by Darren Brown | Dec 7, 2022 | Three takeaways
What an odd game that was. With Shane Wright scoring his first NHL goal and just generally buzzing throughout the first period, it seemed for a while like we were headed for a storybook type of night for the Kraken against the Canadiens. But somehow, despite dominating possession for much of the night, Seattle came up short against Montreal, outshooting the Habs 33-16 but losing 4-2.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a disappointing Kraken defeat to the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: Shane Wright gets his first NHL goal
It really felt like the story of the game was writing (Wrighting?) itself. A lot had been made of Wright’s return to the Kraken’s NHL lineup, especially being that it came against No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky and the team that snubbed Wright at the NHL Entry Draft.
Early returns were excellent, as Wright easily could have had a hat trick in the first period. His first NHL goal was sandwiched between two other robberies by Jake Allen, and there were several other moments throughout the night where he looked like he was inches away from deflecting or poking pucks into the Montreal net.
Wright’s goal came at 15:30 of the first, after Yanni Gourde made a hard play on the forecheck to dig the puck out to Oliver Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand made a short pass to Wright in the slot, and Wright wired it past Jake Allen. It was one of those memorable Climate Pledge Arena moments, where the crowd got extra loud for not only the goal, but also the ensuing announcement.
“I think, obviously, it’s gonna be something I remember for the rest of my life,” said Wright. “I think getting your first NHL goal is a pretty cool accomplishment, cool milestone, definitely something pretty special for me.”
“It’s awesome,” added Jared McCann. “He’s a great kid. Obviously him going out in the minors there, he battled, he worked his bag off, and I mean, it was good to see.”
The goal tied it at 1-1, and with the way Wright’s line with Gourde and Bjorkstrand was humming, it seemed like there would be more points coming for the rookie.
Alas, the Habs were opportunistic offensively, and Allen played well enough to thwart a Kraken comeback attempt, turning away 31 of 33 shots on goal.
It wasn’t just about the goal for Wright, though. He looked very different from the player we saw before he was loaned to Coachella Valley. In those first few games he played earlier in the season, it always seemed like he was playing to not make a mistake. After potting four goals in five games in the AHL, he came in Tuesday with swagger and appeared to be playing without thinking too much. Against the Canadiens, he looked like things were starting to click.
It has been a slightly tougher road for him than he expected, but what’s been most impressive about Wright is his maturity for his age and attitude through the early struggles in his NHL career. “I think that anytime you come to the NHL, you picture yourself playing right away,” he said. “You picture yourself scoring lots and getting points, and at the end of the day, that’s not the reality of the NHL and stepping in as an 18-year-old. You have to work yourself up, you have to make sure you earn everything you get.”
On the other side, Slafkovsky had the second assist on Josh Anderson’s second-period goal but was otherwise quiet.
Kraken fans surely would have loved for Wright’s first goal to come with a Seattle win, but seeing him play the way he played Tuesday was very encouraging.
Takeaway #2: Bad defensive lapses cost the Kraken
It was an especially weird night between the pipes for Martin Jones, who faced just 16 shots in total with seven of those shots coming in the final 11 minutes of the game. In the second period, he faced four measly offerings, and three of those ended up in the back of the net.
Lifelong goalie speaking here, those are incredibly difficult nights for a netminder. You need to feel the puck to get into a rhythm, and after giving up a soft goal and stopping just three other shots in the opening frame, the only work Jones got in the second was on grade-A opportunities for the Habs. It’s hard to defend four goals on 16 shots, but there is some context to consider, being that Seattle hung Jones out to dry three times in that costly middle frame.
That brings us to the main point of this Takeaway, which is that the Kraken generally played well in terms of possessing the puck and generating chances, but lapses cost them the game.
Andre Burakovsky committed a heinous turnover to Nick Suzuki that led to Cole Caufield’s goal. It then took just seven seconds and some poor play along the wall to give Montreal its next great chance, on which Anderson scored.
“We had a turnover at the end of a shift, and we made a mistake on a face-off,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re different plays, but those bump-up shifts are very important. You gotta make sure that you seal those off and push back the other way, and we’ve been outstanding in that area, but we didn’t get it done tonight.”
The icing on the cake came after a bad line change with the teams playing four-on-four, and noted Kraken killer Rem Pitlick put the Canadiens up 4-1.
A huge part of Seattle’s success this season has been minimizing the damage caused by turnovers and breakdowns, but those were the plays that doomed the Kraken this game.
Takeaway #3: PK better, but scoring drying up
It’s interesting how a team can appear to fix one problem, only to have a new issue suddenly pop up. Recently, the penalty kill has been a huge concern for the Kraken, who have struggled mightily with the manpower disadvantage. On Tuesday, the PK was successful, killing off all four of Montreal’s opportunities.
“There’s nothing special to it,” Hakstol said. “We were a little bit better in just our cohesion with our pressure all over the rink, and that’s a nice step forward. That’s a real positive for that group.” Hakstol also mentioned they added a couple forwards to the personnel rotation, with hopes of making sure guys were fresher on the kill.
Speaking anecdotally, it felt Tuesday like the “plus one” player in the “wedge plus one” formation, the guy who chases the puck around the top of the zone, was more aggressive than we’ve seen recently. Visually, there just seemed to be way more pressure on the points and on the half wall than in recent games.
Meanwhile, Seattle has stopped scoring. After potting nine goals against the Kings a week ago, Seattle has scored three goals, one goal, and now two goals in the subsequent three games. We were concerned that Seattle’s incredible shooting percentage could be an indicator that the team’s success wasn’t sustainable. Let’s hope these last few games have just been blips for a team that was rolling so well offensively through the month of November.
by Darren Brown | Dec 4, 2022 | Three takeaways
That’s the way the cookie crumbles. The Kraken lost 5-1 to the Florida Panthers Saturday, snapping their franchise-record win streak at seven games.
For a while, it felt like this game could end up being a carbon copy of the previous Kraken game against the Capitals, in which Seattle overcame a 2-0 deficit and pulled out a thrilling 3-2 overtime win. Instead, Spencer Knight came up big for the Cats, the Kraken gave up three power-play goals against, and Florida pulled away in the end.
You can’t win ’em all.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Seattle’s first loss since Nov. 13.
Takeaway #1: A penalty for a lost challenge is a terrible rule
Seven minutes into the first period Saturday, Marc Staal collided with Philipp Grubauer and eliminated any chance the Seattle netminder had of getting back in position to make the next save. Carter Verhaeghe scored into a wide-open net.
The rule for goalie interference says contact with the goalie outside the crease is allowed if the player makes an attempt to avoid said contact. This was a lot of contact, though, so we thought it could be overturned. Sure enough, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol challenged, but the call went against Seattle.
“The challenge— there’s two different ways to look at it,” Hakstol said. “I feel like in that case, Philipp didn’t have a chance to do his job. Their look and their ruling at it was different than my viewpoint, but that’s not for me to determine.”
As a result, not only did the goal stand, but the Kraken had to send a player to the penalty box for delay of game. On the ensuing power play, Verhaeghe scored his second goal in 26 seconds.
“Obviously it’s frustrating, but you can’t focus on it,” said Jared McCann of the lost challenge. “We have a lot of veteran guys here who just kind of calm us down and let us play hockey.”
We don’t get that worked up about goalie interference. The rule is confusing, and there are plenty of times that we think it will go one way, only to have the call go the opposite way. You win some, you lose some, it is what it is, yada yada.
What we do get worked up about is the penalty that comes with a lost challenge. Again, we understand why the call went against the Kraken in this case, but if it had gone the other way, that also would have been completely understandable. When a call is truly debatable like that, why should a team be penalized for challenging? It makes no sense.
“That’s part of the game,” Hakstol said. “You gotta make your decision. You got 20 or 30 seconds to look at it, make the best decision possible. In that case, I felt that our goaltender— we needed to stand up for him a little bit. He didn’t have a chance to make that save. The determination on the other side, that’s not up to me.”
Alright, screw it, we’re ranting about the refs now. As long as we’ve gone there, we might as well call out that we thought Vince Dunn getting an extra two minutes for his sparring session with Verhaeghe was bogus. It led to Matthew Tkachuk’s power-play goal at 5:51 of the second period.
We thought it was bogus because 1.) that was a two-person dance in which both players got plenty of shots in, and 2.) Tkachuk unnecessarily involved himself and gave Dunn a good whack after things had calmed between Dunn and Verhaeghe. So how does Dunn end up with four minutes there?
Hakstol called Dunn’s penalty “undisciplined,” and said the goal against—which pushed Florida’s lead to 3-1—was the turning point in the game, so maybe there was something more there from Dunn that we didn’t catch.
Last thing, the refs were in the way a hilarious amount of times Saturday. We know they’re always trying to get out of the way, but they were like extra defenders for Florida at times.
Ok, this rare referee rant has now come to an end.
Takeaway #2: The Kraken penalty kill is a serious issue
We aren’t that far removed from the Kraken going six games without a power-play goal against, a streak that lasted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 13. That stretch made us believe that Seattle had resolved its penalty kill issues from early in the season, but since that streak ended against the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 13, the Kraken have had a hard time with the manpower disadvantage. In fact, their PK has been downright stinky.
“It’s hard. I mean, a couple— we just can’t catch a break,” said Carson Soucy. “[They’ve been] shooting it wide a couple games in a row now, where it hits one of us or hits one of them and goes in. We’re trying to do the right things. I think it’s going to come around.”
The PK cost the Kraken in a big way Saturday against the Panthers. Our rant in Takeaway #1 about the refs becomes moot if Seattle just kills off the penalties, but that didn’t happen.
In addition to Verhaeghe scoring after the challenge, Tkachuk scored after the aforementioned bogus extra penalty on Dunn, and Gustav Forsling added a third power-play goal for the Cats at 13:03 of the third period. Worth noting, Grubauer probably wanted that one back, being that it was an unscreened blast from the point. Still, it came with the Kraken down a man, something that has happened far too often lately.
“We need to do a little better job in denying our blue line,” said Hakstol. “We need to do a little better job in finding our pressure. There were too many pucks that were going through seams tonight, which not only creates opportunities, but maintains possession. There’s different pieces that simply have to be better.”
Seattle has done a good job at fixing issues this season, but the PK has now dropped to 30th in the league with just a 66.7 percent success rate. That needs to be fixed again.
Takeaway #3: Spencer Knight was a factor, but the Kraken weren’t good enough
The Kraken were going to lose eventually, and there are worse things in the world than dropping one to a talented Florida Panthers team in a game when Spencer Knight is making enormous saves for his team. Hakstol was not happy with the way his team played, though.
“I don’t think there were very many parts of our game that were very good tonight,” Hakstol said. “So, that’s going to be a tough way to win a hockey game.”
Our immediate assessment of the performance was a little more friendly to the Kraken, because despite the bad breaks in the first period, it felt for a while like Seattle was going to get back in it, just like the previous game against Washington.
“I think we were just off a little from the start,” said Soucy. “They capitalized a couple early on the challenge and stuff. We did a good job trying to fight back, had our looks.”
Knight made an enormous save on Matty Beniers in the closing seconds of the first period, where he stretched to his left and just got his toe on what looked like a sure goal. Had Seattle scored there and gone to the room trailing by just one, we think the game would have had a different outcome.
“We had some good looks,” said Soucy. “He made a couple key, timely saves. When we’re trying to fight back, that just kind of drains us. You think you need one of those to go in, and then [they kind of] build the lead, makes it a little more.”
Onto the next win streak!
by Darren Brown | Dec 2, 2022 | Three takeaways
Just when you thought the Seattle Kraken would have their win streak snapped at six, they flipped Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals on its head and skated away with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory.
After Daniel Sprong drove hard to the net and Yanni Gourde cleaned up the rebound with 2:27 left in regulation, the crowd inside Climate Pledge Arena went berserk. But when Matty Beniers scored the game winner just seven seconds into overtime, the volume level inside the building may have hit a new all-time high.
The crowd was right to be excited; that was as thrilling a win as we’ve seen from this team, and it brought Seattle within two points of Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division with two games still in hand. The Kraken have now won seven games in a row for the first time in franchise history, and they’re 12-1-1 in their last 14. Perhaps most importantly, they got back to playing their game Thursday after a bizarre 9-8 win left an odd taste in the mouths of players and fans alike.
Here are our Three Takeaways from the Kraken’s latest triumph, a 3-2 overtime thriller over the Capitals.
Takeaway #1: The legend of Matty Beniers grows
It’s almost comical to think that we at Sound Of Hockey were recently expressing concern over Beniers’ stretch of six games without a point. Since then, he has erupted for 12 points in his subsequent six games and now leads all rookies in scoring.
Though he was held to just one measly point Thursday, it was an enormous one. Off the face-off to start the overtime period, Lars Eller tried to push the puck back to John Carlson. But sensing that Carlson was going to have a hard time handling it, both Beniers and Andre Burakovsky jumped past their marks and attacked the defenseman at the Washington blue line. Sure enough, Carlson coughed up the puck to Beniers, and he was off to the races.
Showing once again a level of poise typically reserved for seasoned veterans, Beniers made no mistake. He looked up, found his spot, and rifled it through Darcy Kuemper to send the Kraken faithful home happy yet again. The goal came just seven seconds into the three-on-three period, giving the Kraken their fourth overtime win in their last four tries.
“Those two guys did a great job creating that loose puck,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “It’s a 50-50 puck, and those are— I don’t care if it’s overtime, three-on-three or five-on-five in the middle of the game. It comes down to little battles like that.”
Jaden Schwartz was on the bench when the winning goal was scored. He said he couldn’t recall seeing a game end like that, so soon after the center-ice face-off. “It happened so fast that I think I was grabbing water, actually,” Schwartz said. “I looked up, and he was on a breakaway.”
Worth noting, Beniers did take his first NHL penalty in this game when he somehow flung Anthony Mantha’s stick all the way up into the protective netting behind Washington’s goal in the third period.
“I’m gonna sit him down right away [Friday], and we’ll go through that,” joked Hakstol.
Takeaway #2: Philipp Grubauer is starting to play
The great thing about having a platoon of two reliable goaltenders is when one falters, the other—at least in theory—can take the baton and run with it. Martin Jones was incredible in Philipp Grubauer’s absence and deserved to continue taking the lion’s share of starts, even after Grubauer came back from his injury. But with Jones showing signs of cracking in his last three starts, it was high time to get Grubi in more frequently.
After a solid 20-save win against the Golden Knights Friday, Grubauer turned in a 21-save performance against the Capitals Thursday. While that doesn’t sound like that many shots, he had some 10-bell stops in the second and third periods that gave his team a chance to win.
Grubauer did give up two goals in the first period, including one off an unscreened blast by Martin Fehervary that had us wondering if he was on his game early.
“First period was a little tough,” Grubauer said. “Two goals on three or four shots there, that’s not how you want to start things off. But second period went well, and that’s the type of period I needed for myself to get back into this.”
The German Gentleman made a key save off a deflection with eight seconds left in the opening frame that seemed to settle him down. “They made a nice play there,” he said. “Obviously, [it’s a] timely save. If that goes in, it’s 3-0 going into the second period and might be game over.”
When Grubauer came out for the second period, you could almost tell nothing else was getting past him for the remainder of the night. His best save came on a two-on-one rush for the Capitals. TJ Oshie made a ridiculous play to get the puck across to Evgeny Kuznetsov. On what looked like a sure goal, Grubauer slid to his left in a full split and robbed Kuznetsov.
He also stood tall against one of the best goal scorers of all time, Alex Ovechkin, who had five shots on goal, including a few of his patented power-play blasts.
“[Ovechkin] shot one in the first period from the boards, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’” Grubauer recalled. “He can definitely shoot it, and for us goalies, you can’t really react to it. You’ve just gotta be in position and hope that it hits you. That’s why he’s scored so many goals, right?” Grubauer added that having plenty of practice time against Ovechkin during their time together in Washington is a big help now in being able to stop him as an opponent.
If you go back to the game against Colorado, the night when Grubauer got hurt, he has now had three solid starts in a row. We think there’s a good chance Hakstol hands him the reins for a bit, so let’s see if he can run with that opportunity.
Takeaway #3: Playing their game
THAT is Kraken hockey, baby. It was clear from morning skate on Thursday that the Kraken were putting a lot of emphasis on getting back to the tight defensive structure that they pride themselves on playing.
“I thought we played like we should play, like we’re used to seeing the Kraken win games,” said Gourde. “This is exactly the type of game that we want to be in.”
After giving up four or more goals in three out of their previous four games, including eight goals against in Los Angeles on Tuesday, there was something oddly refreshing about a tight-checking, low-scoring affair.
“This feels so much better,” Gourde added. “Giving up eight goals and winning a game, I mean, every win is important, especially against a divisional rival like LA, but this feels much more like a Kraken win.”
Schwartz offered up similar sentiments to Gourde on how the team played in LA compared to how it played at home against the Caps. “We know we can’t be giving up that many chances and turning pucks over, giving up the middle of the ice,” Schwartz said. “So we just need to be harder together, support each other a little more and just play better defensively.”
They did those things Thursday. We sounded alarm bells on this week’s Sound Of Hockey Podcast that the group could have some bad habits creeping in. But the Kraken quieted those alarms Thursday and played a good, sound game in all three zones that re-established our belief that this win streak can continue for many games to come.
by Darren Brown | Nov 30, 2022 | Three takeaways
Where do we even begin? Neither team played any semblance of defense, and everybody scored goals in a 9-8 overtime victory for the Seattle Kraken over the Los Angeles Kings. Of course, we won’t complain about a Kraken win, but that was a bizarre and at times truly ugly game.
Matty Beniers, Jared McCann, and Andre Burakovsky each scored two goals for the Kraken (but wait, there’s more!), while Oliver Bjorkstrand, Daniel Sprong, and Alex Wennberg scored the other three. Martin Jones allowed eight goals on 35 shots, good for a .771 save percentage, yet hilariously got credit for another win.
22 unique players registered at least a point in Tuesday’s game, which saw 17 total goals scored by 13 different players.
“I haven’t been in a game like this since junior hockey,” said Jared McCann. “Other than [the San Jose game last Wednesday], I guess.”
McCann is onto something there. It was almost as if Tuesday’s Kraken game against the Kings saw that recent 8-5 Kraken game against the Sharks and said, “Hold my beer.”
We probably could have written about 20 Takeaways from this one, but we whittled it down to three. Here they are, our Three Takeaways from whatever that [motions wildly] was.
Takeaway #1: A game like no other
When we say that was the craziest game we’ve ever seen, we don’t just mean it was crazy in terms of Kraken hockey. We mean it was the most off-the-rails, bonkers hockey game we’ve ever seen. Full stop.
“It was kind of a messed up night,” said Burakovsky. “I think we were trading chances, a lot of sloppy plays. I don’t know. I think we played a really bad game, and so did they. I think we were lucky that they didn’t play good at home.”
“It was a crazy game,” added coach Dave Hakstol. “Obviously, not a well-played hockey game, and in a lot of respects. You look at the types of chances and the goals against and things like that. It was one of those games where last shot wins, and that’s exactly what happened.”
And it wasn’t just nuts because seemingly every shot went in the net. The number of goals scored alone was enough to make our heads spin, but there were some downright bizarre things happening during the course of play, too, especially in the third period.
A good example, Kevin Fiala blasted Oliver Bjorkstrand with a nasty hit from behind in front of the Kings bench. A big scrum ensued, and all the players on the ice stopped playing momentarily. But the referees never blew the whistle, and the puck just rattled around in the Kraken zone for a good 10 seconds before things got sorted out in the neutral zone. Then, the players just… began playing again, like nothing had happened.
While that was shaking out, the scorekeeper apparently stopped the clock thinking the whistle had gone. So, fast forward to the end of the third period, and the horn randomly sounded with about 10 seconds left on the clock. Apparently that was the result of the mix-up after the Fiala hit, but it was cause for one last round of confusion for everyone involved.
Then, the Kraken getting a power play and Burakovsky scoring the sudden-death game winner because the Kings had TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE IN THREE-ON-THREE OVERTIME was the frosting on top of a downright hideous cake.
It was an unforgettable game. Let’s never do it again.
Takeaway #2: Bad habits creeping in?
The Kraken absolutely rolled through the month of November, with an almost shocking 10-1-1 record. They’re now 11-1-1 in their last 13 games, and this latest victory extends their current win streak to six games. It also keeps them within four points of the Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division with two games in hand. That’s all good stuff.
But one thing we’ve seen from teams that have gotten onto prolonged hot streaks over the years is that when things are going this well for this long, players start to feel like they can get away with taking shortcuts on the ice. They stop doing the things that made their team successful in the first place, like playing sound, structural hockey. When the dam breaks and losses start leaking in, it’s really hard to stop the leaks from turning to a massive flood.
The Kraken, who are typically so hard to play against, have now given up four or more goals in three of their last four games, including a whopping eight against the Kings. There were many times Tuesday when Martin Jones looked completely hung out to dry, and that is something you never want to see from a team that prides itself on its defensive structure.
The players and coach were notably critical of themselves after the game, despite coming away with an important victory.
“We didn’t particularly play well defensively,” McCann said. “We didn’t shut it down in front of Jonesy, and you know, that’s on us. We gotta figure it out here and get back to the way we know how to— it would be better if we win 3-2 than 9-5, 9-6, 9-7 in a game.”
The Kraken were too loose in the neutral and defensive zones, and their puck management was horrendous.
“We have a lot to clean up on the defensive side,” said Burakovsky. “On the offensive side, we’re still scoring nine goals, so I mean, that’s definitely a positive. But we need to help our D out better, and we need to help out our goalie better. We can’t have nights when we let in eight goals. That’s just reality.”
Kraken fans can take solace in the fact that this team is continuing to find different ways to win. And even when they have these bad defensive nights, they’re able to outscore opponents, something they never would have been able to do last season.
Still, they can’t play like they played Tuesday and expect to keep winning. Hakstol has done a good job this season of addressing issues, so let’s keep an eye on this over the next few games to see if he and the Kraken can nip these bad defensive games in the bud.
Takeaway #3: A tough night for the goaltenders
It was a great night for padding offensive stats but not a great night for the goaltenders, who collectively got torched. As things were going back and forth in the earlier stages of the game, Kings coach Todd McLellan opted to relieve Jonathan Quick and send out Cal Petersen. The hook came after Jared McCann scored his second goal of the game at 4:56 of the second period, making it 5-4 Kraken.
The Kings then answered right back to make it 5-5, but interestingly, Hakstol left Jones in the game. That’s a tough call to make, because the score is close, and the goals to that point really hadn’t been Jones’s fault. But it’s also not good for his psyche to stay in there for eight goals against.
Hakstol said as McLellan was making his change, he never considered sending out Philipp Grubauer. “Jonesy was good to that point,” Hakstol said. “I think he probably showed a little bit of fatigue as we got into the third, with some of the opportunities that we had given up.”
We thought Jones had stopped the bleeding toward the end of the second period and into the third period, but a stinker from Mikey Anderson was what allowed the Kings to tie the game late and send it to overtime. But by then, do you send in a cold Grubauer with six minutes left? Probably not.
“The seventh goal is off of our stick, it’s a deflection, no chance there,” Hakstol said. “Probably the eighth one is the one that— if I were to sit with Jonesy and look at it, we’d probably look at it and say that’s one that he probably could have had.”
In the end, it’s yet another ‘W’ in the win column for Jones, but the Kraken have been riding him hard. It may be time to give him a couple nights in a row off to recuperate, both mentally and physically.
by Darren Brown | Nov 27, 2022 | Three takeaways
What is it about those pesky last-place Anaheim Ducks? Seattle had them dead to rights on opening night in October, dominating every facet of that game, only to collapse in the third period and lose in overtime. Sunday, the Kraken came out again looking like they were ready to blow the Ducks out of the pond, but somehow Anaheim hung around, scored three power-play goals, and made things downright stressful in the third period.
Seattle learned from its early-season sins, though. Sunday, when it looked like they were about to give the game away, the Kraken bent but didn’t break and escaped with two more important points in the standings.
With the victory, the Kraken are now 10-1-1 in their last 12 games and are on their second five-game win streak of that stretch. With the Golden Knights idle Sunday, the win brings Seattle (at least temporarily) within four points of Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division. Oh, and the Kraken still have two games in hand on the VGK’s.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an imperfect but important 5-4 Kraken win over the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: Ding dong! It’s Daniel Sprong!
It’s hard to put our finger on exactly why we root so hard for Daniel Sprong to succeed, but there’s something about how the story has played out for him since he arrived in Seattle at last season’s NHL Trade Deadline. He keeps getting asked to prove himself, and he keeps responding.
Sprong’s big shot on the power play led to Matty Beniers’ power-play goal in the second period (more on that in the next Takeaway), but his biggest play came in the third period. He streaked across the Anaheim blue line and tried to dump the puck deep. It hit a Duck defender, but the puck took a fortuitous bounce and sat up nicely for Sprong to regain control at the top of the slot.
With Ryan Donato creating chaos by driving to the net, Sprong looped around to his backhand, waited, waited, waited, and finally lofted the puck into a yawning cage.
With things looking like they could have gone sideways for the Kraken at that stage in the game, regaining the lead was paramount. Leave it to Daniel Sprong; he’ll get the job done.
Takeaway #2: Matty Beniers is on fire
We wrote a couple games ago that concern had started to creep in when Kraken star rookie Matty Beniers had gone quiet for six straight games. Well, he has been anything but quiet in the four games since and notched his second three-point night during that span Sunday against the Ducks. In total, Beniers now has nine points in his four-game scoring streak, which officially qualifies him for “a heater.”
Sunday, he won the face-off that led to Jared McCann’s game-opening goal. That earned him a second assist. He also got an assist on Sprong’s game winner by connecting on a long breakout pass to Ryan Donato that started the play.
Yet, his biggest moment came midway through the second period with Seattle on the power play. Things had gotten shifted around a bit in the course of play, and instead of hovering around the right half wall, where he is normally posted, Beniers found himself in the net-front position. Sprong initially fumbled a pass but quickly picked it up and fired it at John Gibson. Gibson didn’t handle it cleanly, and Beniers pounced and swatted it home.
It was a huge goal at the time, because it re-extended Seattle’s lead to two goals.
This kid is so special. After that quiet stretch, here’s hoping he stays noisy for as long as possible.
Takeaway #3: Morgan Geekie injured by friendly fire
The win may have come with a cost for the Kraken. Three minutes into the second period, with the Ducks changing, Seattle had plenty of time to reset for a breakout. Morgan Geekie laid a pass back to an uncontested Vince Dunn, then began racing up the boards. Looking back at Dunn, Geekie didn’t see Adam Larsson crossing his path. Larsson’s shoulder caught Geekie right in the face, and the 24-year-old forward went down in a heap.
Geekie was helped to the bench and then immediately went down the tunnel. He did not return to the game, and the team announced that he had suffered an upper-body injury.
It would be complete conjecture to say what we think happened to Geekie, so we won’t; but it didn’t look great. If Geekie misses any significant time, it will be a big loss for the Kraken. In the midst of his best NHL season so far, Geekie has been key for Seattle’s impressive fourth line that has helped drive offense for the team.
Without their fourth center in the second half of Sunday’s game, Matty Beniers was often seen doing double duty to center both his usual line and also that fourth line. That’s not sustainable, so if the Kraken need to replace Geekie in the lineup, the most obvious options would be to have Ryan Donato play center with Sprong and Karson Kuhlman on the fourth line, or they could bring Shane Wright back from his conditioning stint in Coachella Valley.
Bonus Takeaway: Set plays are cool when they work
McCann’s goal less than a minute into the game came just after an offensive-zone face-off. Best friend of the pod, Alison Lukan, called this out on the ROOT Sports broadcast as well, but we wanted to mention it here. The goal was scored because Beniers, Jordan Eberle, and McCann executed a pre-designed set play to perfection.
Beniers pulled the face-off back between his feet. Eberle, who had lined up on the left hash, lunged to his right to grab the loose puck. McCann, who had lined up on the right hash, immediately took off to loop around the bottom of the face-off circle and hopefully get lost by the Anaheim defense. As soon as Eberle gained control, he blindly threw the puck to the front of the net, hoping McCann would be there. Sure enough, McCann had gotten lost by the Ducks defense and was alone in front of Gibson. The pass from Eberle was on the money, and McCann just had to wait out Gibson and throw it up under the bar.
Set plays don’t always work, because everything from the drop of the puck onward has to break perfectly in your favor. One minute into the game against the Ducks, everything broke perfectly in Seattle’s favor, and the result was a beautiful goal.
by Darren Brown | Nov 23, 2022 | Gameday Coverage, Three takeaways
That’s… *not* Kraken hockey, baby! You don’t often see Seattle in track meets (or swim meets, since both teams were sea creatures?), but that’s what happened Wednesday against San Jose. In the end, the Kraken outran (out-swam?) the Sharks with an 8-5 win to improve to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and close out their six-game homestand 4-1-1.
“It was fun for the fans, but it stunk for the coaches,” coach Dave Hakstol joked about the high-scoring affair. “Sometimes there’s nights like this. It kind of had that feel right from the go.”
With the win, Seattle now officially jumps over Los Angeles in the standings and holds sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division with three games still in hand. That was a big two points.
It’s another new way for the Kraken to win, earning a franchise record eight goals and overcoming a Timo Meier hat trick. And although coach Hakstol couldn’t have been thrilled about his team continuously letting the Sharks back in the game, the boys prevailed in the end.
“You gotta win games all different ways,” Hakstol said. “This isn’t the way that you draw it up, but it’s still a win, and you got to find different ways to win hockey games.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a wild 8-5 Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: Everyone off the schneid!
It had been a long time since we had seen Jaden Schwartz score a goal. It had been longer since we had seen Ryan Donato pot one. And it had been really really long since Oliver Bjorkstrand had gotten one.
Schwartz, who had two goals, had last scored Oct. 29 against Pittsburgh. Donato, meanwhile, hadn’t scored since Oct. 19 against St. Louis, and Bjorkstrand hadn’t scored since the team’s very first game of the season in Anaheim.
Bjorkstrand getting on the board feels especially important. The key offseason acquisition has scored more than 20 goals in three of his last four seasons, but he has been mired with just one this season thanks to a shockingly low shooting percentage.
He finally got the monkey off his back against the Sharks. With the game tied early in the third period, Brandon Tanev forced a turnover at the San Jose blue line. The puck went right to Yanni Gourde, who found Bjorkstrand all alone with oodles of time. Bjorkstrand waited out Kaapo Kahkonen and tucked a backhander up under the bar.
“He scores that goal, and we all went nuts on the bench,” said Matty Beniers. “He’s so deserving of it. He’s getting so many offensive chances every night, and now one’s going in, and you’re probably going to see they’re all going to start falling for him.”
Andre Burakovsky shared that Bjorkstrand had a secret weapon Wednesday. Bjorkstrand recently switched to a new stick and had been scoring a lot in practice recently. So, when he buried one Wednesday, Burakovsky told him, “It’s the new stick, bud.”
“It’s great for him,” Hakstol added. “That’s a heck of a goal. He’s had some really good opportunities here over the last 10 games. That play is— first of all, it’s off of hard work on a re-load in the offensive zone, and he made no mistake.”
It was a big goal in the game and perhaps an even bigger goal for the player, who Seattle certainly hopes can get going offensively.
Takeaway #2: Jamie Oleksiak is back
Though the Kraken had some success with Jamie Oleksiak out of the lineup, the Big Rig was a sight for sore eyes on the Seattle blue line Wednesday. It is our belief here at Sound Of Hockey that consistent and balanced right-shot/left-shot defensive pairs has been hugely helpful to this team. Without Oleksiak, Seattle had temporarily lost that balance, plus a big, physical presence on the back end was suddenly missing.
In his first game back from his lower-body injury, Oleksiak found his way onto the scoresheet. Midway through the second period, San Jose had a delayed penalty coming. With Martin Jones off for an extra skater, the Kraken maintained possession for an extended period. They worked it around the offensive zone until Justin Schultz found Oleksiak open on the doorstep. Oleksiak redirected it by Kahkonen to make it 4-2 Kraken.
“He was good,” Hakstol said of Oleksiak. “Obviously, we love his defensive game and the hardness that he brings there. He chipped in with a goal in the six-on-five with the delayed penalty. So it’s not really a defensive two-way defenseman’s dream tonight at 8-5, but he contributed in a lot of different ways, and he’s a big part of our group. It’s nice to have him back in the lineup.”
Just like how the Kraken saw immediate results in three-on-three overtime after practicing that scenario, they also practiced six-on-five situations this week. Lo and behold, an extended opportunity came up in the middle of the game, and they took advantage. As we said after last game, practice makes perfect.
Takeaway #3: The Killer B’s come through in a big way
Not only did Bjorkstrand score an important goal Wednesday, the other two of the “Killer B’s” had an enormous night as well.
Burakovsky had Seattle’s first goal of the game on a five-on-three power play, then assisted on Oleksiak’s goal and Schwartz’s first goal.
Beniers had three points of his own, with a beautiful goal off a rush to seal the game at 7-5, and an even better assist on Vince Dunn’s goal in the second period. He made something out of nothing, attacking an offensive zone full of Sharks, despite being completely outnumbered. Beniers flew deep into the zone, then somehow snuck a pass between Jaycob Megna and Luke Kunin. The pass found Dunn driving to the net, and he tied the game at 2-2.
“I loved his game three nights ago,” Hakstol said of Beniers. “If you go back and look at that hockey game, he did so many really good things. High-level, good two-way play, good offensive plays, and he followed it up tonight.”
We’ve quietly had just the smallest inkling of concern that Beniers may have been hitting a bit of a wall. This is, after all, his first full pro season and the first time he’s experienced the grind of an 82-game campaign. After a torrid start to the season, Beniers had gone six games without a point before earning two assists against the Kings on Saturday. Wednesday was a breakout.
It’s a great sign to see Matty back to his contributing ways after a quiet stretch.
