by Darren Brown | Feb 11, 2023 | Three takeaways
Things got rolling downhill early for the Kraken against the Rangers on Friday. Seattle mounted a comeback, but by that time, it had dug too big of a hole for itself to overcome. The opening of the Vladimir Tarasenko Show on Broadway got its storybook ending and rave reviews from the Ranger faithful.
“It’s tough to come back in a game when you’re down 3-0 in the first,” said Jordan Eberle. “Obviously we were slow. We gave them everything they had as far as turnovers, and they’re a fast team. They’re gonna counter.”
The loss dropped the Kraken to 0-3-0 on the road trip, and suddenly the standings picture isn’t quite as rosy for Seattle as it was coming out of the All-Star break. Now, the Oilers, Kraken, and Kings are all level at 63 points, while the Golden Knights have built a three-point lead on the rest of the Pacific Division. It’s high time for the Kraken to start banking points again, and they didn’t help themselves on Friday.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a third straight Kraken loss, this one a 6-3 defeat by the Rangers.
Takeaway #1: The narrative was the narrative
Sometimes the story writes itself, in a way. There was no doubt coming into this game at Madison Square Garden that Tarasenko—playing his first game since being acquired in a blockbuster trade this week—would be that story. The atmosphere and the pageantry were omnipresent for No. 91’s first game in Rangers blue, and he didn’t disappoint the home crowd.
After getting a thundering ovation pre-game, Tarasenko wasted little time solidifying his place as another of the many stars in the Rangers lineup.
Ryan Donato tried to make a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone to Vince Dunn, but he partially whiffed and laid it out nicely for Artemi Panarin to skate into it with speed. Off the rush, Panarin found Tarasenko at the goalmouth, and the newcomer slipped it through the wickets on Martin Jones, nearly blowing the roof off the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” just 2:49 into his Ranger tenure.
“It’s not just [the Tarasenko goal],” said Eberle. “It’s the next one and the next one after that, too. I think, obviously, you know the circumstances of what’s going on, but you you’re not really looking at that stuff.”
The Kraken players would never admit this, but they almost seemed overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the opening period. The Rangers were feeding off the crowd and the situation of adding a star player, and Seattle just had no answer to slow them down.
Tarasenko was the star of his own show.
Takeaway #2: Tough start for Martin Jones got better as game went on
Ever since Philipp Grubauer got injured in Colorado on Oct. 21 and missed more than a month, coach Dave Hakstol has been leaning heavily on Martin Jones. He’s done so rightfully, as Jones has been central to Seattle’s success and has racked up an impressive record.
Jones’s latest start was a tough one, though. He gave up three goals on 12 shots in the opening frame, including one by Vincent Trocheck that snuck through, laid on the goal line, and ultimately got pushed in by Jones’s glove.
Another went in early in the second with New York on the power play. The puck caromed to the corner, and Jacob Trouba banked it in off Will Borgen. All the while, Jones didn’t know where the puck was and was down looking for it on the other side of the crease.
It wasn’t just the goals, though. Jones wasn’t tracking the puck well on this night, and you could tell because shots he normally gobbles up for whistles were hitting off his stomach and popping out into dangerous areas. We also counted at least three plays where he looked like he was about to clamp his catch glove down to halt the play, only to mishandle the puck and have it squirt out of his reach.
“I’m not going to nitpick the goals that went in,” said Hakstol. “The fourth goal is a bounce off our defenseman on a deflected rebound shot. The fifth one, it comes through the crease, but in all honesty, I’ve looked at it a couple of times, and that’s a play that normally he takes care of in the blue paint.”
Hakstol added a Kraken skate took Jones’s stick away from being able to deflect the pass that led to Mika Zibanejad’s power-play goal to make it 5-1 early in the third. The coach also said he did not consider changing to Grubauer in this game, even as it got away from Seattle in the early going.
Adding minor injury to insult, Jones made a nice save on Filip Chytil on a two-on-one rush late in the second period. As he was down on the ice, Alex Wennberg’s knee slammed into Jones’s head, jerking it back awkwardly. Jones stayed down for a moment and got checked by the training staff, but stayed in the game.
To the credit of both Hakstol (for the decision) and Jones (for his resiliency), the Kraken netminder did seem to settle down after the fourth goal by Trouba. He looked more like himself as the second period went on and made several big saves as Seattle had started to push back.
With Jones not playing his best lately, and Grubauer looking sharp in his recent outings, it does feel like it’s time to start giving Grubauer the lion’s share of starts again. Let’s see if that shift starts to happen on the rest of this trip.
Takeaway #3: Kraken made a game of it
We hate to make comparisons between this season’s Kraken and last season’s Kraken, but Friday’s game had inaugural-season vibes in a lot of ways. Seattle fell behind early, then fell farther behind and looked like it had no chance to get anywhere close. But as was so often the case last year, the Kraken did push back and gain confidence and momentum as the game went along.
After Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on a breakaway in the second period, Seattle had the better of the play for the rest of the night, despite the Rangers adding a second power-play goal to make it 5-1 at one point.
The Kraken responded to that fifth goal with a power-play goal of their own, as Jared McCann sniped his 24th goal of the season from above the left circle, an area from which he seems to love shooting.
Then, just 22 seconds later, Brandon Tanev found himself on a breakaway after Donato made a nice pass to spring him at the blue line. Tanev raced in, opened up Shesterkin, and slipped it through his pads. That made it 5-3, and suddenly it seemed like the Kraken might be stealing the story away from Tarasenko.
The rally was too little, too late, though, and the Rangers skated off with a mostly easy victory. Still, it was an encouraging sign that Seattle didn’t quit in this one, as they never do. They battled to the end and gave themselves some positives on which to build for the rest of the trip.
The Kraken will look to stop the bleeding in Philadelphia on Super Bowl Sunday, then close out the trip in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
by Darren Brown | Feb 9, 2023 | Three takeaways
It was a better effort than their previous game, but it bore the same result, as the Kraken fell 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils Thursday at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Thursday was a frustrating night for Kraken fans. Seattle had the better of the play for long stretches of the game but couldn’t get enough pucks past a razor-sharp Mackenzie Blackwood. Meanwhile, the Kraken’s special teams stumbled at both ends of the ice, and in the end, they skated away with their second loss in as many tries on this road trip.
“The ultimate difference at the end of the day is they found two on their power play,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “That makes the difference in the hockey game.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a disappointing Kraken loss to the Devils.
Takeaway #1: Better structure in all three zones
Seattle looked like themselves Thursday after an uncharacteristically bad showing on Long Island Tuesday. That night, the Kraken couldn’t connect on passes, they couldn’t get over the Islanders line with possession, and they certainly couldn’t sustain pressure for any extended period.
“We were not happy with the game in Long Island,” said Adam Larsson, who scored the only Kraken goal against the Devils. “I thought today we responded pretty good; good enough to win. Sometimes you fall short.”
On Thursday, the Kraken came out with a lot of jump in the opening frame and largely dominated the play. They were held off the board by Blackwood, though, who was especially stellar in that first period. By the time the first horn sounded, Blackwood already had 12 saves.
A good example of Seattle’s jump and Blackwood’s early larceny came in the first two minutes. Vince Dunn fired a pass about 100 feet ahead to Ryan Donato at the far blue line. Donato raced in with Jaden Schwartz on a two-on-one rush and passed across the goalmouth. Schwartz looked like he had a sure goal, but Blackwood sprawled left to right and denied Schwartz with his right pad. The save set the tone for how the evening would go.
“We got off to a good start, and it was a tight game all the way through,” said Hakstol. “As we got to the third period, [I thought] it was going to be a little tighter checking, and it was.”
Tight-checking games are usually a sign of two teams playing well within their systems, something Seattle certainly didn’t do against the Islanders. So, that’s a positive step toward getting back on track, but it certainly would have been nice for the Kraken to at least take a point from this one.
Takeaway #2: Special teams were the difference
As Hakstol said, the difference in this game was special teams, which has been a problem for Seattle at times this season. The penalty kill had been on a heater and hadn’t allowed a goal in eight games, with 18 opportunities for Seattle’s opponents over that stretch. But that streak was snapped in resounding fashion Thursday, as Dougie Hamilton fired two rockets from the top of the slot that each found their way behind Philipp Grubauer.
The first goal against came just 24 seconds after Larsson’s goal and moments after Matty Beniers had won a defensive-zone face-off. But Jamie Oleksiak lost the race to the puck, it spun around the zone to Hamilton, and suddenly it was in the back of the net.
The second one hit off Brandon Tanev, who was trying to block the shot. The puck changed directions and re-directed perfectly into the top left corner of the net, giving Grubauer no chance to stop it.
“The first one, it’s off a won face-off,” said Hakstol. “We missed an assignment there. That’s one where we have a couple of opportunities on a shot block. And the second one was unfortunate. It goes off of Tanev’s left or right leg as he’s going down to try to get in the shot lane and finds the top corner. So, that’s a tough one.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Seattle had three opportunities on the power play, including a five-on-three advantage in the second period, but it could not convert.
“I feel like we played a good game,” said Alex Wennberg. “There’s a lot of great things from it, and it comes down to special teams. We have an opportunity to score there, we don’t, and they score two of them.”
Takeaway #3: Kraken scoring has dried up
After getting shutout by Ilya Sorokin on Long Island Tuesday, the Kraken finally broke through with Larsson’s seeing-eye shot at 14:05 of the second period. The goal gave Seattle its only lead of the road trip so far, but it was short lived, as Hamilton got the quick response at the other end. That Larsson goal ended up being the lone Kraken goal of the night, meaning Seattle has scored just once in six periods of hockey.
Part of the problem Thursday was the play of Blackwood, who seems to enjoy facing the Kraken. He was good in a 4-3 overtime loss on Jan. 19 in Seattle, and he was outstanding Thursday with 33 saves.
Aside from the game-opening save on Schwartz, the Kraken had a Grade-A chance to tie the game moments after Hamilton gave the Devils a 2-1 lead midway through the third period. From behind the goal line, Beniers found Jared McCann wide open in front of the net. Blackwood sprawled out and robbed McCann, holding the score at 2-1.
“Right after the PK goal against, the 2-1 goal to put us down, we come right back down and have the opportunity that we would want with McCann the slot,” said Hakstol. “It doesn’t go in the net. So, those are pucks that we need to go in, but the opportunity was there.”
The other part of the problem was simply a lack of finish by the Kraken. Just prior to Seattle’s five-on-three opportunity, the puck pinballed around in front of Blackwood and landed on Oliver Bjorkstrand’s stick. He had Blackwood dead to rights but fired it off the crossbar.
It was one of those nights.
One of the strengths of the Kraken this season has been the offensive production they have gotten from all areas of their lineup. These two games since the break, though, everyone has gone cold at once.
“We had some good opportunities, so I don’t want to get too frustrated over that,” said Hakstol. “We’ve got to continue generating those opportunities and look to finish them.”
Here’s hoping Seattle can start finding ways to put the puck in the net Friday against the Rangers.
by Darren Brown | Feb 7, 2023 | Three takeaways
That wasn’t the return to game action the Seattle Kraken were looking for, as they laid an egg against the Islanders to kick off their five-game road trip.
The Islanders played and won Monday, and they looked like a team that just made a big trade for a star scorer (we’re referencing Bo Horvat, who, in fact, scored his first goal for New York in the game). The Kraken, meanwhile, looked like they just came back from a week of fun in the sun.
It was an ugly game from start to finish, and it may have also cost Seattle one of its biggest offensive weapons for a while.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an uninspiring 4-0 Kraken loss to the Islanders.
Takeaway #1: Just when you thought they were healthy…
We will admit, we’ve helped fuel the “They’re almost healthy!” excitement that has surrounded the Seattle Kraken since they returned to practice this week. After all, Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz both returned Tuesday, and Justin Schultz has appeared very close to ready.
So, they’re pretty much healthy, right?
Well, less than a minute into the game, Andre Burakovsky made a cut to his left in the neutral zone, tried to stop on his left leg, and pulled up lame. He hobbled off and went down the tunnel, and he did not return. He played all of 21 seconds.
We know Burakovsky had been dealing with something before the break, hence why he didn’t play against Colorado on Jan. 21. We don’t know if that something had to do with his left leg, which is clearly what he injured Tuesday.
The Kraken seemed off from the jump anyway, but Burakovsky’s unexpected absence threw things into disarray. Coach Dave Hakstol jumbled up his lines trying to manage through it, but it’s impossible to get any kind of continuity when that happens.
“You gotta juggle a little bit, but I mean, it happens to every team throughout a season,” said Schwartz. “Obviously it’s not ideal and you do have to make some adjustments. But we can do a better job.”
Seattle scratched Daniel Sprong in Tuesday’s game for the first time since the early stages of the season, so they have an extra forward if Burakovsky has to miss more of the road trip. Still, Burakovsky is Seattle’s leading scorer and cannot be easily replaced.
Hakstol did not have an update on Burakovsky after the game. Just when we thought they were healthy…
Takeaway #2: An ugly first outing after the break
Hakstol warned us Monday that the team may not look as crisp or sharp in its first game back after a nine-day layoff, but he expected good energy. He also admitted before the game Tuesday that the Islanders could have an advantage over the Kraken after playing and winning Monday night against Philadelphia. Hakstol couldn’t have expected that poor of an effort from Seattle, which in fact did not have great energy.
It was an uncharacteristically bad performance from top to bottom. The Kraken weren’t connecting on passes, they were bobbling and losing pucks all over the ice, and there was really only one stretch toward the end of the second period in which we could say the Kraken sustained pressure.
“We looked like we had the effects of coming off of a break,” said Hakstol. “We could not find a way to give ourselves energy.”
“I thought we started ok the first few shifts, but I think it’s pretty evident that just our puck play and structure, and I thought our energy was just a little bit low,” said Schwartz, who was playing in his first game since Jan. 12.
Schwartz also called out the fact that several players had long flights back to Seattle from vacation, and then another long flight to New York, which could have factored into the team’s sluggish appearance.
Added Ryan Donato, “[The energy] wasn’t there. I think maybe at the very beginning we had the jump, and then I don’t know. I don’t want to make any excuses, but I think we were half a step off after the first few minutes of the game the whole night.”
Now, New York is known to play a rather dull brand of hockey, so surely they were making things difficult on Seattle through the neutral zone and in their end. Even so, the Kraken didn’t have their best Tuesday, plain and simple.
“I think they reloaded hard,” said Schwartz. “They had pretty good gaps for the most part, not a lot of space through the neutral zone. So we had to chip a lot of pucks in and you know, when we weren’t getting on them quick enough, we had to back check and skate a little harder ourselves.”
Even Martin Jones wasn’t as sharp as we’ve come to expect, as demonstrated by J.G. Pageau catching him looking the other way with Pageau behind the net, leading to an easy goal for Simon Holmstrom late in the first period.
Meanwhile, when the Kraken did get a rare scoring chance at the other end, Ilya Sorokin—Jonses’s counterpart—was there to make a few big saves.
It was not Seattle’s night. Here’s hoping the Kraken can put this dud against the Islanders behind them quickly.
Takeaway #3: Matty Beniers looked good in his return
We have to find at least one positive Takeaway, right? Heck, we traveled all the way to Long Island to watch Burakovsky get hurt and Seattle get drubbed, so we might as well find a positive twist. Here’s that positive twist: Matty Beniers looked good.
In his first game back since taking a cheap hit from Tyler Myers and hitting his head on the ice on Jan. 25, Beniers looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. In fact, he looked better to us than he did in the games leading up to the injury.
He was dynamic with the puck every time he touched it and was the only Kraken player who consistently looked dangerous, both shooting and distributing. Somehow, he was only credited with one shot, but we seem to recall several, plus a shot off the outside of the post in the first period.
We tried to get Hakstol to give us some positives about Matty after the game, but Hakstol said, “I find it real hard to separate out individual performances out of our team performance tonight. We were off, we were a little bit slow, we weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be coming off of the break. I think everybody is included in that.”
Like we said, we tried to get a positive spin here.
In any case, Matty looked good to us, and it was refreshing to see Seattle’s rookie star back in there; perhaps the only bright spot of the night.
by Darren Brown | Jan 29, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken earned two important points by knocking off the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, retaking first place in their final game before the NHL All-Star break. After an uninspired performance Friday, Seattle rebounded with a mostly dominant—but not always perfect—game against Columbus and took a 3-1 win.
Not only does Seattle have the most points in the division now, it also holds the best points percentage and still has games in hand over the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights. Worth noting, the Kings play one more game before they go into their break, so they could go back ahead in total points. Still, the Kraken have put themselves in a terrific spot.
“It’s a really good response coming off of last night, and it’s a great way to finish off the month of January for our team,” said coach Dave Hakstol, just 24 hours after he voiced his displeasure with the way his group had played against the Calgary Flames.
Morgan Geekie, Alex Wennberg, and Eeli Tolvanen had the goals, and Philipp Grubauer had what Hakstol called an “undercover” good performance, stopping 24 out of 25 shots.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-1 Kraken win over the Blue Jackets.
Takeaway #1: A big night for Morgan Geekie
It had been a long time since Morgan Geekie last found the back of the net for the Seattle Kraken. He scored four goals in five games between Oct. 25 and Nov. 3. Aside from that little stretch? Nothing.
Entering Saturday, Geekie had not scored in almost three months. On the eve of a nine-day respite from games, he finally got that monkey 10,000-pound gorilla off his back and potted his fifth of the season.
Geekie got the Kraken on the board 8:40 into the first period. Carson Soucy passed to Geekie in the neutral zone, and he one-touched it to Tanev. Tanev then handed back to Geekie in the slot, and Geekie rifled it against the grain, fooling Elvis Merzlikins.
“It’s been three months,” Geekie said with an exasperated chuckle. “So, yeah, I’ve had chances. It’s not really something I worry about; that’s not really my role here. We’ve got lots of guys that score goals, and I know it’s not something I’m looked upon to do. But mentally, it was nice to see it go in for sure.”
He can say scoring goals doesn’t concern him because of his role, but Geekie is an offensive player at heart. The long drought had to be eating at him, especially considering how effective his usual fourth line has been this season, while he personally has gotten none of the shine.
But with two top-six forwards in Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers out of the lineup, and the team coming off a poor performance Friday, Hakstol jumbled his lines Saturday. Geekie was the primary beneficiary, as he was elevated to a quasi-third (or maybe second?) line, centering Brandon Tanev and Andre Burakovsky. Geekie got 15:40 of ice time, his highest of the season, and you could see his confidence building as the game went on.
“It’s a really good way to finish, going into the break,” said Hakstol of Geekie’s play. “He played a significant role, he played well, he’s jumping in there. He’s played quite a few minutes with Tanev, and Burakovsky added to that group. They did a good job tonight.”
Geekie said he knows he can play, and being lower in the lineup and even—at times—a healthy scratch is just how it is with the way the team is built. “We’ve got a great lineup, and if I’m out, I’m out,” he said. “But I know I can play a big role when called upon. With Matty being out, someone needs to step up, and I know I can be that guy for sure.”
Takeaway #2: Reminder that the Kraken got Eeli Tolvanen off waivers
Did you know the Kraken acquired Eeli Tolvanen because the Nashville Predators just decided they didn’t want him on their NHL roster anymore? No, seriously, that’s how they got him. The Predators just put him on waivers, and the Kraken were like, “Ok, we’ll take him.”
Well, since then, Tolvanen has carved out a key spot in the lineup, playing wing next to Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, and he has been filling the net with pucks. The 23-year-old Finn is now up to eight goals in 15 games for Seattle, and he has scored in three consecutive contests.
His latest tally was a huge one. It put the game back on the rails for the Kraken after Kent Johnson had gotten the Blue Jackets back within one late in the second period.
Hakstol is a coach that might care more about what a player does on the defensive end of the ice and away from the puck than he does about how many goals a player scores. And he seems to love Tolvanen.
“He’s just a good hockey player,” Hakstol said. “You know, he does way more than score. You see his hockey sense, he’s got some defensive DNA to him. He understands the game, where to be. He’s one of those guys that finds the shooting lane defensively, he’s got a good stick, he’s got some toughness to him.”
That’s a sign that Tolvanen’s usage will not wane, even if his scoring takes a dip in the later stages of the year. Either way, he seems to be enjoying the early parts of his time with Seattle.
“There were some rough patches at the start of this year,” Tolvanen said. “Hockey wasn’t that much fun, and you know, coming here and getting the trust from the coaches and getting the opportunity to play a lot, it feels really good.”
Takeaway #3: What a ride this has been so far
We’re going to use this third takeaway to wax poetic for a moment, because this has been an awesome second season of covering the Seattle Kraken so far. The inaugural year was fun for different reasons, but the hockey wasn’t all that inspiring.
Now, as Seattle heads for the break in first place, it’s easy to envision this group making a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a few months. That’s wild to think about, and something we would have had a hard time truly believing at the start of the season. The group has come a long way and should be proud of what it has accomplished.
“It means a lot,” said Wennberg. “That’s pretty much why we’re putting in all the work, all the hard effort behind it, to be on top. And right now, we’re doing a lot of good things. We’re scoring goals, we’re working on special teams to be better, and goaltending has been unreal.”
Seattle has found a winning formula, and everyone is contributing. Still, the break comes at a great time, as the team is banged up right now.
With key players like Schwartz, Beniers, and Justin Schultz out, we’ve wondered how long the Kraken will have to find stopgaps and shuffle lines, even after their hiatus.
“We’ve got some guys that obviously are nicked up, guys that are out of the lineup,” said Hakstol. “Right now, we don’t feel like there’s anything that’s too long-term, so this seven days is well timed, and for the guys that are in the lineup, this has been a hell of a month.”
That’s about as specific as we’ve ever heard Hakstol get about injury timelines, so keep your fingers crossed that we will see those important players back soon after this break.
by Darren Brown | Jan 28, 2023 | Three takeaways
Seven minutes into the second period Friday, Brandon Tanev raced across the offensive blue line and leaned into a shot. Before the puck took off, though, his stick snapped in two, so he curled right and headed to the bench. As he stepped through the door on what looked like a legal change, the officials blew the play down and gave Seattle a too-many-men penalty. The sequence pretty much summed up how that game went for the Kraken against the Flames.
It wasn’t so much about the penalty being called, it was about the feeling that Seattle was finally about to get something going, only to have things unravel again.
Coach Dave Hakstol did not like his team’s effort, repeatedly using some variation of the phrase, “We just weren’t that good tonight,” in his post-game press conference. We think some of his verbalized dissatisfaction may have been messaging to get his team ready for one last game before the All-Star break Saturday, but nonetheless, he made it clear he was unimpressed.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a stinky 5-2 Kraken loss to the Flames.
Takeaway #1: A terrible first half
For the first few minutes of the game, it appeared as if the same Seattle team we’ve been seeing through most of January had taken the ice and was in control. But after John Hayden tipped his first goal as a Kraken past Dan Vladar at 5:20, things turned quickly, and the Kraken seemed to have no answer.
On a pretty passing play, Elias Lindholm deflected a Tyler Toffoli offering past Martin Jones to tie the game at 7:16. Then Toffoli scored a goal of his own at 13:28. The third one was the real backbreaker, though, as Calgary got a late push in the offensive zone, and Nikita Zadorov scored with just four seconds left on the clock.
You never want to go to a period break seconds after giving up a goal, and that third Zadorov goal was the icing on a very stinky cake.
“You can pick any one of the goals,” Hakstol said. “I mean, we had great momentum after going up 1-0. We give one up, right? That’s a complete momentum changer two-on-two. Second goal, similar, third goal, it’s at the wrong time with four seconds to go.”
The beginning of the second period was more of the same, as Seattle was hemmed in its zone for about five straight minutes, unable to get tired players off the ice with the long change. At one point, the Flames held a 26-8 shots-on-goal advantage in the game, before the Kraken finally woke up and started pushing back.
“I just think it was an incomplete effort,” said Hayden. “Lost too much of the game missing out on some fundamentals, and this team’s had a ton of success in January. It seems like tonight was sort of an anomaly.”
To the team’s credit, it did battle back and have a fleeting chance to tie the game. In fact, Seattle actually scored two goals in a row, which would have tied the game in the third period, but one was negated with a good goalie interference challenge for Flames coach Darryl Sutter.
On the goal, which was scored by Alex Wennberg, Jared McCann crashed the net and made contact with Vladar in the crease. It wasn’t much, but when contact happens in the blue paint, the call usually goes the goalie’s way.
We were happy to see the team push back after such a terrible start, but it was too little, too late.
Takeaway #2: Power play struggles
The disallowed Wennberg goal came on a power play. Had that counted, this probably wouldn’t have been a takeaway from this game, but it didn’t count, so the narrative becomes that Seattle’s power play failed to connect on five opportunities.
In the second and third periods, the Kraken manpower advantage did have lots of good looks, and Hakstol called out two situations in addition to the disallowed goal in which Seattle had open nets and lost the handle on the puck.
But the power play could go back to being a big issue for this team, as long as it is dealing with injuries. On Friday, three regular power play participants were absent in Jaden Schwartz, Matty Beniers, and Justin Schultz. As a result, the second unit consisted of Ryan Donato, Eeli Tolvanen, Daniel Sprong, and Oliver Bjorkstrand, with Carson Soucy quarterbacking. We don’t think that’s what Hakstol would have drawn up as his ideal second unit, but he doesn’t have many options.
Once the first unit would leave the ice Friday, there wasn’t much cooking for the second unit, meaning each two-minute power play was effectively turned into a one-minute power play. In fact, on one power play in the second period, Soucy rushed the puck up the ice and handed it off to Bjorkstrand, who dumped the puck in for a rim around. It actually worked, as Seattle forechecked and gained possession, but it’s never a good sign when the power play is dumping the puck.
Seattle sure could use an All-Star break right about now.
Takeaway #3: Yanni Gourde is a warrior
We already knew Yanni Gourde was a warrior, but he proved it again Friday, and in a big way.
With the long change, Seattle was badly hemmed into their zone for several minutes to start the second period. Michael Stone wound up at the blue line and launched a heat-seeking missile toward Martin Jones. Gourde got his right foot in the way of the shot, and immediately went down to the ice in a heap.
In true Gourde fashion, he got back up and tried to fight through the pain, but ultimately collapsed back down, as the referees mercifully whistled the play dead.
Gourde was helped off the ice and down the tunnel, and we were sure he was done for the night, adding to Seattle’s ever-growing list of key injuries.
Lo and behold, there was Gourde, three minutes later, back on the ice killing the bogus too-many-men penalty that had been called against the Kraken.
Here’s what Gourde’s teammates and coach said about his gutsy play:
“It’s no surprise,” said Hayden. “He has such a good reputation. He’s had so much success in the league and he’s a warrior, so that was a big deal for us.”
“It’s huge. He battles through whatever, you know?” said Eeli Tolvanen. “He’s that kind of guy; he’s a team guy, and it tells a lot about him. It doesn’t matter if it’s a big slap shot in his ankle, he’s coming back no matter what.”
“For as tough a night as it was, guys were trying,” said Hakstol. “It didn’t look very good, but when you have a guy like that put that kind of effort in— I’m not sure how he was when he took his boot off. I’m sure it doesn’t feel real good.”
Gourde played the remainder of the game and racked up 16:18 of ice time in all. What a beauty.
by Darren Brown | Jan 26, 2023 | Three takeaways
The Kraken got another proverbial monkey off their backs Wednesday with a dominant 6-1 win over the Canucks, a team that has been a bugaboo for Seattle since its inception. Rejuvenated after three days off, the Kraken came out flying in the first period and didn’t look back against their embattled neighbors to the north.
“That’s a great win for our club,” said Vince Dunn who had two assists and set a new career high for points in a season. “We definitely owed them over the past two years, so we showed a lot of character throughout the game.”
The victory—which may have come with a significant cost (see Takeaway #3)—solidified Seattle’s position in first place in the Pacific Division. The Kraken are level in points with the Vegas Golden Knights but still hold two games in hand. They also have now surpassed their point total for all of last season, and it took just 47 games.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a resounding 6-1 Kraken win over the Canucks.
Takeaway #1: How is that the first time the Kraken have beaten the Canucks?
The Kraken dominated that game from start to finish. You could tell they were playing with a little chip on their shoulder after going 0-5-1 in their first six all-time meetings with the Canucks, including giving away what should have been an easy win on Dec. 22 in Vancouver.
Oliver Bjorkstrand got on the board first at 7:57 when he found an Adam Larsson rebound in the slot and deposited it behind Martin. Alex Wennberg followed that up at 9:46 by finishing off a nice passing play on the manpower advantage. Dunn passed to Jared McCann at the top of the left circle, who hit Jordan Eberle in the slot, who tipped it to Wennberg, who redirected it past Martin.
From there, the game was on the rails and felt like a no-doubter all night long.
After watching that game, it’s hard to fathom that it took so long for Seattle to get a win against Vancouver. The organization has been a train wreck, especially these last couple seasons, yet somehow the Kraken just hadn’t been able to figure out those pesky Canucks.
“We haven’t liked the results, obviously,” said Hakstol.” I said before the game the results from last year mean nothing to this group. Maybe I overstated that a little bit, I mean they’re the nearest team, but the most important thing is this is Game 3 this year… We had one point up in Vancouver, and these are critical two points.”
For the second time in two seasons, Vancouver fired its coach in the middle of the year, and we’re starting to think the problem is not actually the coach. The turmoil in that market is real, and it comes with good reason.
Seattle has had several chances to beat Vancouver, only to come up short in the third period.
“They never give up,” said Dunn. “We’ve been up in a lot of those games, and we’ve sat back and they’ve taken advantage of us. So tonight was a complete game for us, all 60 minutes. We found ways to gain back momentum when we needed it.”
We will note the Canucks played the Blackhawks Tuesday, so they were on tired legs and should get a little bit of a pass there. Still, if you’re new coach Rick Tocchet, you can’t be too thrilled with the team you just inherited. Oh, and if you’re Tocchet, you probably didn’t appreciate the “Bruce, there it is!” chants that rang down from the Climate Pledge Arena stands in the third period.
Takeaway #2: The Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand line is legit
We are loving what we’re seeing from Seattle’s third line of Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. While all four lines were clicking Wednesday, that trio was especially impactful and looked dangerous every time it was on the ice.
“They’ve got some good momentum, right?” said Hakstol. “They continued that tonight. They buzz around, they’re doing it with pace, with tenacity, but there’s chemistry there.”
After scoring just two goals in 13 games, getting scratched repeatedly, and finally getting waived by Nashville, Tolvanen now has six goals and eight points in 13 games with Seattle. He’s been a key cog in the machine that is the Kraken third line.
Tolvanen’s goal Wednesday was of familiar fashion, a rocket one-timer from the top of the slot. Gourde teed him up with an easy pass to lean on, Bjorkstrand created a screen in front, and Tolvanen put his whole weight into the shot, blasting it by Martin.
Bjorkstrand added his second goal of the game at 16:15 of the second period after an impressive display of passing between Gourde and the top defensive pairing of Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn. They looked like they could do whatever they wanted with the puck, and in the end, Larsson found Bjorkstrand in the right circle. With Vancouver’s defense discombobulated after the effective cycling, Bjorkstrand had all day to pick his spot on Martin.
It’s no coincidence that Bjorkstrand seems to be finding his game since Tolvanen started getting playing time.
“[My game is] better,” said Bjorkstrand. “I think I’m creating more things, and just as a line, we’re playing really well together with Gourdie and Tolvy. So, it’s definitely nice seeing it go in.”
He still isn’t scoring at the kind of clip we would have expected from him, but Bjorkstrand has five of his eight goals since Tolvanen joined the lineup on Jan. 1.
Takeaway #3: Matty Beniers got hurt
The injury bug may have taken another big bite out of the Kraken, who had been remarkably healthy until recently. With Jaden Schwartz and Justin Schultz out of the lineup, and guys like Wennberg, Andre Burakovsky, and Gourde all being labeled as “game-time decisions” recently, Seattle is banged up right now.
And the Kraken may have taken another big blow Wednesday against the Canucks, both literally and figuratively.
Five minutes into the second period, with Seattle on the attack and the puck nowhere near Matty Beniers, all 6-foot-8, 229 pounds of Tyler Myers tossed the unsuspecting rookie like a rag doll. Beniers hit his head on the ice, and it took a pretty good bounce. He got up looking shaken up, and both referees immediately put their arms up in the air to call Myers for interference.
Beniers stayed in the game for the rest of the second period, continuing to play regular shifts, but he did not return for the third period. Asked about Beniers’ status, Hakstol simply said, “He wasn’t available for the third period.”
So, keep an eye on that. It’s easy to imagine Beniers could have sustained a head injury with the way his helmet bounced. If that is the case and Beniers misses extended time, it would be a massive loss for the Kraken and concerning for the 20-year-old who is slated to participate in his first All-Star Game next week.
Bonus Takeaway: Jackson was the No. 1 star
The Kraken rolled out the red carpet for young Jackson Boboth, a nine-year-old fan who has been battling leukemia and is part of Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington. Not only did Jackson suit up in goalie gear and take shots at practice Tuesday, he was signed to a one-day contract Wednesday.
Again in his full gear, Jackson took the ice and was announced in the starting lineup. After the final horn sounded, he was awarded the No. 1 star of the night and got to yeet a fish into the crowd. Cale Fleury then plopped the Davy Jones hat onto Jackson’s head in the dressing room, capping off an unforgettable experience for the young man.
“It’s something that we all love to be a part of and really special for him and his family,” said Dunn. “I think the support throughout the community— you see in warmups, all the signs for him, that’s really special, and he definitely brought a little spark in the dressing room tonight.”
