at all, which I can do, I have been able to do it for a number of years now. And again, it’s just wrapping my mind around that and accepting it, whether I agree with it or not, and moving forward within the rules that I now understand are set for me. So, I think that’s essentially what it is, just making sure that I just stay away from everything because that’s where my threshold is at this point.”
It’s easy to root against Marchand if you’re a fan of a team that he’s playing against, but he undoubtedly is one of the best characters/pests the game has ever seen. He missed Wednesday’s practice to be back in Boston for the birth of his daughter, Rue.
How can you not like that?
The Perfection Line no more?
Marchand, for years, made up part of the so-called ‘Perfection Line, with center Patrice Bergeron and the always entertaining and noted donut pitchman, David Pastrnak.
It was one of the top lines in hockey but Thursday will be broken up, at least at the start of the game.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy has Marchand and Bergeron on the line together, but Pastrnak will play with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula, which in its own right is a formidable line.
Bruins odds and ends
Boston is a middle-of-the-pack team offensively, averaging 2.88 goals per game while allowing 2.74. That will pose as a challenge for the already offensively struggling Kraken who will play tonight without Jared McCann and potentially Yanni Gourde (who will be a game-time decision).
Linus Ullmark will start in net for the Bruins.
Northwest connections
Boston bruising defenseman Brandon Carlo played his junior hockey with the Tri-City Americans from 2013 through 2016. One of his teammates for the 2015-16 season in Kennewick was Kraken center Morgan Geekie.
Ullmark played for the Buffalo Sabres prior to signing with the Bruins as a free agent in the offseason. While with the Sablres, his goalie coach was Kraken goalie coach Andrew Allen. Will that help Kraken shooters? Probably not, but still a fun fact
DeBrusk played his junior hockey mostly with the Swift Current Broncos, but during the 2016 WHL trade deadline came very close to being traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Seattle was eventually outbid for him by the Red Deer Rebels who were loading up that year to host the Memorial Cup. So, while not a clear-cut Northwest connection, DeBrusk checks in as an almost Northwesterner.
