by Darren Brown | Mar 27, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken closed out their four-game road trip with five out of a possible eight points, dropping a 5-1 result to the Wild on Monday. It was an odd game, because although Seattle came out flying and peppered Marc-Andre Fleury with shots, they couldn’t get anything past him until it was way too little and way too late.
In a preview of a potential first-round playoff matchup, we saw both how the Kraken could theoretically beat the Wild, but also how they could get knocked around and outgoalied. By all statistical metrics, the Kraken were the better team, yet on the scoreboard, the Wild cruised to a lopsided win.
“Not the result we wanted,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “It was one of those nights where we weren’t rewarded for some of the good, hard work we did offensively. And we made a couple too many mistakes that ended up in the back of our net.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a confusing 5-1 Kraken loss to the Wild.
Takeaway #1: Goaltending was the (main) difference
Typically, when your team loses 5-1, there are poor performances and low levels of effort throughout the lineup. That wasn’t necessarily the case Monday, as the Kraken dictated the play for the entire first period and a lot of the second period. They looked fast and put Minnesota on its heels, especially in the early stages of the game.
Where things went sideways for Seattle was in the goal crease at both ends of the ice. We don’t blame Philipp Grubauer for three of the four goals he allowed, but when a netminder is facing a future Hall-of-Famer at the other end, and that opposing goalie is feeling it and stopping everything, you too need to come up with some key saves.
Grubauer didn’t do that Monday, and although the Wild were putting perfect shots off posts and in, a .692 save percentage doesn’t look good, no matter how you slice it.
“We did a lot of good things,” said Jaden Schwartz. “I thought they were pretty opportunistic with their chances, and we were’t tonight with our looks. That’s kind of the way it went.”
The one goal we really didn’t like from Grubauer was Matt Boldy’s second of the night, which came at 14:59 of the second period and made it 3-0. There was traffic in front, but the shot does not come from a scoring area. Grubauer was back on his goal line, giving net to shoot at, and as Boldy was loading up, Grubauer actually pivoted like he was going to push across for a pass. Grubauer’s body opened up, and instead of staying square to the puck, he retreated farther into his net.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Marc-Andre Fleury stymied the Kraken. Through 40 minutes, he had stopped 26 of 26 shots of all varieties, and he turned away 35 of 36 in all.
“It didn’t feel like a 5-1 game, it felt closer than that,” said Schwartz. “I don’t know how many shots we had, 35, 40 shots. Fleury made some big, timely saves early, and we just weren’t quite there for the second chances tonight.”
Fleury seems to love playing against the Kraken. In his last two starts against Seattle, he is 2-0-0 with a 0.50 goals against average, .984 save percentage, and 63 out of 64 saves. Overall, Fleury is 4-1-1 in six career games against Seattle, dating back to his time with Chicago. In those games, he has a 1.97 GAA and .935 save percentage.
Takeaway #2: Matt Boldy was the other difference
21-year-old winger Matt Boldy is on quite the heater for the Wild, now with 11 goals in his last nine games and 28 on the season. He potted three against the Kraken Monday, with all three coming off shots that hit posts and went in. If a shooter is aiming with that kind of precision, pucks are going to go in a lot, and that is happening for him.
Interestingly, former Kraken Marcus Johansson has been a big catalyst for Boldy’s recent hot streak. Johansson was acquired from Washington in a deal at the March 3 trade deadline. It was an under-the-radar move for a player going back to another of his former teams, and the second season in a row Johansson was moved for a draft pick.
Jojo has quietly racked up almost a point per game since joining the Wild and has connected with Boldy regularly, showing great chemistry with the budding star. We know Johansson can be an excellent passer and a productive player in the right role, and he is showing that in his second stint with the Wild. Johansson assisted on each of the Wild’s first two goals Monday.
Takeaway #3: Not sure about that playoff matchup for the Kraken
Entering Monday, in “if the regular season ended today” scenarios, the Wild would have been the first ever playoff opponent for the Kraken. Earlier in the year, we would have liked that matchup. Seattle showed very well at Xcel Energy Center with a 4-0 win on Nov. 3. The Wild won in Seattle a week later, but that was another game stolen by MAF and a 1-0 result that could have gone either way.
Minnesota is a different team than it was in November, though. The Wild made some nice adds at the deadline, including Johansson and John Klingberg, and also got tougher earlier in the season by bringing in Ryan Reaves. Both of their goaltenders have been excellent, and they seem to be taking standings points almost every night.
“Obviously not the way we wanted to end [the road trip] at all, but we’ve got to learn,” said Ryan Donato. “This is a great team that we played tonight, and there’s a lot to learn from it. Hopefully we can make the most of it and be ready for our little homestand here.”
The goaltending battle is a big area of concern in a matchup with Minnesota, but on top of that, the Kraken could get pushed around by guys like Reaves and Marcus Foligno in a seven-game playoff series. Physicality is exactly the reason Seattle called up John Hayden recently, but he quickly got injured in a fight and isn’t expected back this season. He was one guy Seattle could have leaned on for some grit in the lineup, but he is no longer an option.
Donato and Yanni Gourde answered the physical bell Monday by fighting Connor Dewar and Mason Shaw, but outside of Jamie Oleksiak, who really doesn’t get involved in rough stuff very often, Seattle has no answer for Minnesota’s heavyweights.
All that said, the Kraken really did dominate a lot of the play Monday. So, do we read into the 5-1 result? Or, do we tip our caps to Boldy and Fleury and say Seattle would win more often than not if it keeps playing like that, especially when it takes almost 70 percent of the quality shots in a game?
by Darren Brown | Mar 25, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken showed the Predators that they are now ready for that team to go quietly into the night. The pesky group has—despite selling at the NHL Trade Deadline—somehow hung around in the playoff picture and beat Seattle in overtime Thursday. But the Preds got a thorough tentacle lashing from the Kraken Saturday, who got goals from six different players.
“We wanted to challenge ourselves to be a little bit better than we were the other day,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We had a really good response.”
It was an important win for Seattle’s playoff dreams, which are becoming more of a reality with every victory.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 7-2 Kraken drubbing of the Predators.
Takeaway #1: Two for Tolvy
As if Nashville didn’t already regret dumping Eeli Tolvanen, he really drove the mistake home Saturday with two goals against his former club. Tolvanen now has 15 markers in 38 games for the Kraken after just two in 13 games for the Predators before they put him on waivers.
It was a big day for the 23-year-old Finn, whose power-play goal at 17:37 of the first period made it 2-0 and gave more worth to Seattle’s outstanding opening frame.
The goal showcased Tolvanen’s hockey sense and wicked shot in one fell swoop. Jared McCann had the puck on the left half wall and was looking for a seam pass to Tolvanen. The Preds’ penalty killers had the middle clogged up, though, so Tolvanen took a few steps toward the blue line to create a lane. McCann put the pass right on the money, and while Alex Wennberg cruised through Juuse Saros’ line of sight, Tolvanen snapped a wicked shot into the top corner of the net.
“I feel like the last couple games, we struggled a little bit getting shots off and getting scoring chances,” said Tolvanen. “But we did a pretty good job on that power play, we got shots through, and we got some traffic there too.”
In the second period, after Tyson Barrie had brought the Predators within a goal, Tolvanen got his second of the game thanks to a gift from his former goaltender. Saros came way out of his net to clear the puck and thwart an Oliver Bjorkstrand breakaway. But Saros made the wrong directional decision and passed it right to Tolvanen, who calmly threw it into the open net from distance.
“[Tolvanen] just keeps working hard,” said Hakstol. “What he did today is what he’s been doing for us all the way along.”
Takeaway #2: Contributions up and down the lineup
It’s no secret that depth has been the strength of the Kraken all season. When they’re winning, different guys are chipping in every game, hence why they have 13 players with double-digit goal totals.
“That’s what we’ve been all year,” said Hakstol. “I don’t think it’s any revelation to anybody inside of our dressing room. That’s who we’ve been all year long; it’s been different people contributing in different ways, and not just the guys on the scoresheet… That’s our group. We don’t have success unless everybody’s doing their part.”
Seattle’s third-leading goal scorer, Daniel Sprong, has occasionally been a healthy scratch this season and has played exclusively on the fourth line. He got the scoring started Saturday by cleaning up a rebound from Ryan Donato—also frequently scratched, despite his 13 goals—who made a great play to drive hard to the net. Sprong’s goal was his 19th of the season and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
Unlike Thursday, though, it wasn’t just the fourth line that got it done offensively. In addition to his primary assist on Tolvanen’s power-play goal, McCann potted his team-leading 35th goal after intercepting a pass at the blue line and racing in on a breakaway. He also had the primary assist on Adam Larsson’s third period goal that made it 4-2 and sent the Kraken on their way to a convincing win.
That Larsson goal was a thing of beauty, by the way. Matty Beniers took a bank pass from Vince Dunn at the half wall and gave it right back to Dunn at the point. Dunn then passed to McCann, who had a mostly open look down low and drew all the Predators players to him. Instead of shooting into Saros, though, McCann slipped it under the arm of a sprawling Yakov Trenin and right onto Larsson’s tape for a mostly open net.
Beniers also got off the schneid with his first goal in more than a month. Yes, you read that right, Beniers hadn’t scored since Feb. 23. The goal gave Beniers 20 on the season and was also his 50th point.
“It felt good to get that one,” said Beniers. “Super happy we won and got the two points. That was big, but definitely happy about that one.”
Beniers should be happy about scoring that one. Hitting 20 goals was one of Beniers’ rookie bonus criteria, so that netted him a cool $231K. We can’t help wondering if, now that he’s hit that bonus, the goals start coming a little more easily for the 20-year-old center.
“He’s gone through a couple of spells, and if it bothers him, he doesn’t show it,” said Hakstol. “He just keeps going, he keeps just pushing the envelope and playing hard, and I think that’s what we all really respect about him.”
Takeaway #3: A thorough Kraken drubbing over the Predators
The Kraken have remained solidly in a playoff position, even as they’ve been through a few slumps in the second half of this season. One of the teams that has kept irritatingly close, though, is the Predators, who beat the Kraken in overtime Thursday and entered Saturday’s game six points behind Seattle for the top wild card spot.
Getting the regulation win was enormous for the Kraken, who stretched their standings lead to eight points over the Predators and maintained a seven-point lead over the Flames. Now, with 10 games left, and the Kraken sitting at 88 points, hitting 100 on the season—and passing the Edmonton Oilers for third place—is still very much within reach.
“It is big,” said Tolvanen. “We knew that this weekend was going to be kind of like a playoff weekend for us, and for them too. You saw, I think they played tough… It’s big points.”
It is encouraging that with plenty at stake Saturday, the Kraken rose to the occasion and played one of their most dominant games of the season. In the first period, they allowed just one shot on Philipp Grubauer, despite being shorthanded twice. When Matt Duchene tipped home a Tyson Barrie shot-pass early in the third to bring the Predators back within one, the Kraken responded with Larsson’s beautiful goal 1:44 later and then pounded Nashville into submission the rest of the way.
In all, the Kraken outshot the Predators 39-16 and cruised to their fifth out of a possible six points on their current road trip.
by Darren Brown | Mar 23, 2023 | Three takeaways
There was a lot to like from Seattle’s game against Nashville Thursday, but the good guys ultimately fell 2-1 in a shootout. The Kraken had good defensive structure throughout the game, and they got some looks offensively. But they couldn’t break through more than once in regulation, then came up empty in overtime and in a shootout.
Seattle had been consistently closing things out in three-on-three overtime lately, but they actually played almost the entire five minutes at four-on-four Thursday (more on that in Takeaway #2), a situation in which they aren’t as good. The result was a trip to a shootout, where the Kraken remain winless on the season.
“This time of year, when there’s a lot on the line, that’s the type of hockey that it’s going to be,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “It came down to the shootout. So unfortunately we didn’t get the extra point, but we’ve got to turn the page quickly.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 2-1 Kraken shootout loss to the Predators.
Takeaway #1: The Kraken aren’t good in shootouts
Shootouts are such a weird thing in the NHL. If you lose in a shootout, it feels different than losing in overtime for some reason, even though it means getting the same single loser point. Dropping a shootout game is usually like losing a coin toss. You think, Meh, it’s a shootout. Could have gone either way.
The thing about coin tosses, though, is that eventually you win one even if you’re on a bad streak. We’re starting to think it’s less about bad luck and more that the Kraken just aren’t very good at scoring in shootouts. Seattle is now 0-4 in the skills competition on the season after going 3-1 in that area last season.
On this night, Hakstol chose Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle as his shooters. He didn’t get to send a third shooter, because by that time, Nashville had already sealed it with goals by Matt Duchene and Philip Tomasino. McCann did hit the post, and Eberle made a nice move, but Juuse Saros made a blocker save.
The players have regularly been practicing their shootout moves since this started to show itself as a problematic piece of the puzzle, but apparently to no avail.
We’ve seen folks saying they’d like to see Matty Beniers get a chance in the shootout, and at this point, we might have to agree. Throw out a whole new look the next time a game gets to this point.
Takeaway #2: A weird nuance to overtime hurt the Kraken
While the Kraken are not good at shootouts, they are pretty good at three-on-three overtime. Seattle is 9-4 in games that end in overtime but don’t make it to the shootout, and that record comes despite the team dropping its first three OT opportunities of the season. Since those three straight losses, the Kraken have shown outstanding patience in three-on-three, and they clearly have a lot of confidence in that situation.
A nuance in overtime rules hurt the Kraken against the Predators, though. Brandon Tanev took a boarding penalty with 1:31 left in regulation—a call with which he vehemently disagreed—and 29 seconds of that infraction carried into overtime. Instead of playing three-on-two in overtime (because that would be dumb), the team on the power play gets a four-on-three advantage. When the penalty ends and the penalized player comes out of the box, the teams then play four-on-four until the next whistle.
After Tanev got out of the box, the next whistle didn’t come until there were only 20 seconds left, meaning almost the entire OT period was played at four-on-four.
The Kraken have proven they are good at playing a rope-a-dope three-on-three, waiting for their opportunity to strike and then capitalizing. But at four-on-four, it’s much harder to hold onto the puck.
“You get into a shootout, anything can happen,” said Eberle. “We’ve been obviously cold in the shootout this year, so we tried to end it earlier. It’s tough with four-on-four, though, but it was a good hockey game. We had our chances.”
This overtime period was a lot more back and forth than what we’ve seen from the typical OT period for Seattle, when each team has just three skaters. They never managed to possess the puck for an extended period with four skaters, and once they got to the shootout, they were cooked.
Takeaway #3: Daniel Sprong and Joey Daccord earned the point
The loss stings, as a regulation win over Nashville would have been huge for solidifying Seattle’s playoff hopes. Instead, Nashville inched closer to Seattle in the wild card hunt and now sits six points behind the Kraken with a game in hand.
Still, every point is crucial right now, and Daniel Sprong and Joey Daccord helped Seattle get one.
Sprong is still one of the most fascinating stories of the season for the Kraken. We’ve talked a lot this season about Sprong making the team off of a professional tryout in training camp, then playing his way into a consistent role. But Hakstol went back to his old ways of periodically scratching Sprong as the season wore on and Sprong’s offensive production dwindled.
Well, back in the lineup for the last two games, Sprong has two goals and an assist playing on the fourth line, and he is now just two goals shy of potting 20 for the first time in his career.
His goal against the Preds was creative. After an elite pass from Morgan Geekie, Sprong ran out of room and looped around Saros. Instead of trying to wrap it around to the other side, he hit the brakes and saw that he had pulled Saros out of the goal crease. He told Piper Shaw between periods on the ROOT Sports broadcast that he was trying to bank it “off his ass,” but instead hit Saros’s skate and got it to carom over the line.
Daccord, meanwhile, made his second consecutive start for the first time as a Kraken. He earned the nod after a solid outing Tuesday in Dallas, and he made Hakstol look pretty smart for the decision. The Kraken did a good job of insulating Daccord for most of the game, but when the Predators did get through, he came up big.
“He didn’t have a lot to do in portions, especially the first half of the game,” said Hakstol. “They built some momentum in the second period, and that’s when he had to be at his best. He was sound, he was solid, made pretty good decisions with the puck.”
Daccord’s best save came in overtime, when Luke Evangelista fought through a check and tried to tuck the puck around Daccord’s pad. Daccord flared out his left leg and just got enough of the puck to kick it wide. The lone goal Daccord allowed in regulation came off a big rebound that happened to land right on the stick of Kiefer Sherwood. In all, Daccord stopped 23 of 24 shots and was a key part of Seattle earning a point.
The Kraken will face these same Predators in Nashville in a Saturday matinee. That is a huge game for both sides.
by Darren Brown | Mar 22, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken needed that one, and so did the folks here at Sound Of Hockey. We will explain why the victory was cathartic to us in Takeaway #3, but for the Kraken, a win against the Stars was important for several reasons.
First and foremost, standings points are still crucial for Seattle right now. There remains a long road ahead to clinching the franchise’s first playoff berth, and the team hasn’t been playing the most inspiring hockey over the last few weeks. By winning Tuesday, the Kraken are back to a six-point cushion over Calgary, the first team out of the playoff bubble, and a seven-point gap over Nashville, Seattle’s opponent for the next two games of this road trip.
It was also important because there were some little demons that seemed to be forming recently in the Kraken’s minds. The group had been struggling to close out games, and the Dallas Stars had been one of the teams that exploited that. Plus, there is a chance the Kraken could play the Stars early in the playoffs, so getting a win against that club could end up being important for the psyche at some point,
Here are our Three Takeaways from a big 5-4 Kraken overtime win against the Stars.
Takeaway #1: It wasn’t easy, but the Kraken got it done
Seattle played a good game on this night, but being able to shut teams down in the desperation six-on-five scenarios has been a thorn in the team’s side. That was the case again Tuesday, as Jamie Benn cross-checked his way to a tying goal with .7 seconds left.
We thought the Kraken had two chances to clear the zone in the dying moments of regulation; once when Matty Beniers softly rimmed the puck behind the net, and a second time when Vince Dunn tried to pass out of the zone instead of simply chipping it. The result was the Kraken again getting pinned in for way too long and the inevitable equalizer.
To their credit, the Kraken didn’t let the devastation of the buzzer-beating tying goal carry into the overtime period. And even when Dallas maintained possession of the puck for the first minute and a half of three-on-three play, the Kraken stayed structured defensively and waited for their opportunity to steal the puck. Once they finally got control, they wasted no time in sealing the win.
Recognizing that Seattle had gained possession, Adam Larsson—yes, stay-at-home defenseman Adam Larsson—quickly got behind the Dallas defense. Jared McCann saw the opportunity to spring Larsson on a breakaway and made a deft delivery off the boards and around Evgenii Dadonov. Larsson raced in and showed patience, puck protection, and his sneaky silky mitts to tuck it around goalie Jake Oettinger and send the Kraken on to Nashville in a happy mood.
Takeaway #2: An “unsung hero” kind of night
Seattle’s depth returned to take a starring role in this one, with its fourth line contributing three goals. Early in the game, Daniel Sprong—who has often been a healthy scratch lately—looked like he was tired of being a healthy scratch. He created Brandon Tanev’s first goal by poking a puck past a Dallas defender at the blue line, then hustling into the offensive zone and throwing the puck toward the net. Tanev deflected it out of the air to give the Kraken an early lead.
Sprong followed that up by showing off his deceptive shooting ability, looking off Larsson on a two-on-one, and twisting a funky-looking shot through Oettinger’s pads.
Late in the game, Tanev added his second of the night after a beautiful backhand saucer pass by Morgan Geekie.
It was a big night for that fourth line, which has been such an offensive force at times this season but cooled off recently.
Let’s not forget Kraken netminder Joey Daccord. He was called up on an emergency basis to replace Philipp Grubauer, who is recovering from illness, and given the start over Martin Jones. It was only Daccord’s second start in the NHL this season, and while he gave up four goals on 29 shots, we thought he looked really confident. There were a number of prime scoring opportunities that Daccord calmly kicked away, and he moved the puck like a true veteran.
“It was a pretty crazy 24 hours,” said Daccord. “But, just super excited when they told me I was gonna get to play right away. It just didn’t really give me any time to think, just get right in there and do it, so super fun.”
Takeaway #3: We needed that one too
We’re sure you’ve heard the tough news by now, but our good friend, Andy Eide, suffered a stroke just prior to Saturday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena. It has been a tough few days for us at Sound Of Hockey, as we’ve waited anxiously for news about Andy’s status. To say we’ve been emotional about it would be an understatement; we love Andy, and he and his kind, gentle soul do not deserve to be going through this right now.
An exciting Kraken victory gave us a brief jolt of excitement and enthusiasm and was actually quite cathartic. Seeing the team celebrate, and being able to cheer from afar gave a nice little shot of joy in an otherwise tough stretch of worry and glumness.
As long as we’re on the topic, we will never be able to thank the hockey community enough for the support and love you’ve shown for Andy over the past 36 hours or so, since the news became public. Your words have been so kind, and your donations have been beyond generous.
It has truly been overwhelming to see how many lives Andy has touched over the years. It’s a testament to how great of a guy he is, but also a reminder that the hockey community sticks together and takes care of its own.
We love you all. We love Andy. Thank you.
If you would like to donate to help Andy and his family, please visit AndyEide.com.
by Darren Brown | Mar 17, 2023 | Three takeaways
You may have thought you felt the wind pick up late Thursday around the Seattle metropolitan area. But that wasn’t actually wind you were feeling; that was the entire Kraken fanbase simultaneously breathing a huge sigh of relief as Seattle snuck by the San Jose Sharks with a crucial 2-1 overtime win.
Things are starting to feel too close for comfort in the Western Conference standings. After losing three straight at home, Thursday’s game against a lowly San Jose team felt like a must win for Seattle. It wasn’t easy or pretty, but the Kraken barely got the job done and earned the desperately needed two points to stop the bleeding and stay seven points ahead of Calgary in the wild card race.
Philipp Grubauer out-dueled James Reimer and stopped 31 of 32 shots, and Oliver Bjorkstrand and Vince Dunn gave the team just enough offensive output.
“Last time we were in here, it wasn’t the game we were looking for,” said Grubauer. “We didn’t grab the points, so we wanted to make sure we got the points today.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a relieving 2-1 overtime Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: Thank goodness for Oliver Bjorkstrand
As we arrived at the third period with the score still tied 0-0, there was a sense that the first team to score would end up winning this painfully tight game. Just over a minute into the frame, 20-year-old rookie William Eklund found himself behind the Kraken defense. He got a shot away, forcing Philipp Grubauer to make what seemed like an important save, but he also took a slash in the process from Ryan Donato and drew a penalty shot. Eklund converted on the penalty shot, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead.
This is when dread set in for Kraken fans, who surely remember a miserable 4-0 loss to the Sharks at SAP Center on Feb. 20. Like that night, Seattle was again playing down to a lesser opponent Thursday and giving San Jose a chance to win, while struggling to muster any kind of success against Reimer.
Fortunately for Seattle fans, Oliver Bjorkstrand is a Kraken.
Prior to this game, coach Dave Hakstol moved Bjorkstrand back to his old line with Eeli Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde, and the move paid off. Seven minutes into the third period, Gourde fired a 110-foot pass from behind Seattle’s net to Bjorkstrand in the neutral zone. Bjorkstrand raced in and buried a shot over the glove of Reimer, leveling the score at 1-1 and giving the Kraken and their fans hope they could salvage this game.
Sure enough, when overtime hit, it was Bjorkstrand who paid it forward to Vince Dunn with a smart stretch pass of his own, and Dunn went in and scored the game winner.
Without Bjorkstrand, the Kraken could be in a dire situation right now.
Takeaway #2: Thank goodness for Vince Dunn
Speaking of Dunn, he has had quite the second half to this NHL season. The puck-moving defenseman has blossomed offensively, and he could truly be in the Norris Trophy conversation if he continues to produce at this same breakneck pace for the rest of the season. He won’t win it, but he could be in the conversation.
Dunn extended his franchise record point streak to 11 games with his overtime goal Thursday, pushing the Kraken back within one point of the third-place Edmonton Oilers. He also set a new career high for goals with his 13th of the season, and with 56 points, he has far surpassed his previous career high in that category.
His latest point was a bit fortuitous, but it had a big impact on Seattle’s playoff hopes. With the three-on-three overtime period well underway, Bjorkstrand circled back in the Kraken zone and recognized that all three Sharks had shaded to one side of the ice. That left Dunn open on the other side at the San Jose blue line. Bjorkstrand hit Dunn with a perfect pass, and Dunn made a simple play to skate in, drift toward the slot, and shoot for Reimer’s five hole.
Reimer—who was on a dominant streak against the Kraken—came back down to Earth in that moment and allowed the puck to squeak through the wickets.
“Just reading the pre-scout and everything, [goalie coach Steve Briere] said if he’s feeling it, throw one five hole,” said Dunn. “I don’t know if [Briere] is that smart, or if I was just a little lucky, but maybe kudos to him.”
Dunn has proven to be one of Seattle’s two best selections in the Expansion Draft—along with Jared McCann—and could be a building block for the future of this team. The 26-year-old’s contract is expiring after this season, but he will be a restricted free agent. What kind of a raise will he get on his next deal?
Takeaway #3: It was *almost* a night of missed opportunities
We mentioned Reimer’s dominant streak against the Kraken in Takeaway #2, and for almost the entire hockey game Thursday, it felt like he was going to pull out another win. In four appearances against Seattle, Reimer has now stopped 122 of 127 shots for a .961 save percentage and a 1.25 goals against average.
Aside from Bjorkstrand’s game-tying goal in the third period, the Kraken had several chances in regulation that looked like sure goals. But in every case, the puck would skitter through the crease, hit the post, or fly wide of the net. That’s just how it goes when you’re facing a goalie that has your number, and Reimer definitely had Seattle’s number.
The most egregious miss came after an errant clearing attempt by Reimer landed on the stick of Jaden Schwartz. Reimer was way out of the net, so Sharks players threw themselves into the crease to try to stop Schwartz from scoring. Looking for an opening, Schwartz stickhandled, but never actually got a shot away.
That wasn’t the only near miss, though. McCann had a wide-open look from the slot in the first but fired wide, Adam Larsson hit the inside of the post early in the second, and John Hayden tipped a shot through Reimer’s legs in the third, only to have it slide outside the left post.
To Seattle’s credit, the group stuck with it and found just enough offensive output to get the desperately needed two standings points.
“[The two points are] very important right now,” said Dunn. “They don’t always have to be pretty, but we just have to make sure we find a way to get two. Every point really matters right now, so that’s very big for the team to get back on track here.”
The Kraken now face a much tougher—and even more important—test Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers.
“Coming up, it’s a pretty big test,” said Grubauer. “We’re playing teams that are even with us in the standings or within a couple points. So you can’t waste any points tonight.”
by Darren Brown | Mar 12, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken had the Central Division’s top team, the Dallas Stars, against the ropes Saturday but failed to land the knockout blow. Instead, a mad scramble in the waning minutes produced a late tying goal for Dallas, and Seattle coughed up a point in the standings by losing in overtime.
“That’s a team that’s hot, right?” said Ryan Donato, who returned from being a healthy scratch and scored a crucial tying goal midway through the third. “They do a lot of good things, but I thought we did too. Obviously, I think we can hang with those guys.”
There was a lot to like in this one, including the patience Seattle showed against goalie Jake Oettinger, who looked for a while like he was going to stop everything thrown at him. Plus, the point Seattle did earn was a big one, as Los Angeles also lost in a shootout and Edmonton lost in regulation.
Still, it was another chance for a win that slipped away late. Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken overtime loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: Another disappointing finish
On Thursday against Ottawa, the Kraken took a 4-3 lead early in the third period, but gave it right back and eventually lost in regulation on a late game-winning goal. A similar story played out Saturday, as the Kraken had their game against the Stars even more in the bag, only to come away with an overtime loss.
This time, the Kraken put themselves in prime position to earn two points after Oliver Bjorkstrand gave them their first lead of the game at 16:35 of the third period. You knew the Stars were going to push back with their goalie pulled, though, and after an extended chaotic scramble in front of Philipp Grubauer, Joe Pavelski finally lofted a shot from a bad angle over the Seattle netminder’s outstretched pad.
The tying goal came with just 1:10 left on the clock.
“[It was] a scramble in front of the net,” said Vince Dunn. “They know how to make elite plays, and that’s what they did. When things were scrambly, they looked for the extra pass. It’s really disappointing to not get the win there, but we fought a good fight to the end, yeah, it’s an important point.”
Added coach Dave Hakstol, “We had the pressure that we wanted. We weren’t able to finish the play. They got it out of the pressure, and they made the play.” Hakstol also pointed out that moments before the goal, Seattle’s defenders had the puck pinned on the halfwall, but they failed to clear the puck out of the zone.
The overtime period was also disappointing for a whole series of reasons, but we will talk more about that in Takeaway #2. What’s most troublesome about this game is that Seattle does seem—at least anecdotally—to have a hard time in that six-on-five scenario late in games.
The group that was out there did everything it could to keep Dallas at bay, including both Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak standing side-by-side on the goal line behind a stickless Grubauer. But when things went awry, the skaters collapsed around their crease too much, and the six Stars had all the time and space they needed to work the puck around and get the look they wanted.
Bottom line, the Kraken need to get better in that six-on-five scenario.
Takeaway #2: Good OT possession, but no OT success this time
The last time Seattle played an overtime—against the Colorado Avalanche—the Kraken had the puck for the entire extra frame, which lasted nearly two minutes, before Yanni Gourde scored a game winner. In Saturday’s game, the Kraken had the puck for even longer, playing keep away from the Stars for almost three minutes.
The possession ended when the Kraken finally found the look they wanted but failed to score on Oettinger. Having worked the puck into the offensive zone, Matty Beniers crossed paths and handed it off to linemate Jordan Eberle. Eberle saw a clear lane to the goal crease and shot, but Oettinger got his arm on the puck and deflected it up into the netting.
On the ensuing offensive-zone face-off, Alex Wennberg lost the draw to Max Domi, and now—finally—the Stars had the puck at the three-minute mark.
Even so, the Kraken almost regained control. Jaden Schwartz stole the puck near Seattle’s blue line, but immediately got outnumbered by Evgenii Dadonov and Miro Heiskanen.
“We had a couple of looks; we didn’t get inside on them,” said Hakstol. “Wenny had the one look from outside, Ebs had one that he maybe could have taken inside a little harder, but he had a look from the outside. He’s pretty confident from that area. And they took a— hey, they made the play.”
With Wennberg drawn in by the possession battle, there was now plenty of space on the far side of the ice. Heiskanen drifted over to that side and waited for an insane saucer pass by Domi that Heiskanen took out of the air for a perfectly placed volley over the shoulder of Grubauer.
“We’ve been a pretty good overtime team, it feels like, as of late,” said Donato. “I think we did all the right things, and sometimes it’s just not going to go your way. They have a lot of good guys that can capitalize on split-second opportunities.”
Takeaway #3: More power-play creativity
In the Three Takeaways after the Kraken win over the Ducks on March 7, we wrote about the creativity shown by Jared McCann to set up Eeli Tolvanen’s power-play goal. We were encouraged by the way the Kraken scored their power-play goal Saturday as well.
As the penalty to Jason Robertson was winding down, Seattle’s unit hadn’t found the look it wanted. The usual setup of McCann, Dunn, and Tolvanen across the top fully rotated around the zone, and suddenly the Stars penalty killers looked confused. Tolvanen—now playing on the opposite side—laid out a pass for Dunn, who one-timed it off the glass.
Tolvanen had a good retrieval, and now Dallas was on the run. With the box formation spread out and the Stars players chasing the puck around, Bjorkstrand found himself with space in the slot. Dunn passed down to Wennberg, who quickly dished it to Bjorkstrand who put it in the back of the net.
All that happened in about 10 seconds of power-play time, but that little shift in formation at the beginning of the sequence was enough to get things rolling for Seattle.
We would like to see more movement like that from the Kraken power play, especially when they aren’t getting the looks they want.
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In an interesting quirk in the schedule these same two teams will play each other again Monday at Climate Pledge Arena. It was a fun, playoff-like game Saturday, so we would expect more of the same in the rematch.
