It wasn’t always pretty, but the Seattle Kraken overcame several defensive lapses Thursday and got two more huge standings points with a 5-4 overtime win over the Red Wings.
It was a high-flying, back-and-forth affair in which Seattle let a lesser opponent hang around by making some big defensive boo-boos. Good on ’em, though; they stuck with it and got the win in the end.
“We gotta stay patient, try to get back on track, and not make those mistakes,” said Oliver Bjorkstrand. “It’s a close game in the end, and it’s just important we got the job done.”
Jared McCann and Bjorkstrand got two goals each, and Philipp Grubauer replaced Martin Jones early in the second period, making 16 saves to earn the win.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a nerve-racking 5-4 Kraken victory against the Red Wings.
Takeaway #1: A timely goaltending change
When Seattle lost 6-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10, we thought there were several moments in which coach Dave Hakstol should have given Jones the hook. It’s not always about the goalie, but when you make a change, it can have a calming effect for the rest of the team. Plus, you can usually tell by the third goal against if your goalie has it on a particular night. We didn’t think Jones had it that night at MSG, and we didn’t think he had it Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
Against the Red Wings, Hakstol didn’t hesitate. Jones gave up a stinker—his third in two games—on an unscreened, short-side offering by Ben Chiarot at 3:07 of the first period. That negated Jared McCann’s game-opening goal and came on Detroit’s first shot of the game.
Red Wings answer and tie it on their first shot of the game. Not sure about that one. A couple questionable goals last game, too. 😬
Early in the second, with the Kraken up 3-2 and hemmed in their zone, Jones went for a swim, overcommitting on Filip Zadina, who skated himself out of a shooting position. Zadina made a nifty backhand pass to Jonatan Berggren, and the net was wide open for an easy goal.
That was all Hakstol needed to see, and he sent in Philipp Grubauer after Jones had allowed three goals on just twelve shots.
#SeaKraken get hemmed in for a long time early in the 2nd, and the play ends with Zadina making a sick pass to Berggren, the game getting tied, and Martin Jones getting yanked after three goals on 12 shots.
“Jonesy— I didn’t think he was seeing the puck as well as he normally does,” said Hakstol. “That particular goal, the third goal, there was a lot of things that happened in front of him that we need to be better in defending. But we wanted to get Grubi in there to change the momentum a little bit, settle things down.”
Hakstol was rewarded for the decision; Grubauer was outstanding. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in 39:51 of game time, and the lone goal he allowed fell heavily on the shoulders of the defenders in front of him (more on that in Takeaway #2).
Grubauer’s best save was a save-of-the-year candidate. Late in the second period, and with the game in a tenuous position at 4-4, the Kraken had one of their many defensive breakdowns. Matty Beniers, Adam Larsson, and Vince Dunn all got caught below the goal line at the same time, and the puck ended up on Joe Veleno’s stick in front of the net without a Kraken defender in the neighborhood.
Veleno waited, deked, and appeared to have Grubauer dead to rights. But Grubauer lunged to his right and made an unbelievable save with the heel of his stick.
“It was a pretty athletic save in desperation,” said Hakstol. “He got back with his blocker and stick to make a huge save, and that kind of set the tone and settled things down for us.”
What a save!
Takeaway #2: The Kraken defense is shoddy right now
We aren’t sure what has been going on with Seattle’s team defense since the All-Star break, but it needs improvement. It’s easy to point at the goalie and say, “He should have had that,” but bad breakdowns led to Adam Erne’s six-on-five goal late in the first and Jake Walman’s highlight-reel goal late in the second. And, let’s not forget the aforementioned Veleno opportunity on which Grubauer rescued his mates.
“We felt like we kind of gave our goalies a tough time tonight with making saves, and obviously didn’t make it easy for ourselves,” said McCann. “We need to clean it up and be better tomorrow.”
On the Erne goal, Seattle had a delayed penalty coming, and Ville Husso was off for an extra Detroit skater. Larsson and Dunn were right next to Erne, but Larsson engaged with Veleno and Dunn did nothing to tie up Erne’s stick or push him out of Jones’s grill. Erne got his stick on Mo Seider’s shot and deflected it inside the post.
The Walman goal was a comedy of errors. First, Alex Wennberg threw a pizza to the blue line, before Jaden Schwartz bit on the fake shot and slid right by Walman. Meanwhile, Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak stood at either side of the goal crease, while David Perron was left all alone to screen Grubauer.
What a goal by Jake Walman!
Wennberg threw a pizza🍕, then Walman faked Schwartz out of his… shorts. Perron provided the screen in front.
It’s becoming a common theme over several high-scoring games in a row that when Seattle gives up goals, they seem to have guys in the area that could take the body or lift up sticks, but they get caught puck watching.
Thankfully for their playoff hopes, the Kraken have played a couple inferior teams in a row, and they’ve gotten away with inconsistent play in their own zone. But, that needs to change quickly if they’re going to get past some of the better teams they’re set to face down the stretch.
“There’s a lot of things in there that we could critique and we want to be better at,” said Hakstol. “A lot of times that comes back to our puck play, but we were able to find a way through.”
Takeaway #3: Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand come up big
That was a pretty negative Takeaway for a crucial win, so let’s close this thing out with some warm fuzzies. Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand had a big night offensively for the Kraken and pushed them past the Red Wings.
We gave credit to Hakstol for his timely goalie change, but we also need to call out the lineup adjustment he made before the St. Louis game on Tuesday. It was a gutsy decision for him to separate Bjorkstrand from Seattle’s most consistent line with Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen, but the move has paid off with two straight wins.
Hakstol was clearly reluctant to make that change, which is why he tried guys like Brandon Tanev and Jesper Froden in Andre Burakovsky’s spot in the top six. But those guys are not top-six forwards. Oliver Bjorkstrand is a top-six forward, and he showed why on Thursday with two nice goals, including the overtime game winner.
Bjorkstrand’s first goal showed his offensive wherewithal in a couple different ways. First, he tried to set up Alex Wennberg with the always-dangerous pass off the pads. It did go to Wennberg but came off Husso’s pads a little too hot to for Wennberg to be able to skate into it. Instead, Bjorkstrand smartly crashed the net, and his old Blue Jackets teammate gave the puck back for an easy tap in.
BJORKSTRAND GIVES 'EM BACK THE LEAD! 🚨
Lots happening early here.
Pretty play, as Bjorkstrand makes the pass off the pad to Wennberg, who gives it right back for an easy tap in.
“Every time [Wennberg] gets the puck, you got to get open,” said Bjorkstrand. “The rebound came to him, and I knew that if I found that area, he would try to find me. He made a good pass, and easy for me to put it in.”
Bjorkstrand’s second goal finally gave the Kraken an official power-play goal on the night, after they scored two separate times, mere seconds after power plays had expired. With a four-on-three advantage, Bjorkstrand made a simple play, looping around the zone, and shooting against the grain as Schwartz took away Husso’s eyes.
McCann, meanwhile, is somewhat quietly having a phenomenal season. He set another new career high for goals Thursday, using his quick release to score twice in the first period. He now has 29 on the season, and would have had No. 30 and a hat trick if he hadn’t launched a shot over an open net at the first period horn.
The Kraken face another inferior opponent Friday in Columbus. With the change to the top six, the offense seems to be clicking again. Now, if they can just clean up some of the defensive mistakes, they could get back on a roll in March.
It’s been a bonkers week around the NHL, and the Sound Of Hockey welcomes Eddie Olczyk back this week to talk about it. With Edzo, who is checking in from Las Vegas, the guys talk about his whirlwind season, and he gives his thoughts on what has been going on in the lead-up to the NHL Trade Deadline. It’s a fun convo.
The interview is just a small piece of a supersized episode, though. John and Darren (no Andy this week) go deep into what has been happening with the Kraken and their expectations for what the team will do before Friday’s deadline.
After the Olczyk interview, the guys jump to a robust “Interesting or Carry On” to get through all of the big trades around the NHL. They then shift to segments, which this week include:
The latest episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast starts on a strange note, as Darren pitches his idea of a new dating app to John and Andy. John is immediately sold on the idea, but Andy is skeptical.
After that, the guys get things on the rails a bit more, and they talk about the latest Kraken games, which featured two nice wins and one dud of a loss. John also goes on a couple tangents about Seattle’s recent “Hero of the Deep” honorees, to whom he has personal connections.
Eventually, the show shifts to general NHL talk, where trade season is in full swing. Ryan O’Reilly was traded to the Maple Leafs, and Tyler Motte was traded to the Rangers, so the guys give their opinions on those deals.
For the Sharks, it was home win No. 6, and for the Kraken, it was a blown opportunity to make up ground in the Pacific Division playoff race.
“We just didn’t skate; we didn’t skate hard enough,” Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. “They dictated the pace of the game, we adjusted to them, which should never happen with our group. I think our group is good enough where we should impose the pace of the game every single night.”
Goalie James Reimer made 26 stops for his second shutout of the season for the Sharks (18-29-11), who came into Monday losers of three straight. Evgeny Svechnikov and Logan Couture each had a goal and an assist, and Erik Karlsson had two assists.
Martin Jones made the start against his former team and made 19 saves for the Kraken (32-19-6), who had a mini two-game win streak end.
“We talked about it before the game, how this team works and skates, and they did, they did what they do,” Hakstol said. “They work, they skate and in a 3-0 hole, that’s pretty deep to dig out of…They were quicker and harder at the puck. I can use a lot of different adjectives I guess, to talk about it. But they were working at a level that they were dictating those battles.”
San Jose, who was playing without leading goal scorer Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl managed to break open a scoreless game in the second period and put away the Kraken attack.
Whether it was the early start or a team looking ahead to big matchups with Boston (on Thursday) or Toronto (on Sunday), Seattle just never seemed to find its legs or energy.
“We’re NHL players for a reason, can’t find excuses, just have to go out and battle it out,” Gourde said.
After a first period where neither team scored, the Sharks broke the ice at 10:45 of the second period on a goal credited to Couture to make it 1-0. On the faceoff, Gourde tried to clear the puck but accidentally fired it on the Seattle net and surprised Jones.
“I’m trying to win a face-off; I don’t think Jonesy sees the puck at all from the face-off,” Gourde said. “Dunner’s kind of right there and I think it goes right by Dunner’s foot. It’s a quick play, [Jones] doesn’t have time to react and it’s in the back of the net.”
D'OH!
1-0 Sharks. Martin Jones, Vince Dunn, and Yanni Gourde are all going to want that one back. Logan Couture gets credit.
At 16:08, Vince Dunn attempted a cross-ice pass that was intercepted by Svechnikov, who walked in alone, made one move, and beat Jones to make it 2-0.
The second-period Sharks onslaught continued at 19:42 when Gregor made it 3-0 after skating the puck off the boards and seeing the sea part, which allowed him to get in close where he scored his fourth of the season.
Michael Eyssimont scored for the 4-0 final at 16:57 of the third.
Opportunity lost
Had Seattle won on Monday, the Kraken would have jumped to tie the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division, moving ahead of the Los Angeles Kings along the way. Both teams were idle Monday.
The Kraken have a practice scheduled for Wednesday, as they prepare for the challenge of the Boston Bruins at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.
Tentacle Tales
The Kraken were shut out for the third time this season.
Forward Eeli Tolvanen had a five-game point streak snapped.
Couture has hit the 20-goal mark for the 10th season.
Jared McCann also had a five-game point streak come to an end.
On the latest “.5” episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, Darren checks in with Philipp Grubauer from the Kraken dressing room. It’s a nice one-on-one conversation that touches on Grubauer’s upbringing in Germany, his pride for his country as a growing hockey nation, his reflections on how things have gone over the past season and a half, and much more. Grubauer even hints at a new mask coming in for him very soon.
Darren also gives a quick update on how things have been going with the Kraken and gives a vibe check on the team (spoiler: the vibes have been high).
The vibes were immaculate for the Seattle Kraken Saturday morning, as they took the ice at Kraken Community Iceplex in preparation for their game against the Detroit Red Wings. It was a mostly full house for the skate anyway, as players, coaches, and families participating in the Can/Am youth hockey tournament at KCI looked on. But in addition to the Can/Am participants, Kraken players saw some familiar faces watching from behind the plexiglass; their dads.
For the first time, Seattle has invited the team’s fathers and mentors to watch the Kraken play at home Saturday, and they will then go on the road trip to San Jose this week. The Kraken would have had an event like this last season, but it got nixed because of COVID restrictions.
The presence of the VIP guests elevated the mood in the dressing room to an all-time high. In a clever move by Kraken PR, Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers, and Morgan Geekie addressed the media alongside their fathers, Darren, Bob, and Craig. Hilarity ensued, as did plenty of poetic waxing and expressions of pride from the papas as they beamed talking about their respective sons.
Hidden talents
You can learn a lot about an NHL player by talking to his dad. Darren Eberle (great name), for example, divulged that his son is an aspiring musician. “You might not know that he thinks he’s a good guitar player,” the elder Eberle joked. “But the worst part about it is he’s learning to sing. I play guitar, so that’s the one thing I’m actually better than him at is guitar. And so I like to rub that in.”
Darren Eberle and Jordan Eberle addressed media at Kraken Community Iceplex Saturday morning. (Photo/Darren Brown)
Craig Geekie and his son connect through video games, a passion Morgan has shared publicly in the past. We knew Morgan was a stellar Mario Kart player, but we didn’t know his talent carries over to Call of Duty as well. “If it was CoD, because him and I play CoD with each other, I might say he’s a little bit better in CoD than he is in Mario Kart,” said Craig. “But I could be way off.”
“I think that’s saying how good I am at CoD,” Morgan joked.
Craig also shared that Morgan “Is turning into a pretty decent mechanic. How’s that? He’s fixing up his Jeep, which I’m pretty proud of.”
The Geekie’s also talked about how Morgan got his big slapshot, which Morgan said Craig wouldn’t let him use until he was 13 years old. “His shot, for whatever reason— it must take after his mum, for sure, in terms of his shot. Because he always had a really exceptional shot growing up, and I had a lot of people say that he was kind of above his years.”
Growing up with dad as the coach
Most hockey players can recall different memories from riding home from games with their parents and how the interactions would go on those rides.
“Depends how [the game] went,” said Morgan Geekie. Before he could continue, Craig jumped in. “Come on, I wasn’t that bad!” he said, defending himself. “There was a couple ultimatums in there,” quipped Morgan.
Morgan and Craig Geekie talked to media at Kraken Community Iceplex. (Photo/Darren Brown)
All three of Beniers, Geekie, and Eberle were coached by their respective fathers at some point as kids, and they all had unique perspectives to share about that relationship.
“He said I was the toughest coach ever,” said Darren Eberle. “He said ‘you benched me more than any of my coaches ever.’” Jordan corroborated what his father said. “He was probably one of the harder coaches on me. A lot of coaches would play me more; he would bench me if I wasn’t playing well.”
Bob Beniers coached Matty for 10 years, and over that time, Matty recalled Bob driving him all over the East Coast of the United States and beyond. “Canada, Buffalo, all these different places, and we were like 10,” said Matty. “Looking back on it, it’s pretty awesome that he was able to do that, but it all worked out, and it was a lot of fun.”
Bob knows he’s not Matty’s coach anymore, but he’s still very much along for the ride. “No, he’s on his own now. But it’s been fun. It’s been fun to watch his short experience here. It’s been a great organization so far and great coaching.”
Bob Beniers admitted that watching his 20-year-old son play in the NHL makes him a lot more nervous than when he was his youth coach.
Reaching the NHL is a long, hard journey
All three of the dads who met with media were visibly proud for their sons, who have worked so hard to get to the NHL. Interestingly, while the Beniers family saw Matty growing into a star player, Bob said they never talked about him making it to the world’s best league.
“We never talked about him playing professional hockey,” Bob said. “We only talked about him going to college and playing hockey in college. So this is an amazing treat, and he’s earned it, so I’m very proud of him.”
Craig Geekie gave us a glimpse behind the curtain about what it has taken for Morgan to reach this level. “Everybody from the outside always sees it as a pretty glamorous opportunity, right?” Craig said. “They don’t see the daily struggles. Whether it’s mental, whether it’s physical, whether it’s— you know, there’s so much stuff behind the scenes I just don’t think everybody sees on how hard it is to get here.”
A special experience for the coach, too
Coach Dave Hakstol has his father-in-law, Tim O’Keefe, on the trip, and the event is special for Hakstol as well. “It’s an awesome opportunity,” he said. “I mean, there’s a ton of new energy that comes in when dads and family members are here.” It’s O’Keefe’s first opportunity to do a trip like this, so Hakstol says he’s thrilled and happy to have him around.
We somewhat jokingly asked Hakstol if he was able to immediately connect any of the visiting fathers with their sons, even before being introduced. “What, are you trying to get me in trouble here?” Hakstol joked. “No, there’s some pretty neat personalities, though. I can tell you that. It’s been a couple hours here… You get them into this environment where everybody is here, you start to see some of the personalities come out. That’ll be one of the neat things throughout the weekend as it develops and as guys spend more and more time together.”
Hakstol was also asked why his father-in-law didn’t join him when he addressed the media. “Because I would not get one word in,” said Hakstol with a wry grin.
