For the second game in a row, the Seattle Kraken showed resiliency to battle back for a late tying goal, only to come up short in overtime, this time falling 4-3 to the Dallas Stars.
Seattle got off to a terrible start to the game but then turned it on in the second period and began their long fight to get back into it. The uphill struggle culminated with Eeli Tolvanen finding a loose puck with 21.8 seconds left on the clock and snatching the Kraken another loser point in similar fashion to Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings.
ELFIE TOLVANEN!!!! 🚨
WITH 21.8 SECONDS LEFT!
Incredible tenacity by the #SeaKraken with the 6-on-5, keeping the puck in and battling to create a chance.
Tolvanen’s goal came with Joey Daccord pulled for an extra attacker. The Kraken got extended pressure after Vince Dunn kept the play alive at the blue line, and Oliver Bjorkstrand eventually got the exact same look in the top of the slot that allowed him to tie the game against Los Angeles. This time, his shot didn’t go in the net, but it did create chaos at the net front, and that eventually turned into Tolvanen’s equalizer.
“I think it’s a big point for us,” said newcomer Tomas Tatar, who scored his first goal as a Kraken. “At the end of the day, we battled back from a few breakdowns in the first period, which cost us a few goals. But then we battled back, and I think we played well. I think we deserved the point. In overtime, we hit the post, and that’s how thin is the line between winning and losing.”
The injury-ravaged Kraken suffered a couple more blows Monday, with two key players missing the third period. More on that in Takeaway #3.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken overtime loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: An ugly start
Seattle’s execution in the opening 20 minutes was not good, and some bad reads by defensemen got the Kraken behind the eight ball very early in the game.
“The first period was really sloppy,” Tolvanen said. “A lot of misreads, I don’t think we were ready to play today. We gave them some odd-man rushes, 2-on-1’s, half-breakaways, that’s not a recipe against this team.”
The first shot the Kraken allowed against Daccord was a Grade-A scoring chance off a 2-on-1 rush between Matt Duchene (who had two goals and an assist on the night) and Tyler Seguin.
It started because Will Borgen pinched at the offensive-zone blue line without high support from his forwards. That led to the odd-man rush and an easy goal to get things rolling for the Stars.
That's generally not the type of shot you want to give up as the first show you allow.
Bad pinch at the offensive-zone blue line by Will Borgen, and Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin get a 2-on-1 the other way.
Borgen was involved in the second goal against as well, although this one was a little harder to pin on the defenseman. On this one, he tried to cut off a stretch pass to Roope Hintz in the neutral zone, but the two got tangled up and fell. From his knees, Hintz was able to keep the puck moving north, and that sent Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson on another 2-on-1. Robertson got the goal to make it 2-0.
Sheesh. Another odd-man rush for the Stars, and it's in the back of the #SeaKraken's net.
All three forwards were drifting up ice. Borgen fell down in the neutral zone. Jason Robertson got the goal.
On the second goal, we didn’t like the way all three forwards were drifting up the ice.
“We fed them with four or five real good out-numbered opportunities in the first period,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s not the way you want to start in this building against this team, for sure. There were a couple of guys tonight that didn’t start on time and it leads to some of those plays.”
Hakstol has wasted no time in getting Tatar top-six minutes. With Jordan Eberle surprisingly missing from the Saturday game with a lower-body injury, we didn’t get to see how Hakstol would deploy the new winger with Eberle in the lineup. We thought Eberle returning could bump Tatar down, but instead, the coach put the two wingers together on a line with Matty Beniers.
It’s no secret Beniers and Eberle have struggled tremendously for the first (nearly) three months of this season. They entered Monday’s game with just seven combined goals through 32 games, but both looked more dynamic against Dallas, skating on a line with Tatar.
Beniers ended up with a goal and an assist and also had two good looks in overtime that he created all by himself. The first was the one Tatar mentioned earlier that rang off the post, and the second was a wraparound that Scott Wedgewood just barely caught up with in time to thwart Beniers.
“There was a little instant chemistry there,” Hakstol said. “And between those three guys [with] Ebs, what you saw tonight is Matty playing with some speed and his linemates being able to find him with some of that speed from underneath… They had a good night. They worked hard, they generated some offense.”
Both goals scored by the line came off 2-on-1 rushes. Beniers perfectly executed the “pass off the pad” play 30 seconds into the second period, giving Tatar a prime rebound opportunity that he just squeezed through Wedgewood.
SNOWMAS TATAR! ❄️
Mistletoe Matty kisses one off the pad of Wedgewood, and Tatar squeezes the rebound through for his first as a #SeaKraken.
Later in the second, Tatar went for a home run pass that got partially intercepted, but Eberle stole it back and slid it to Beniers. Matty showed some of the finish that has been lacking throughout the season and scored his first goal since Nov. 28.
MERRY MATTY! 🎄
Jordan Elferle steals it just inside the blue line and gets it to Beniers, who now has a goal and an assist.
“He’s a very smart centerman,” Tatar said of Beniers. “He can distribute the puck, Ebs helped us a lot today. I think us three, we were close, supporting each other, and that was a lot of fun to play with those two.”
While Beniers and Eberle seemed to enjoy playing with Tatar, he too has looked good since joining Seattle. Interestingly, it took him 26 games to score his first goal as an Avalanche this season but only two games to score his first goal as a Kraken.
Takeaway #3: McCann and Bellemare injured
For a team that is already without Andre Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz, and Philipp Grubauer, and a team that just had Eberle miss a game, and a team that has seen Brandon Tanev miss significant time, the last thing the Kraken wanted to see was injuries to two more players on Monday.
But neither Pierre-Edouard Bellemare nor top goal scorer, Jared McCann, played in the third period, both suffering lower-body injuries.
The Bellemare injury happened on this shot block on Thomas Harley:
The McCann injury is a bit more mysterious. He was out for a power play with a few minutes left in the second period and looked like himself. He took one little cross check before leaving the ice, but it didn’t look like much. There really was nothing obvious in the shift that screamed “injury” to us.
After the game, Hakstol didn’t give much of an update on either, but he did say this about Bellemare: “Lower-body, again, not available [for the rest of the game]. We know a little bit more there [than on the McCann injury], but we just want to make sure we get it right before we disclose what it is. Looks like [Bellemare] might be a little bit longer period of time.”
So, if we’re correctly reading between the lines there, it indicates to us Hakstol thinks Bellemare’s injury is somewhat serious and will cause him to be out for a while, whereas McCann’s doesn’t sound as significant. Still, the Kraken can’t afford any more injuries, and especially not to their top goal scorer.
Bonus Takeaway: A “learning” moment for Ryker Evans
We have loved the play of Ryker Evans since he got called up on Dec. 5, but we would have liked to see him play the game-winning goal a bit differently. He stuck right with Harley to the far post, but with Harley a left shot and Evans positioned on his right, there wasn’t much he could do to take Harley’s stick away. Evans should have gotten to the other side of Harley and gotten underneath him to lift his stick.
“[Harley] was able to get his stick down and get it available,” Hakstol said. “And in those situations, the guy passing the puck—in that case, Duchene—is just looking for an opportunity when a stick is available on the ice. For sure, there’s a learning and a teaching moment there, and those are experiences that you have to go through.”
Indeed, these are things Evans has to pick up over time, but it’s a shame this lesson had to come on a game-winning goal.
Worth noting, the Kraken now lead the league with nine OT or shootout losses. A few more winners here and there would be swell, but we’ll take the standings point on this night. Since breaking their eight-game losing streak, the Kraken now have points in four straight.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
That was close to exactly how we expected Saturday’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken to go. The Kings are known to be a good, structured team with a few star offensive players. They showed their defensive prowess against Seattle, only allowing nine shots through to Cam Talbot in the first 40 minutes, and 18 total in regulation.
“They are a very structured team,” Yanni Gourde said. “We knew that going in, and we saw that all night. I think they’re probably one of the best-structured teams we’ve seen all year. We find a way to get a point there, I just obviously want to win every game.”
The Kraken trailed 2-1 late but capitalized on a power-play opportunity and snagged a point from the jaws of defeat.
It took nine rounds of a shootout to decide this one, and although Kailer Yamamoto, Yanni Gourde, and Matty Beniers all had goals in the skills competition, every time Seattle beat Talbot, the Kings shooters would answer. Eeli Tolvanen missed in Round 9, and Carl Grundstrom scored to decide the game.
“We expect to win,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’re a good team in here too. We played hard from start to finish. One of the keys against that team is not becoming frustrated. They’re outstanding defensively, they play hard, they shut down the middle of the rink, they’re able to breakout with structure and beat your forecheck by a few feet here and there.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a tough-sledding 3-2 Kraken shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Takeaway #1: Another good night for Joey
With Philipp Grubauer on the shelf and the Kraken in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, the team really needed Joey Daccord to step up and play a stretch of solid games as the de facto starter. He has done just that, posting a .954 save percentage in four starts with a 1.25 goals-against average.
On Saturday, he made 36 saves on 38 shots and gave his team every chance—and we mean every chance—to get an unlikely win, but his teammates didn’t reward him.
“Joey did his job,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He played well, really well. I thought he played really well tonight and continued what he’s been doing, and that’s what we needed from him tonight.”
Daccord got peppered with 29 shots through the first two periods before things slowed down for him in the third. On the two goals he allowed, Seattle’s defense hung him out.
On the first, Trevor Moore ended up with the puck on his stick behind all five Kraken players, just a few feet above the crease. It developed quickly, so there wasn’t time for Daccord to slide back with LA’s leading goal scorer, and he was able to deke around Daccord.
On the second, with Will Borgen in the penalty box, Anze Kopitar was able to (again) sneak to the back post with no defensive coverage, and Quinton Byfield found him for an easy tap-in.
Daccord came up especially large in overtime, after Vince Dunn had taken a very undisciplined penalty (more on that in Takeaway #2). A 4-on-3 power play should almost guarantee a goal, but the Kraken’s killers made a bunch of blocks, and any puck that got through got gobbled up by Daccord. He made multiple saves on the manpower disadvantage sliding to his left to cut off one-timers that were heading into the net.
Hakstol seems content riding it out with Daccord right now, and Joey is rewarding him by standing tall nightly.
Takeaway #2: Undisciplined penalties
There were two penalties in this game that would make a viewer question Seattle’s discipline. We didn’t have a problem with the first one (we will explain momentarily), taken by Borgen, but it ended up costing Seattle. Kopitar made it 2-1 on the ensuing power play at 17:16 of the second period.
Borgen’s penalty was an immediate retaliation on Anderson for a crushing (but clean) hit in the neutral zone that flattened Tye Kartye. It happened right in front of Borgen, and his response was to dump Anderson.
This one is tricky, because we know the physical response from Seattle this season has been questioned many times, especially after Kraken players get hurt (Kartye didn’t get hurt on this one). Based on what we’ve seen the last few games, we’re willing to bet there have been conversations inside the dressing room about an immediate physical response when things happen on the ice.
This was a quick decision by Borgen to stick up for his teammate, and it ended up biting him. So, we didn’t dislike the choice to hit Anderson when it happened, although it did put Borgen in the box for two minutes, and Los Angeles made the Kraken pay for the retaliation.
The second penalty, though, a slashing penalty by Vince Dunn in overtime, was unacceptable. He had just been taken down by Drew Doughty in the offensive zone with no call from the officials, so he reacted by taking a big, looping swing at Phillip Danault. It was one of the more obvious penalties Seattle has taken this season.
With the delayed call coming, Dunn swung again at Kevin Fiala and then got his hands up and hit Fiala in the face (we would not be surprised if he gets a fine for the last one). He could have taken three separate penalties on the play, but the referees were kind enough to only give him one.
Oh, no, Vince.
He takes a very undisciplined penalty in OT and frankly could have gotten three penalties on the play. pic.twitter.com/hLeMdalbRo
“That’s out of a little bit of frustration,” Hakstol said. “I thought we took two penalties tonight that we’ll talk about internally, discuss it. There are the two penalties that we don’t want to take. Sometimes you get a little— there’s a frustration that builds when you see a couple of other calls or non-calls. I won’t get into which ones or what it is, bottom line is those things happen during a hockey game, so you have to step down to have the presence of mind to take care of the situation.”
Thanks to a huge penalty kill and some great saves by Daccord, the penalty didn’t end up immediately costing Seattle the game, but it certainly took two minutes of 3-on-3 time off the board, when the Kraken may have had an opportunity to get the win.
Takeaway #3: Power play comes up big
Man, we love the look of Ryker Evans quarterbacking the Kraken power play. In a game when 5-on-5 offense was so incredibly difficult to generate, Seattle needed its power play unit to break through in a key moment. So many times this season, with the Kraken chasing late in a game, they’ve gotten opportunities with a manpower advantage, only to come up empty and lose in regulation.
On Saturday, they broke through with an Oliver Bjorkstrand snipe from the top of the slot after exceptional movement and several chances. It was one of those power plays where it felt like a goal could come at any time, and sure enough, they eventually converted to snatch a standings point at 17:31 of the third.
“The PP went out and executed,” Hakstol said. “They did a nice job, and those are the things you talk about when you go into your power play meeting in the morning is you’re going to execute when it means the most in the game.”
It did mean a lot in that moment, and the Kraken did execute. It would have been better to get the second point, but on a night like that, when things aren’t coming easy, getting to the extra frame and stealing a point is a good consolation prize.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Three weeks ago–before an eight-game losing streak that tripped panic buttons both inside the walls of the Kraken dressing room and out–the Kraken recorded what we termed a “markedly easy win” over the outmatched San Jose Sharks 7-1. Well, “time is a flat circle,” as Sound Of Hockey colleague Darren Brown likes to say. On Thursday night the Kraken again registered an easy 7-1 win against an outgunned opponent in the Chicago Blackhawks.
These are two points the Kraken simply needed to have. The Blackhawks are, well, not good. If Seattle has any hopes of clawing its way back into the playoff mix, it needs to take care of business against inferior opposition. In one of the more frustrating efforts of the season, the Kraken failed to do just that two weeks ago in Chicago, losing 4-3 to the Blackhawks on Nov. 28. With the season teetering, the team couldn’t afford another slip up Thursday. And, to their credit, they left no doubt.
The Kraken scored first, just over three minutes in, and then held that lead for the remainder of the night. The game remained within striking distance for Chicago through the first 10 minutes of the second period, but over the back half of the game, the boys in deep sea blue broke it wide open.
Joey Daccord stopped 21 of 22 shots. Rookie defenseman Ryker Evans was stellar again, recording two points and making at least a dozen other strong plays throughout. Evans’ former Regina Pats teammate Connor Bedard had a quiet night and didn’t embarrass Daccord or anyone else with his elite offensive skills. Kraken forwards, on the other hand, were scoring goals from every conceivable angle and chased Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom in the third period.
Here are our Three Takeaways from Thursday’s 7-1 Kraken win over the Blackhawks.
Takeaway #1: Yamamoto and the fourth line were superb
Kailer Yamamoto was up to some recently familiar tricks to start this game. Just two days prior, he got Seattle on the board first when he scored a nifty breakaway goal. On Thursday, he again earned the Kraken a 1-0 lead when he intercepted a loose clearing attempt from Blackhawk Reese Johnson, stepped across the Chicago blue line, and wasted no time firing a wrist shot low blocker past Soderblom.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨
Officially unassisted, Kailer Yamamoto gets a gift in the neutral zone, then Soderblom misses it.
Yamamoto's second goal in two games, third goal in two games for the fourth line.
Not done there, Yamamoto then scored the second goal of the game with under three minutes remaining in the first period when he alertly batted a puck that bounced off Blackhawk defender Nikita Zaitsev into the goal. (While originally announced as a goal for Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare, video review later confirmed it to be Yamamoto’s goal.) This one proved to be the game-winner.
BELLY OF THE BALL! 🚨
Yamamoto and Bellemare, rinse and repeat. Two games in a row, those two fourth-liners have scored the first two goals of the game.
Some dispute on if Yamamoto should get credit, but for now, it's PEB.
And Yamamoto did more than just score. He was active all night. In one particularly impressive offensive-zone possession beginning at 7:15 in the second period, the Kraken fourth line hemmed in Chicago for over a minute. Yamamoto made several strong possession plays in this sequence including a cutback below the goal line that freed him to deliver a centering pass that just missed Jared McCann in the slot for another potential goal.
Beyond Yamamoto, the entire fourth line deserves credit for back-to-back strong efforts. The line has five goals in the last two games, with Bellemare scoring the other two. On Thursday, the fourth line outshot Chicago 6-2 and controlled 82 percent of the total shot quality while on the ice. Continued production like that would go a long way toward extending this two-game winning streak.
Takeaway #2: In a skill mismatch, the Kraken also got the bounces
While the Kraken were the better team throughout this game, it was not until the second half that they truly overwhelmed the Blackhawks. Even so, the Kraken built an insurmountable early advantage in the first half of the game on the strength of some good old-fashioned puck luck.
As mentioned above, Yamamoto’s second goal came on a broken play. Vince Dunn shot a puck from the perimeter that snuck under the arm of Zaitsev and fell to the ice right in front of Yamamoto (and Bellemare). Soderblom had no chance to react.
Chicago responded by narrowing the lead to one (more on that goal in a moment) early in the second period, but Seattle then re-established a two-goal lead just over a minute later when an Oliver Bjorkstrand centering pass ricocheted into the goal off Blackhawks defenseman Jason Dickinson.
BJORK…. JAM (sort of)! 🚨
Bjorstrand tries to make a pass, but it hits Jason Dickinson's skate and caroms in.
There’s no reason to complain about puck luck, though. When you’re outworking the opposing team in the strategic areas of the ice, you should get your share of fortunate bounces. Seattle hasn’t seen many of those go their way over the last couple weeks, so it was a welcome turn of events. A 7-1 score is what can happen when the better team gets the luck too.
Takeaway #3: Some early giveaways
It may seem odd to say about a 7-1 victory, but the Kraken made a number of defensive-zone mistakes in the first half of the game that may have been costly and swung momentum in the other direction against a better opponent.
At 12:03 in the first period, the Kraken had full possession in the defensive zone, with Eeli Tolvanen controlling the puck along the boards. He looked to center the puck for an open-ice advance, as Seattle has often done this season. Brian Dumoulin was open but perhaps too close for a clean break, and Tolvanen hesitated. With his internal alarm clock going off, Tolvanen shot the puck over toward Bjorkstrand, but the pass was too hot to handle. Chicago’s Joey Anderson took the puck and set up Nick Foligno clean in on Daccord.
Later, at 19:20 in the first period, Matty Beniers received the puck outside the Kraken defensive zone with room to advance himself. Instead of taking the ice, he too looked to center to McCann for a full flight advance. Unlike Beniers, though, McCann was under pressure, and he turned the puck over. This led to controlled possession for Chicago back into Seattle’s zone.
At 2:59 in the second period, Jamie Oleksiak had control fading back to his corner in the defensive zone. He flung a pass without any forward body momentum toward Bellemare and Yamamoto, but it was easy pickings for Chicago forward Anthony Beauvillier at the blue line. Beauvillier then attacked and set up forward Taylor Raddysh for Chicago’s only goal.
Finally, at 6:30 in the second period, Tye Kartye held possession in the defensive zone and tried to hit Brandon Tanev with an indirect stretch pass. It was a bad read (Tanev was covered) and a bad pass, which resulted in an easy turnover to Chicago in the neutral zone. This led to another controlled entry, almost 30 seconds of offensive-zone time for Chicago, and another unblocked shot attempt.
As it happened, Chicago couldn’t capitalize more than once on these Kraken mistakes, so it didn’t hurt Seattle in this one. But the Kraken need to tighten up their possession game in their own zone and avoid turning the puck over in dangerous areas if they want to keep this winning streak going.
Bonus takeaway: Big Cat t-shirts
The vibes are trending up in the dressing room, that’s for sure. On Thursday night, the room not only celebrated its second straight victory, but many indulged in some light-hearted fun honoring (at the expense of?) teammate Adam Larsson.
We didn’t get the complete story postgame, but it seems that Beniers had a hand in generating and distributing t-shirts documenting an infamous photo of Larsson with what can only be termed a “Big Cat Bowl Cut™.” The team had fun with it.
Parting thoughts
Given the weak opponent, the Kraken and their fans should be cautious against overconfidence in a perceived turnaround or breakout. Recall that Seattle’s trouncing of San Jose was followed by a home loss to a quality Pacific Division opponent in the Canucks. Seattle’s next game is a home date with the Los Angeles Kings, another team above Seattle in the Pacific Division standings. That’s a benchmark game.
But Thursday was a welcome reminder that the Kraken do have a tenacious forecheck; the team does have goal scorers; and, perhaps most importantly, bounces can sometimes go Seattle’s way. Maybe it will help the team and fanbase loosen their grip on the stick a bit and attack the game Saturday with a clearer head.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
We got used to losing. We really did. We were numb to it, and we didn’t even know it. This Seattle Kraken win over the Florida Panthers reminded us that leaving Climate Pledge Arena after a victory can actually make us feel invigorated, despite knowing Seattle may have already shot itself in the tentacle and sunk its season. Victory songs were played, fish were yeeted (albeit poorly in Joey Daccord’s case), and a Davy Jones hat was distributed for the first time since Nov. 22.
From outside the Kraken dressing room, we could hear the players hooting and hollering, and when we were allowed to enter, we immediately felt a very different vibe than what we’ve experienced on the rest of this homestand.
“It’s still a kids game, right?” coach Dave Hakstol said. “You play hard. You want to work hard and have success together, and then you have fun and enjoy that. And our guys were able to finally do that tonight after a real tough stretch.”
Joey Daccord got his first NHL shutout, Ryker Evans got his first NHL point, and the fourth line chipped in with two huge goals.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a freeing 4-0 Kraken win over the Panthers.
Takeaway #1 (Darren): Joey’s big night
Sound Of Hockey readers/followers/listeners will know that I am unabashedly pro-Joey and really want to see him succeed. He is just the best guy to deal with, so witnessing him earn his first NHL shutout was something that will stick with me for a while.
I could tell he was dialed in from the drop of the puck. He was tested early and often in the first period and stood tall, especially when Aaron Ekblad came barreling down on a 3-on-1 rush about five minutes into the game.
With Brandon Tanev backchecking and Evans the lone defender, Ekblad elected to take the puck to the net and try to deke around Daccord, who was aggressively challenging at the top of the crease. At the last instant, Daccord flared out his right pad and stuffed the star defenseman before smothering the puck for a whistle.
“It’s always nice to make any save, especially when they get a good chance early to kind of get the ball rolling,” Daccord said. “And, to just feel good moving forward, that’s definitely always nice.”
It wasn’t just that save, though, that made me think he was especially sharp on this night. There was a high tip play that seemed like one of those that should cause problems for a goalie, because of the way that it changed both speeds and directions. But Daccord tracked it all the way in and calmly redirected it away from the net with his stick, making it look easy.
In the end, Daccord racked up 24 saves on 24 shots.
“It means the world, honestly,” Daccord said. “I’m super grateful for the opportunity to play in the NHL every single night, and for the coaching staff and the guys to trust me out there and to get a shutout in the NHL, especially against such a high-caliber team with a lot of good players … yeah, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but it’s pretty special, for sure.”
Having said all that, with Festivus right around the corner, I must air two grievances toward Daccord. First, he disappointed me by electing *not* to shoot for the empty net when he had a chance below his own goal line, even though Seattle held a comfortable 3-0 lead, and Florida had pulled Sergei Bobrovsky with more than five minutes remaining.
“[Adam Larsson] skated down and like looked at me like…” Imagine Joey doing back-and-forth shifty eyes at the end of that statement, mimicking his defenseman’s facial expression. “He was almost more surprised that I didn’t shoot. I’ll shoot if I get a good chance. That one wasn’t really a great chance. It was kind of a bouncy puck, and I was stuck behind the net, so that would have taken a really high-skill-level play to make that one.”
Alright, fine, I’ll let that one slide. But the other grievance I must air was about Daccord’s very poor fish yeeting, in which he twirled his fish around to amp up the crowd, made it look like he was about to fire the fish deep into the stands, and somehow whipped it straight down into the ice.
“I tried to throw it so far, and it just didn’t work,” Daccord said. “Yeeting a fish is harder than you think, so don’t make fun of me until you try it.”
Ugh. Alright, fine, I retract both of my grievances. Good game, Joey.
Takeaway #2 (Curtis): Kraken take advantage of scoring first
You’re right, Darren. Daccord is the no-doubt headline in this one. In particular, his save on Ekblad’s chance was vital to the Kraken taking two points tonight. It’s very easy to imagine a different outcome in this one had that puck found the back of the net, particularly given how difficult it was for the Kraken to get through the neutral zone and set up offensively in the first period.
But Daccord did keep the team in it, and this bought the offense enough time to find the smallest opening in Florida’s neutral-zone defense. At 3:02 in the second period, Kraken defenseman Will Borgen launched a stretch pass from the defensive zone that hit Kailer Yamamoto’s stick on the tape at the Florida blue line, as Yamamoto ducked in behind the Florida defense. It was a clean breakaway chance, and the Man from Spokane™ roofed it to put Seattle up 1-0.
YAMA-GOAL-O! 🚨 #SeaKraken score the first goal of the game for the first time since Nov. 22.
After Sunday’s eighth consecutive loss, Hakstol spoke about the importance of getting a lead and not always chasing the game. “We have to start better,” Hakstol said that night. “Early in the season, probably 10 of our first maybe dozen games, 10 of our first 15 games for sure, we scored first, and that’s something that’s… important.”
Playing from behind is difficult because the leading opponent can tighten up its defensive-zone coverage and turn down riskier plays to avoid the possibility of a counterstrike that catches them out of structure. When done effectively, this leaves the chasing team to fire pucks on the net from low-danger areas in desperation. The chasing team may pile up shots, but those may not be the types of shots that are likely to go in.
The Kraken saw this play out again and again over their eight-game losing streak. They actually generated the fourth-most shot attempts per 60 minutes in the NHL from Nov. 24 to Dec. 10, the dates of their losing streak. But the shot quality they produced was just 2.9 expected goals per 60 minutes, fifth-worst in the league.
Taken on a per-shot basis, the Kraken’s shot quality was dead last in the league over that stretch. A lot of this had to do with the team’s offensive schematic and personnel struggles to create quality high-danger chances, as we have talked about on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast and in previous Three Takeaways. The “score effects” described above were part of the story too.
Scoring first made all the difference for the Kraken on Tuesday night. After Yamamoto’s goal went in, Florida had to start taking chances, and all of a sudden, the Panthers’ neutral-zone defense and defensive structure weren’t nearly as tight. Gaps opened for Kraken strikes all over the ice.
According to Natural Stat Trick, in the third period, the Kraken had 21 shot attempts, 11 scoring chances, and shot quality expected to create almost two goals–more than the first two periods combined. It was a breath of fresh air for the Kraken and their fans.
Takeaway #3 (Curtis): Kraken penalty kill steps up
In addition to Daccord, the Kraken penalty killers deserve plaudits for keeping Seattle in the game early until the offense could find its footing. Florida drew three penalties in the first half of the game while it was still very much in dispute, and the Panthers managed a grand total of zeroshots on goal in those six minutes five-on-four.
What makes this even more impressive is that two key penalty killers (Larsson and Brian Dumoulin) took two of the penalties, which forced Vince Dunn into rare action as a penalty killer. Even so, the Kraken special teams did not miss a beat. In particular, I thought Jamie Oleksiak made a number of impressive reads and physical closeouts to shut down low plays, and the forwards effectively created pressure and turned the puck over repeatedly.
The first penalty kill was crucial, since it came in the first period when the game was still scoreless. The Kraken effectively held Florida to the outside and blocked two shots. The only other shot attempt from distance missed the goal.
Don’t look now, but the maligned Kraken penalty kill unit has killed 10 straight penalties.
Bonus Takeaway (Curtis): Ryker Evans settling in
Evans’s transition to the NHL has not been perfect, although it seems that way sometimes. He has lost a few defensive-zone board battles, and it has been a mixed bag in front of his own net.
That said, everything else Evans has brought to the table has shown why he is unquestionably one of the six most talented (and NHL-ready) defensemen in the Kraken organization. He has a very good feel for when to push in transition or join a rush, and he has the mobility and puck skills to implement his reads.
At 5:52 of the second period, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare won an offensive-zone draw, which Yamamoto dove in to recover and tap back to Evans. While some defensemen may have stayed stapled to the point and shot the puck low around the boards, Evans saw Yamamoto (and the Panther covering Yamamoto) had vacated the wing. That left room for Evans to push down the wall with possession.
Once he got below the goal line, Bobrovsky most likely expected him to continue around the other side of the net. But the moment he cleared the goal, Evans skillfully centered the puck before anyone could react, finding an open Bellemare in the slot.
Bellemare converted the goal and deserves credit himself, but Evans made the play and earned every bit of his first NHL point.
“Obviously, this kid is going to be here a long enough time,” Bellemare said of Evans. “So, it was fun to see him [get a point], and he thanked me [for putting it] in, which was a funny thing.”
Evans has made offensive opportunities for his teammates like this each game he has played in the NHL so far. As long as he keeps doing it, he’ll stay right where he is–in the Kraken lineup.
With a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild Sunday night, the Kraken pushed their losing streak to eight games. This winless stretch is the second longest in team history, just one short of the record set during the team’s inaugural season from Dec. 15, 2021, though Jan. 15, 2022.
Sunday’s game followed a pattern now painfully familiar to Kraken fans over the last few weeks. The Kraken allowed the opponent to score first and started chasing the game. They looked competitive in stretches but ultimately couldn’t squeeze out enough offense to come back and win.
“We have to start better, and… once again, we came out tonight, chasing the game, even down by one,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “Early in the season, probably 10 of our first maybe dozen games, 10 of our first 15 games for sure, we scored first and that’s something that’s… important.”
Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand agreed: “I think it’s just the starts to the games. [We need to] come out hot and maybe get that first goal. Obviously, we struggle a bit in that area, so try to get the first one.”
Seattle’s 23 standings points through 29 games is 12 points behind the 29-game total of last year’s playoff team. And, perhaps even more revealing, it is the same exact total the team had through 29 games in its inaugural campaign.
Here are our Three Takeaways from another frustrating night for the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
Takeaway #1: Kraken scoring woes continue
The Kraken were shutout at Climate Pledge Arena for the first time in more than a year. The last opponent to blank the Kraken in Seattle? The Wild.
This is not necessarily a coincidence. When the Wild are going well, which they are right now (5-2-0 in their last seven under new coach John Hynes), the team chokes off high-danger chances in the center of the ice and forces their opponents into low-danger outside looks. Minnesota’s scoring defense has been pedestrian so far this season, but shot quality metrics suggest the Wild have deserved a better fate. According to Evolving Hockey, the Wild are third best in the league in expected goals against at five-on-five (2.37 xGA/60 minutes).
The Wild defense frustrated the Kraken’s game plan, particularly through the neutral zone. And Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson played very well.
“Credit to them, they are a good box-out team,” Adam Larsson said. “They’ve got big [defensemen] and block a lot of shots, and that’s what you have to do to win.”
Good defense or not, the Kraken offense is wandering in the darkness right now and can’t seem to find its way back to the light. Seattle has scored just six goals in its last five games, including two shutouts.
On Sunday, Seattle struggled to generate any sustained pressure five-on-five. The Kraken had just 15 shots and four high-danger shot attempts all night at even strength.
The team managed to create a push on the power play against the Wild’s league-worst penalty kill unit. In particular, the Kraken repeatedly exploited soft coverage on the goal line to generate high-danger shots and cross-slot passes. But they couldn’t get one across the line, and that may have been the decisive point in the game.
“We weren’t able to capitalize on some outstanding opportunities on the power play,” Hakstol said. “Each one of the power plays, we had some great opportunities. It felt like that kind of a night [where we needed that] against a team that defends really well five-on-five. So the opportunities five-on-five are hard to come by.”
Takeaway #2: The Kraken don’t have an answer for top Wild line
The Wild top line of Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Kirill Kaprizov carved up the Kraken defense all night, generating 11 high-danger scoring chances and driving a Wild offense that generated 71.39 percent of the total shot quality when that line was on the ice.
The line’s most important contribution came at 7:14 in the first period. Boldy won a puck battle with Jared McCann in the Wild defensive zone, scanned the ice, and fed Kaprizov. Kaprizov navigated through center ice and into the Kraken zone, drew the defense to him in the middle, and fed a trailing Boldy on the left wing. Boldy walked in unchecked and beat Daccord with an elite finish.
On this night, one goal was all the Wild needed. Boldy’s highlight was the game-winner.
Takeaway #3: Mistake-riddled set breakout ices the game
Midway through the third period, Seattle was still trailing by only one goal. The Kraken needed just one bounce to go their way, and they’d find themselves in a new game.
At 12:19 in the final frame, Adam Larsson had unchallenged possession behind the Seattle net. While he paused for a moment, the Kraken orchestrated a set breakout. Unfortunately, he was not on the same page with his teammates when he launched a long pass in the direction of Yanni Gourde.
Marco Rossi pressured Larsson while Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson loomed at the Kraken blue line. Gourde and linemate Eeli Tolvanen streaked up ice and past these two Minnesota forwards, leaving the Kraken outnumbered in their own end and making a stretch pass a high-risk proposition. Perhaps they expected Larsson to use the support of his defense partner Vince Dunn to advance the puck toward the neutral zone. But Larsson was looking to pass all the way, and likely expected Gourde to stop short of the forechecking pressure.
As it turns out, Larsson’s pass was easy pickings for the Wild. The turnover allowed an easy controlled zone entry and a sequence of offensive pressure the Kraken never broke. Bjorkstrand gained possession momentarily but quickly turned it over, leading to a scramble of disputed possession at the net front. Rossi corralled the puck in the slot and sent it into an empty side of the cage behind Joey Daccord at 12:34 in the third period.
“Their second goal, we made two mistakes on the breakout,” Hakstol said. “The first one was a mistake, the second one, we were under pressure and turned it over.”
These mistakes sealed Seattle’s eighth straight loss.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
We really thought Saturday was going to end up being the night the Seattle Kraken snapped their losing streak, but instead, they got topsy-turvied in the third period and overtime and fell 4-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
For the first time since Seattle’s 7-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 22, the Kraken held a fleeting 3-2 lead in the third period. But Nick Paul tied the game 3-3 at 7:09 of the third, and the NHL’s leading scorer, Nikita Kucherov, scored his second goal of the game in overtime to extend Seattle’s skid to seven games.
“We got ourselves into a 2-0 hole,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “There’s all kinds of things that are not going our way, but through all of that, there was nothing but push from our guys [tonight].”
It was yet another bad first period for the Kraken, but to their credit, they did fight back and gave themselves every chance to win. Still, they came up short, and the bad feelings continued. Oh, and Philipp Grubauer got hurt, and it frankly didn’t look good.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 4-3 overtime Kraken loss to the Lightning.
Takeaway #1: Power play scores, still lets Kraken down
Seattle’s power play has statistically been ok this season, clicking at 21.1 percent of the time, good for 14th in the league. But for some reason, when Seattle gets manpower advantage opportunities late in games and so badly needs to find a clutch goal, it just never comes.
It was the power play that gave Seattle it’s lead just 14 seconds into the third period, when Jared McCann dropped a bomb from the top of the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy. So, that’s some success.
MCCANN CAN! 🚨
Just an absolute bomb, and the #SeaKraken have their first lead since Nov. 22. PPG.
But the Lightning went down a man at 12:24 of the third period when Tanner Jeannot high sticked Matty Beniers. Nothing doing on that opportunity. More crucially, though, Anthony Cirelli tripped Tye Kartye with just 16 seconds left in the third period, meaning the Kraken started the overtime period with 1:44 of 4-on-3 time.
In that 4-on-3 stretch, Seattle got just one point shot through to Vasilevskiy, and the Lightning defenders blocked three other shots. Tampa Bay’s defenders compressed into a tight formation in front of their netminder, and the Kraken kept the puck on the perimeter for the entirety of the power play without ever really looking dangerous.
You just have to score in that scenario. The Kraken did not do so, and 1:27 after the penalty ended, Brandon Hagel sprinted up the ice and set up Kucherov for the game-winner.
Takeaway #2: What’s up with these starts?
When a team is trying to break out of a long losing streak, a good way to do that would be to do everything it can to come out of the gates flying. Even if the players are struggling to find crisp passing (Seattle’s passing was not crisp in the opening 20 minutes), they can still fly around and play a hard-nosed physical game until they find a higher level of execution.
The Kraken spent most of the first period in their zone, and if it weren’t for Grubauer making several dandy saves, the game would have been out of reach by the first horn.
Cirelli scored with a beautifully done high-tip play halfway through the period.
Wow. Heckuva tip from the high slot by Anthony Cirelli.
Just before the end of the frame, Kucherov got his first of the night. On that one, the Kraken had control of the puck in their own zone, but Eeli Tolvanen got crossed up with Jamie Oleksiak and gave Kucherov a chance to pry it free. Then Kucherov intelligently went right to the net, and Cirelli found him for an easy tap-in.
Goodness gracious. 2-0 Lightning.
Kucherov with one of the easier goals of his career after Tolvanen and Borgen got tangled up, and then the #SeaKraken just watched the league's leading scorer glide to the post. pic.twitter.com/8rBpErH1WF
“The second goal is the one that is frustrating for you, right?” Hakstol said. “We’ve got half a line change, a couple of tired bodies still out there. We defend the play, and we kind of skate over the puck, right? And so you go from having five guys inside to it ends up in a tap-in at the backdoor.”
The Lightning really dominated that opening period with a 14-4 shots-on-goal advantage and 86 percent of the shot quality in all situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The start against the Devils on Thursday wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t like Seattle tilted the ice, and it again came out of that opening stanza trailing 1-0. And we’re still just one game removed from arguably the team’s worst start of the year in Montreal. Why can’t they get themselves going in the first period?
Give the guys credit, they did push back and managed to find a standings point. But when you chase the game every single night, you’re simply not going to win very often. Lo and behold, Seattle has now lost seven straight.
Takeaway #3: The injury bug bites again
With how things have been going for this team, on a night when Grubauer was playing very well, it was melancholically fitting to see him hunched over and limping to the dressing room at the end of the second period.
We had just finished saying, “Hey, Grubi’s finally over a .900 save percentage tonight!” after 10 consecutive starts in the .800’s or .700’s. But he lunged for a Cirelli shot off a 2-on-1 with under a minute remaining and then slumped over in a heap.
“I mean I hate to see it for [Grubauer], and obviously for our team,” Hakstol said. “He played very well in net tonight. He was outstanding.”
Hakstol said it would take a day or two to get more information about Grubauer’s status, but we think it’s pretty safe to rule him out for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild (Joey Daccord would have played that one anyway, being that it’s a back-to-back, but Chris Driedger is likely on his way to Seattle to back him up).
Justin Schultz also took a puck to the face in the second period and had to leave the game. Again, there was no update on his availability for Sunday, though we would guess that injury will be shorter-term than that of Grubauer.
The two latest injuries come on the heels of Andre Burakovsky returning from a 20-game hiatus, only to be placed right back on injured reserve after a high hit in the Devils game on Thursday. It’s also been fewer than two weeks since Jaden Schwartz exited the lineup.
When it rains, it pours.
“Obviously, we’ve had injuries and guys playing hurt,” Jordan Eberle said. “But our depth has been our key, and we need to bear down. These times are tough. We’ve got to find a way to get out of it and flip the script from a losing streak to a winning streak.”
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
