On the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast, the guys welcome Seattle Kraken leading scorer, Jared McCann. John and Darren have a fantastic conversation with Jared about his journey to the Kraken, his experiences with the team in its inaugural season, the Trade Deadline, and so much more. Whether you’re a Kraken fan or just a hockey fan in general, you won’t want to miss this one.
Also on this episode, the guys break down the two most recent Kraken games, and Andy shares his thoughts on the Battle of the Sound game between the Thunderbirds and the Silvertips.
Before they get to the interview with McCann, the guys shift gears and discuss how the hockey world is responding to the crisis in Ukraine.
After the interview, the show transitions into its segments, which this week feature Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Three Stars.
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.
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.
The guys start the latest episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast by falling on the… spear (sort of)… for a mishap on their last show. They then dive right into Kraken talk, recapping an eventful week for the team, which sandwich a nice win and a skills exhibition between two rather stinky losses.
John, Andy, and Darren then shift their focus to the NHL as a whole, which had some big stories over the past week like coach firings, Jack Eichel returning, and Tyler Toffoli getting traded.
