One nice thing about back-to-back games is that if your team loses the first one, you get to go back out the following night and try to make up for it. The Kraken have that opportunity on Sunday against the Hurricanes, as they look to bounce back from a hard-fought loss to the Capitals on Saturday.
The Kraken played a good game against Washington, but the special teams battle went 2-0 in favor of the Caps, and that was the difference.
Can Seattle get back in the ‘W’ column after snapping a seven-game losing streak two games ago? Let’s find out.
Kraken versus Hurricanes
Against Carolina, Seattle faces another good team, but it did have success against the Canes in the first meeting between these squads at Climate Pledge Arena on Nov. 24. That night, Seattle fell behind 1-0 at the end of the first period, tied it in the second, and got a winning goal from Marcus Johansson with just 3:09 left to earn a 2-1 victory. Philipp Grubauer was outstanding that night.
Goalie Frederik Andersen is dealing with a minor injury, so Seattle will face Antti Raanta. The 32-year-old backstop has dealt with myriad injuries in his career, but he has been decent this season in 14 starts, posting a 8-3-2 record with a 2.50 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
The Canes are on a 10-game home point streak and are coming off a 3-2 win over the Penguins at PNC Arena on Friday. Watch out for Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho, who have 51 and 57 points respectively and drive the bus offensively for Carolina.
Bodies in, bodies out
Seattle got two important players back in the lineup Saturday in Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann, both of whom were impactful in driving offensive opportunities for the Kraken, though neither found the scoresheet. The simultaneous returns meant the Kraken had to place Austin Czarnik on waivers, and Czarnik got claimed by his old team, the New York Islanders, on Sunday. Czarnik had two assists for the Kraken in six games.
Lineup
The Kraken are bringing a similar look, except Johansson will skate with McCann and Jordan Eberle, and Calle Jarnkrok will move down to play with Schwartz and Alex Wennberg. Grubauer is in net.
First period highlights
There were some nice stops at both ends of the ice in the first period, but nothing doing on the scoreboard, so there’s not much to report here.
The Kraken had a slight advantage in shots on goal, but they weren’t getting much in dangerous areas.
The frame ended with the score tied 0-0.
Alright, welp… 0-0 after 20 min, which is a good place for Seattle to be against a club like Carolina.
Kraken hold a 11-9 advantage in shots on goal, but CAR has a 1.1-.0.58 advantage in expected goals for.
The Hurricanes took their second penalty of the game early in the second period, this one for too many men. Early in the power play, Yanni Gourde shot from the right circle. The rebound got kicked by Jaccob Slavin right onto the stick of Alex Wennberg, who just lifted it over the outstretched pad of Raanta and made it 1-0 at 3:12.
Joonas Donskoi took a high-sticking penalty at 5:21. The Kraken penalty kill did a good job on the ensuing Hurricanes power play, but with 11 seconds left on the advantage, Nino Niederreiter scored a similar goal to Wennberg’s. Seth Jarvis shot from the right circle. Grubauer stopped it but lost sight of the rebound, and it rolled right to Niederreiter at the side of the net. Niederreiter deposited the puck to make it 1-1.
There was some REAL patience going on amongst the unit, but finally Jarvis lets one fly from the circle.
Just over a minute later, Adam Larsson made a world-class stretch pass from his own zone to the far blue line and hit Calle Jarnkrok in stride. Jarnkrok flew into the zone untouched and beat Raanta to re-establish Seattle’s lead, 2-1.
NHL Video Highlight – Calle Jarnkrok scores against the Carolina Hurricanes to make it 2-1. pic.twitter.com/b5yvd972Zj
— Seattle Kraken Gamebot (@KrakenGameBot) March 7, 2022
The Hurricanes got another power-play goal to level the score again at 17:22. With Wennberg in the box for hooking, Teuvo Teravainen put back a rebound off a shot by Aho and made it 2-2.
The interesting thing that happened in this period was Vince Dunn blocking a shot with his… uh… tentacles. He was down on the ice for a bit, while Carolina had sustained pressure, but eventually got up and dragged himself to the bench.
The period ended with the score level.
Third period highlights
Soon after the Hurricanes killed an Aho penalty, they took their first lead of the game. Martin Necas found a loose puck in front, spun, and snuck it past Grubauer to make it 3-2 at 10:22.
Fantastic knockdown at the blue line by Brett Pesce to keep the play alive.
The Necas goal would prove to be the game winner. Seattle again fought hard in this one, but didn’t produce enough offensively and came up short in the end.
Mark Giordano is skating in his 1,000th career game, Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz are both back in the lineup, and our good friend Alison Lukan is doing color commentary for ROOT Sports! This game between the Kraken and the Capitals should be a fun one.
We normally combine a semi-robust game preview with the liveblog on game days, but with so much Kraken news lately, we thought it would be best to do a separate story to prepare you for Saturday’s game. So, for all the latest Kraken news, please give this story a read.
For live updates during the game, stay right here!
Kraken lineup versus Capitals
This lineup looks a heckuva lot better with Schwartz and McCann back, doesn’t it?
First period highlights
As was the case the first time these teams played each other, Tom Wilson got the game’s first goal. Ovechkin broke into the Seattle zone and lost the puck, but it rolled right to Wilson. The big-bodied Wilson barreled toward the net and fired it past Driedger to give Washington a 1-0 lead.
It took just 34 more seconds for the Capitals to extend their lead to 2-0. Nic Dowd passed low to high to Dmitry Orlov at the top of the left circle. Orlov one-timed the pass, and it squeezed right through Driedger’s five hole. Not a great goal.
Joonas Donskoi got the boys back in the game at 16:56. Jamie Oleksiak shot from the point. It got deflected and didn’t make it all the way through to Vitek Vanecek, but instead landed right on the stick of Riley Sheahan, who was planted at the top of the crease. Sheahan tried to tuck it around the outstretched pad of the Capitals netminder, but he stopped it and kicked a rebound right to Donskoi. Donskoi tucked it into a wide-open net for just his second goal of the season, bringing Seattle back within one.
The Kraken had some great offensive zone time in an exciting opening period, but conceded two goals in quick succession. Seattle held a 10-7 lead in shots on goal and had 57 percent of shot quality in the opening frame.
Second period highlights
Early in the second, the Mason Appleton-Yanni Gourde-Colin Blackwell line struck again, after a great game on Wednesday. Off a rush, Blackwell carried the puck into the Washington zone, and looked like he was going to dish to Gourde. But he opted to go hard to the net, nearly lost it to John Carlson on the way, got it back and snuck it around Vanecek to make it 2-2.
Schwartz was racing for a puck with Orlov and accidentally took him down in a dangerous position, sending Orlov hard into the end boards at 9:55. A melee ensued, but Schwartz got the only call for hooking. That gave the lethal Capitals power play its first opportunity of the game, which the Kraken almost killed off. But with seven seconds left on the man advantage, Ovechkin shot into traffic. It pinballed onto the stick of Wilson, who shot into the pads of Driedger, and that rebound went right onto the stick of Conor Sheary. Sheary had a wide-open net and gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead.
Ovechkin wasted no time stretching Washington’s lead back to two to start the third period. With Carson Soucy still in the penalty box after taking a holding penalty late in the second, Carlson put the puck on a tee for Ovechkin, right in the area where Ovechkin has scored so many of his 764 career goals. Ovi one-timed the pass and blasted it by Driedger to make it 4-2.
Sheary scored an empty-net goal, his second marker of the game, to make it 5-2 and seal the deal for Washington.
The Kraken played well in this one, but special teams were the difference. The always dangerous Capitals power play connected twice, while Seattle came up empty in that area.
Is Wednesday the night that the Seattle Kraken collectively get off the schneid and finally get back in the win column? It feels like it’s been a loooooooooong time since we’ve seen the Kraken celebrating on the ice at Climate Pledge Arena, and that’s because… well… it has. It has actually been more than a month since the last home win. Yes, not only is Seattle on a seven-game losing streak, but the team has not had a victory on home ice since it beat the Florida Panthers way back on Jan. 23.
That’s a long time. It’s also the last chance for the Kraken to get a win on home ice before they go on a two-week road trip, so an already long home winless stretch could become much longer.
The good news for the Kraken is that they’re facing a team in Nashville that has been up and down of late, going 4-5-1 in its last 10 games. The Kraken have also looked much better in their last two and a half games, so here’s hoping they can put it all together for their fans on Kraken Day.
A weird day for the Kraken
Kraken Day got off to a very strange start for Seattle. Just before morning skate was scheduled to begin, team representatives notified media that the skate had been canceled and availability had been moved from in-person to Zoom.
We at Sound Of Hockey assumed the worst, but the news wasn’t as bad as it initially seemed, at least in terms of player availability. Coach Dave Hakstol indicated that the cancellation was only a matter of “readiness,” noting that the team has been on the ice a lot lately. The added precautions were the result of a “concern” with one of the members of the Kraken’s traveling party, as the team prepares for its long east coast swing.
Hakstol also stated there is no change in availability from Tuesday’s practice. Based on what he said and what we saw at that practice, we are expecting Kole Lind to draw in for Austin Czarnik, while Chris Driedger is expected to start in net for the Kraken.
Projected lineup
On Tuesday, Morgan Geekie was elevated to the first line with Calle Jarnkrok and Jordan Eberle. Geekie scored in Sunday’s 3-1 loss in San Jose, his first goal since Dec. 11, and has generally played very well of late.
The latest
Before the game, Ukrainian singer, Roman Vashchuk, sang the Ukrainian national anthem, and the PA announcer said the Kraken denounce the recent actions of Russia.
The Kraken had a couple decent looks in the first period, including a great opportunity for Alexander Wennberg, which Juuse Saros denied with a diving glove save.
The Predators’ fourth line broke a scoreless tie at 13:13. Off a Roman Josi forecheck, Michael McCarron got the puck behind the net and passed it into the crease. Driedger got a piece of the pass, but then seemed to lose track of it a split second. Philip Tomasino was there and banged it through to make it 1-0.
With Yanni Gourde in the box for the game’s first penalty, the Predators made an elite play through the neutral zone. Ryan Johansen got to the Kraken blue line and didn’t like what he saw, so he bumped it back to Josi. Josi found Matt Duchene streaking across the blue line, and sent him in on a partial breakaway. Duchene buried it with a beautiful shot to make it 2-0.
The Kraken answered just 29 seconds later, though, and once they broke through, the floodgates opened. First, it was Wennberg getting revenge for the earlier robbery. Off a two-on-one, Marcus Johansson made a great pass around a sprawling Matt Benning, and Wennberg fired it home to bring Seattle within one.
NHL Video Highlight – Alexander Wennberg scores against the Nashville Predators to make it 2-1. pic.twitter.com/U0cRQKdoyd
— Seattle Kraken Gamebot (@KrakenGameBot) March 3, 2022
A minute and a half after that, the Kraken got some extended zone time. Jordan Eberle found himself with the puck to the right of Saros. He passed to Calle Jarnkrok, who was being dragged down in the slot. While falling, Jarnkrok still got enough mustard on the shot to beat Saros and tie the game at 2-2.
NHL Video Highlight – Calle Jarnkrok scores against the Nashville Predators to make it 2-2. pic.twitter.com/vJP8dUSFcw
— Seattle Kraken Gamebot (@KrakenGameBot) March 3, 2022
The momentum continued to swing in Seattle’s favor, as they took their first lead at 10:02. Off a three-on-two, Colin Blackwell passed to Gourde, who scored his 12th of the season.
The Predators immediately took a timeout, which effectively stopped the bleeding for them. With things calmed down, they tied it at 3-3 at 14:36. Eli Tolvanen deflected a shot wide, but it hit the endboards and caromed back out in front. Driedger thought Tolvanen was going to shoot the rebound, so he slid back to cut that off. But Tolvanen whiffed, and it instead went right onto the stick of Duchene, who had a wide-open net for his second goal of the game.
The Kraken regained the lead at 3:19 of the third period with a shorthanded goal. Off a dump in, Gourde won a puck battle with Filip Forsberg below the goal line. He got it out to Blackwell in front, who was initially denied by Saros. But Blackwell kept whacking away until the puck finally snuck over the line. The greasy goal made it 4-3.
Things were already bad for the Seattle Kraken, who have lost five games in a row entering Thursday’s home matchup with the Boston Bruins. But they aren’t getting any easier, now that Jared McCann has officially been placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Coach Dave Hakstol made it sound like the McCann injury is not that bad, but he did not give a timetable, and being that the Kraken’s top scorer is actually on IR, he will miss at least a week. Seattle is still without fellow top-liner Jaden Schwartz, so the loss of McCann—the team’s leading scorer—becomes extra painful (pun intended).
Pre-game
Yanni Gourde a game-time decision
Potentially adding to the challenge for Seattle, Yanni Gourde was not present at morning skate at Climate Pledge Arena. Hakstol called Gourde a “game-time decision” and would not disclose the reason for his unexpected absence.
Kole Lind was recalled from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers to replace McCann on the roster, but we suspect he will be scratched if Gourde is able to go. If Gourde is not able to go, then we expect Lind to be inserted onto a line with Colin Blackwell and Mason Appleton. We shall see.
Kraken need to build on second half of previous game
The Kraken did not play well in the first half of their game against the Islanders on Tuesday and fell behind 4-0 before waking up in the second period. They flipped a switch and played much better in the second half, after Gourde scored to get them on the board (rhyming intentional).
“The two [halves] are very much connected,” Hakstol said Thursday after morning skate. “The biggest area that we didn’t execute on was entering the zone and extending that time. I mean we had five or six outnumbered situations in the first 15 minutes of that game, and I don’t know that we got a shot on goal. But more importantly, we didn’t extend that o-zone time. We were one and done in those scenarios.”
Hakstol also gave some credit to the way New York played in the neutral zone, but said Seattle consistently forced pucks into their structure. He also said the turnaround was thanks to “the decisions and the will that we had in terms of our puck possession” in the later part of the game.
The second half really was well played by the Kraken. If they can replicate that for a full 60 minutes on Thursday, they will have a good chance to win, even without McCann and (potentially) Gourde.
Boston Bruins
The Kraken and Bruins played each other a few weeks ago in Boston. That night, the Kraken came up empty on the power play, while David Pastrnak scored twice on the man advantage and led Boston to a 3-2 win.
On Thursday, the Bruins visit Seattle for the first time, and they will have one of their stars, Brad Marchand, back in the lineup after a six-game suspension for punching and swinging his stick at Tristan Jarry.
Marchand is a pest, and there’s no doubt about that, but he said Thursday morning that he understands the rules against him and needs to avoid getting himself in situations where he could be suspended again in the future. He also missed practice in Seattle Wednesday because his wife just gave birth to a baby girl, so he stayed back to help her get moved from the hospital to home. He was in a good mood Thursday morning.
“I’m sure he’s going to have a lot of jump [Thursday],” said former Bruin, Ryan Donato. “He’s such a good player and a tough guy to play against, so you got to have your head on a swivel when you’re against him, for more than one reason.”
The Bruins are in a playoff position, holding down the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Coach Bruce Cassidy said that their lineup is a bit more dialed in than before, especially now that Tuukka Rask has officially retired. They know that Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman are their two netminders moving forward, and their lineup feels more locked in than before with 50 games under the belt.
Ullmark will start for the Bruins against the Kraken.
Projected lineup
UPDATE: Yanni Gourde did participate in warm-ups and line rushes, so it looks like he’ll play. Here is the lineup.
The latest
The Kraken will sport special warm-up jerseys tonight, commemorating Black History Month. The jerseys will be auctioned off at the game.
The game began in thrilling fashion. Mark Giordano took a tripping penalty at :20 of the first period, putting his team immediately shorthanded. 1:22 later, Adam Larsson joined him in the box after catching Taylor Hall with a high stick and drawing blood.
Would you believe us if we told you that the Kraken not only killed the five-plus minutes of penalty time, but also came away with a 1-0 lead? It’s true!
Completely gassed after a long shift on the kill, Riley Sheahan huffed and puffed through the neutral zone with open ice ahead of him. He took the puck just across the offensive blue line and pulled up to wait for a trailing Giordano, whose penalty had just ended. Giordano had all day to pick his spot on Ullmark and sniped with Seattle’s first shot of the game.
A bit later in the frame, Charlie McAvoy narrowly missed a devastating injury. Alex Wennberg didn’t see him, and lifted his stick up. The stick got caught under McAvoy’s helmet, and lifted it off his head. McAvoy went down for a bit, but was able to recover. Scary play.
Meanwhile, Philipp Grubauer was standing on his head at the other end of the ice, turning away grade-A chance after grade-A chance throughout the first period. He almost escaped the frame without giving up a goal, but the Bruins got a very lucky bounce when the puck popped up in the air and over the net. Jeremy Lauzon tried to bat it out of the air, but didn’t get enough of it, and it dropped right on the goal line for Jake DeBrusk.
On their 24th shot in just 26:47 of total game time, David Pastrnak wired a one-timer from the left dot. Despite Grubauer being on top of his game at this point, there was no chance he was stopping that one.
The Kraken answered to make it 2-2 at 13:19. Off a broken play in the neutral zone, Seattle found itself on a three-on-one. Marcus Johansson passed to Jordan Eberle, and defenseman Mike Reilly just kept backing up. So, Eberle cleverly took the ice that was being offered and walked all the way into the crease before he dangled to his backhand and lofted it over a sprawling Ullmark.
NHL Video Highlight – Jordan Eberle scores against the Boston Bruins to make it 2-2. pic.twitter.com/P0bZ93PxGV
By the time the teams went to the dressing rooms after the second horn, Grubauer had already made 29 saves on the night.
Third period highlights
We didn’t forget to write anything in the third period, but compared to the hectic first two periods, it felt like little happened in the final frame of regulation. Things tightened up a lot defensively, so there just wasn’t anything all that noteworthy. The score remained 2-2, and after 60 minutes, we headed for overtime.
Overtime highlights
There was only one overtime highlight. This was it:
It’s a long episode, but a fantastic one. This week, the Sound Of Hockey welcomes the coaches of both local WHL teams, as those teams prepare to play one another in the Battle of the Sound at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
With Dennis Williams of the Everett Silvertips, the guys discuss the continued success of that organization, the high-end prospects that have played for them, and the many hats that Williams wears as both the GM and head coach. Then O’Dette expresses his excitement to finally be a friend of the pod and shares the differences between coaching in the ECHL versus the WHL. He also talks about the skill on his current team and the impact that some new additions have made this season.
Both interviews are great.
Aside from those interviews, you’ll also hear some Kraken talk, as John, Andy, and Darren discuss Seattle’s recent fruitless Canadian road trip and a strange home game against the New York Islanders. John also shares some tidbits from a recent presentation made by Tod and Tim Leiweke about the state of the franchise.
After the interviews, the guys shift to segments, which feature You Don’t See That Every Day, Weekly One-Timers, and Three Stars.
Five different Winnipeg Jets scored to help erase an early 2-0 deficit in a 5-3 win against the Seattle Kraken at the Canada Life Center on Thursday.
Tied at three, Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey put the Jets ahead 4-3 at 13:50 of the third period after a slick passing play in the Seattle zone. Kyle Connor finally slid the puck to Morrissey whose shot hit the cross bar and dropped into the Kraken goal.
“I thought too many of their opportunities came off of our sticks,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Once they got the two goals, it gave them a little bit of life. And the four or five chances in the second period that they had came off of our sticks. Give them credit for some good pressure, but those are areas that we can affect in a much better way for ourselves.”
Connor would tuck a shot into the empty net with 0.4 seconds left in the third period for the 5-3 final.
Blake Wheeler and Connor each had a goal and an assist, Dylan Demelo had two assists, and former Tri-City Americans goalie Eric Comrie made 20 saves for the Jets (21-18-8), who are 2-0-0 against Seattle this season.
Marcus Johansson had a goal and an assist, and Vince Dunn scored on the road for the third straight time. Philipp Grubauer turned away 24 shots for the Kraken (16-30-4), who had won their previous two road games.
“At the end of the day we hung [Grubauer] out a little bit too much to dry and they had some good chances,” Jordan Eberle said. “And that’s all stuff that we created and gave them.”
After playing a nearly perfect 19 minutes of the first period, a big turning point in the game came with 13 seconds left in the period with Seattle on a power play. Winnipeg’s Adam Lowry broke out of the Jets zone on a two-on-one with Dominic Toninato. As they raced into the Kraken end, Lowry passed the puck across and Toninato buried it to cut the lead to 2-1 and change the momentum.
“It’s a shorthanded goal at the end of a period where all the momentum is on our side,” Hakstol said. “We have an opportunity— even if we don’t get anything at the end of the period, we have an opportunity to come out and reestablish momentum in the second period. Instead, that’s flipped.”
The Kraken’s early start evaporated
Dunn put the Kraken up 1-0 at 3:21 of the first period when his power-play point shot rang off the post and in. For Dunn, it was goal number seven.
Seattle extended its lead to 2-0 on a goal by Johansson at 12:15. It was Johansson’s sixth of the year and came when he carried the puck deep and around the Jets net. He skated into the slot where he found space to let loose a wrist shot.
The first period was mostly dominated by the Kraken who had the lead in unblocked five-on-five shot attempts and the majority of all shot quality. That work was undone somewhat by Toninato’s shorthanded goal prior to the first horn.
Pierre-Luc Dubois tied the game 2-2 at 1:45 of the second period after a Kraken turnover at their own blue line ended up on his stick. He scored his 21st by beating Grubauer over his glove.
“We had the puck outside the line, we just didn’t connect on a breakout play,” Hakstol said. “That play has to be clean coming out of our zone. We had an opportunity to come out of the zone clean and be heading through the neutral zone, and we made a mistake at the blue line and came back in the zone.”
A costly Kraken turnover deep in their own zone led to the Jets taking a 3-2 lead on a goal by Wheeler at 11:54. Jamie Oleksiak carried the puck behind his own net, but it slid off his stick right to Paul Statsny who fired it to Wheeler all alone in the slot.
The Kraken tied it at 3-3 at 7:02 of the third when Eberle banged in his 14th of the season thanks to a cross-ice pass from Johansson.
“We created enough, I think the biggest thing is we just gave up too much and traded chances with a team who obviously has a lot of firepower,” Eberle said. “I thought we started the game really well. We’re on top of them, obviously got a couple big goals and then the shorthanded one at the end of the first, that really deflated us. That can’t happen.”
After finding a way to lose, Seattle will move on to Calgary to take on a good Flames team Saturday night.
Tentacle Tales
+ The Kraken entered the game on a 4-for-45 power-play drought. Dunn’s goal in the first period was their second straight power-play chance with a conversion, though, after Jared McCann scored a power-play goal in the third period of the previous game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
+ Defenseman Carson Soucy was back in the lineup for the Kraken after being injured on Jan. 23 in a game against the Florida Panthers.
+ Seattle ended the game 1-for-2 with the power play and Winnipeg ended 0-for-3
+ Johansson broke a seven-game scoreless drought, getting his first goal since Jan. 23.
+ The Jets outshot the Kraken 22-13 over the final two periods.
