Don’t look now, but the Kraken are on a winning streak! Yeah, we know it’s only been two games, but nonetheless, seeing them get rewarded for their hard work this week has been a sight for very sore eyes. The Kraken look to extend their streak to three games Friday, as the St. Louis Blues make their first visit to Seattle.
Seattle had one of its best games of the season Monday against the Blackhawks, and deserved the shootout win that they eventually received. It was a borderline dominant performance that only went down to the wire because of otherworldly play in net by Marc-Andre Fleury. The Kraken lacked the same impressive dominance on Thursday against the Sharks, and frankly looked sloppy in the first half of the opening period.
The boys turned it on in the second, and Carson Soucy scored twice to give Seattle a lead that it never relinquished, despite taking four penalties in the third period alone.
Philipp Grubauer had his second positive performance in a row, stopping 23 of the 25 shots he faced. With Seattle on the second of back-to-backs Thursday, though, and with Chris Driedger still unavailable due to COVID protocol, coach Dave Hakstol is doing the smart thing by resting Grubauer. We thought he might be tempted to throw Grubauer right back in there, but with the starting netminder’s confidence just starting to build, turning to Joey Daccord is the right move for the Kraken against the Blues.
So, about Daccord… The friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast has made good use of his time with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers and has put up some outstanding numbers down there, notching a 2.18 goals against average and .925 save percentage in 14 games. His NHL numbers don’t show it this season, but he really has played well (but been hung out to dry) in his few appearances with the Kraken.
Seattle is playing better now than they have during other Daccord stints, so let’s see if his AHL success can transfer to the big club.
With no morning skate Friday, Hakstol played lineup changes close to the vest. He wouldn’t say if Jamie Oleksiak might be ready to return from a non-COVID illness, so we will see.
The Blues are third in the Central with a 23-11-5 record and 51 standings points. These two times played each other last week in St. Louis on a night when Driedger deserved to win, but the Kraken were done in by a late power-play goal by Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich.
This is a good team, but Seattle has proven it can skate with pretty much anybody. The Kraken came very close to winning that road contest against the Blues last Thursday, but got into penalty trouble—much like they did against the Sharks on Thursday—and didn’t generate enough offensively.
Kraken lineup
Really interesting shake-up of the lines by Hakstol. Yanni Gourde, Jared McCann, and Jordan Eberle have all been quiet of late, so the Kraken are going with a new mix.
Karson Kuhlman appears to be a scratch one night after making his Kraken debut, as Colin Blackwell is back in. ALSO back in is Haydn Fleury, who will be playing his first game since Jan. 1. Sheesh!
With Oleksiak apparently not ready to return, we are not surprised to see Jeremy Lauzon come out of the lineup after he took two straight penalties on Thursday.
The Blues got on the board first with a short-handed goal. Brandon Saad and Tyler Bozak got a two-on-one. Saad dished to Bozak, and Bozak buried it in a yawning cage. The goal came at 5:54.
If you picked Tyler Bozak for the first goal vote, YOU WIN!
…And just like that, the Kraken were chasing again.
The Blues scored again at 10:23. With Adam Larsson in the penalty box for delay of game, David Perron shot from high in the zone. Ryan O’Reilly deflected it toward Daccord, who made the first save, but the puck squirted out to Brayden Schenn for an easy tap-in.
In all, it was a pretty sloppy period by the Kraken, which felt very similar to the first frame on Thursday. The boys did wake up a bit in the last five minutes and had some good looks but were ultimately a little too cute with their passing.
Second period highlights
Daccord made one of the best saves of the season early in the second. On a partial two-on-zero, David Perron passed to O’Reilly for a sure goal. But Daccord did a full spit and just got his toe on it. Man, what a save that was.
Robert Bortuzzo nearly took Ryan Donato’s head off, just as Donato was releasing a shot off the rush. Donato was ok, but it was a very dangerous hit. Somehow Bortuzzo only got two minutes.
The Kraken looked better in the second and also got bailed out a couple times by Daccord. They put 15 shots on Ville Husso, including a breakaway by Riley Sheahan. Still, it really didn’t feel like they tested him all that much, despite the relatively high number of shots. They did apparently take a lot of shots from the left point through two periods, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Third period highlights
It took the Blues just 24 seconds of third-period play before they stretched their lead to 3-0. Off a three-on-two rush, Vladimir Tarasenko passed to Torey Krug in the slot, who just deflected it to Buchnevich on the far side. Buchnevich ripped it off the bar and down.
The wheels officially came off the wagon after a Kraken power play. Colton Parayko (yes, the 6-foot-6, 220 defenseman) stole the puck from a tired Jordan Eberle at the Kraken blue line. Parayko went in on a breakaway, and Eberle hooked him, giving Parayko a penalty shot. Parayko scored.
BRAVO! 👏👏👏 Colton Parayko scores on his first-ever penalty shot.
Jordan Kyrou scored the fifth Blues goal of the night after he took a pass from Robert Thomas (the hockey player, not the singer of Matchbox 20), and deked around a sprawling Daccord.
The Kraken looked quite sluggish from start to finish Friday. Just not much going on offensively.
Post-game
Notes the top six has been “pretty dry” offensively. Says it’s hard to win games if the top six isn’t scoring goals. https://t.co/K7dUVQlIVB
The guys are back in BarrDown Studios for Episode 170 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, which brings the shenanigans up a notch!
The Seattle Kraken are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, and John, Andy, and Darren are recording fresh off of Thursday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues. But despite the miserable spiral of the Kraken, the guys are feeling surprisingly optimistic about the future of the team. So, if you’re a Kraken fan needing a lift, this is the podcast for you!
This episode starts with some Wes McCauley silliness, followed by discussion about Kodak Black taking the hockey world by… storm. It then shifts to the outlook of the Kraken for quite a while, before turning to the hockey world as a whole.
Plenty of discussion about the Team USA Olympic roster (which includes Matty Beniers), Tuukka Rask returning to the Bruins, and Evander Kane somehow still being pursued.
Segbits include Goalie Gear Corner, Serious Business, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and MORE!
FINALLY hockey is (sort of) back, and so is the Sound Of Hockey Podcast! The long layoff led the guys to take an unexpected break from recording, but they are happy to be back in your speakers for this new episode.
On this podcast, the guys talk through the three losses the Seattle Kraken have suffered since the Christmas holiday, as well as the latest injury and COVID news from the team. They also discuss some of the very cool off-ice developments that happened at Climate Pledge Arena during the Kraken game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Once they’ve given plenty of attention to the Kraken, John, Andy, and Darren go outside of Seattle to share their thoughts on the cancellations of the IIHF World Junior Championship and the Women’s U18 tournament. They also touch on the Winter Classic before moving on to segments.
Segments this week include Bad Boys, Goalie Gear Corner, and Three Stars.
Prior to an early season Kraken game at Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle Seahawks running back DeeJay Dallas stood on a balcony high above the arena to hype up 17,000 hockey fans.
You couldn’t tell by his excitement that night, but the 23 year old was stepping outside his comfort zone a bit. He’s normally on the football field with the crowd looking down on him. But this time the roles were reversed, and the fans were all looking up.
“I’m kind of shy, a little bit,” Dallas says. “When I have my helmet on all the time the fans don’t really bother me, but when I have no helmet on and you can see my face then I’m just like ‘Oh, man.’”
Dallas wasn’t at the game for a promotion opportunity nor was he there jumping on the bandwagon of Seattle’s newest professional team.
He was there for the game. He was there because he’s a hockey fan.
“I like hockey,” Dallas said. “Hockey is fast and physical and reminds me a lot of our game.”
The Seahawks brought Dallas to Seattle in 2020 when they made him their fourth-round pick in the NFL Draft out of the University of Miami.
He’s in his second season with the Seahawks and has run for 172 yards on 51 carries with three touchdowns. Dallas can play on passing downs and has added 210 yards and another touchdown with 31 catches so far. He’s also a regular returning kickoffs for the Seahawks.
Thrashers, Penguins, and Kraken
Growing up in Brunswick, Ga., Dallas discovered hockey at a young age by going to Atlanta Thrashers games. He says those games helped him to learn to enjoy the sport and become a fan.
“The Thashers left when I was six or seven, maybe a little bit later than that,” he says. “But once they left I became a Penguins fan. Sidney Crosby is the beast and they had [Marc-Andre] Fleury and everybody.”
He missed a chance to get to the game last Monday when the Penguins, and Crosby, were in town due to meetings with the Seahawks. But he was there the next game, sitting on the glass with his wife and son, cheering hard as the Kraken played the former Thrashers, the Winnipeg Jets.
Dallas was a Penguins fan, but he’s adopted the Kraken and gets to as many games as he can.
“I finally have a team that I didn’t inherit,” he says. “Like I feel like I can be a part of this team. I’m living in Seattle now being a part of the Seahawks. You always want to support the hometown team. So, I’ve become a Kraken fan and I think I’ll probably be a Kraken fan forever… it’s just so exciting to watch the guys. Me and some of the players have become friends and I just tell them all the time like ‘Man, y’all fly’ and it’s just amazing to watch.”
You might know him as the @seahawks running back, but to us he’s the resident leader for the Brandon Tanev Fan Club.
Dallas has not been on skates before, although there has been some talk of him doing something with the team where he does get out on the ice. That will undoubtedly be entertaining content. For now he’ll stick with being a fan, attending games, and supporting the club on Twitter.
When asked what type of player he would be, he quickly says he’d be a defenseman like Jamie Oleksiak who Dallas refers to as a ‘beast.’
He may want to be a defenseman, but it’s a certain forward that he’s adopted as his favorite Kraken player.
“[Brandon] Tanev is my guy, that’s my favorite player,” Dallas says. “He plays with what I like to bring to football. He plays with passion. Every night he steps on the ice he brings it, and I like to say he has that about him. He flies, he hits people, he takes no shit and that’s what I like to bring to football.”
No word yet if his Seahawks teammates will start calling Dallas ‘Turbo,’ but watching him run the ball, there is a similarity.
Dallas says he’ll continue to attend Kraken games, sitting on the glass, when his football schedule allows for it. He appears on the team’s intro video each night and is part of the deafening din of Climate Pledge Arena.
“Kraken fans remind me a lot of the 12’s and the fan bases probably overlap,” Dallas says. “The fans from Lumen Field and Climate Pledge are a lot of the same people. It’s exciting.”
The Seattle Kraken will be tested this week with two sets of back-to-back games including two against division rivals that have a “make or break” feel about them. The next two games come Tuesday and Wednesday in Seattle’s first road trip to California. The Kraken then return to the Puget Sound area to take on two of the better Canadian teams on Saturday and Sunday. Here is the rundown and who to keep an eye on in each matchup.
Tuesday, Dec. 14, Seattle Kraken at San Jose Sharks
TV: ROOT Sports
This will be the first-ever game between the Kraken and Sharks with an important two points on the line. San Jose has been a surprise team in the Pacific Division this season but still finds itself in the middle of the standings. If the Sharks expect to make the playoffs, every point matters when chasing the Ducks, Flames, Oilers, and Golden Knights.
Meanwhile, the Kraken still find themselves in the bottom of the Pacific. It is already a long shot, but if this team expects any chance at the postseason, it will need to put a string of wins together soon, particularly against teams ahead of it in the Pacific Division standings.
Who to watch on San Jose
Tomas Hertl is a big-bodied centerman that has knack for big goals. He has goals in four straight games and is on pace for a career season high.
Jasper Weatherby is a Pacific Northwest native and has played extremely well in his first year as a professional hockey player. He has been bouncing between the 3rd and 4th lines, but it is clear he has the coach’s trust to play him in critical situations. Weatherby’s journey both on and off the ice is fascinating and makes him a player worth rooting for, even if he is wearing opposing colors.
The skinny
It is not fair to put the success of the Seattle Kraken’s season on one game in December, but this might be as close to a must-win game as we can get at this stage. The boys from the Puget Sound must start digging themselves out of the rather large hole they find themselves in right now.
Wednesday, Dec. 15, Seattle Kraken at Anaheim Ducks
TV: TNT
Anaheim is another surprise team in the Pacific, currently sitting second in the division. The Ducks are riding a wave of excitement created by a younger generation of players and are currently challenging Calgary for the top spot. Troy Terry, 24, and Trevor Zegras, 20, are leading the team in points. The Ducks are also getting significant contributions from Isac Lundestrom, 22, and Jamie Drysdale, 19.
The Kraken’s first matchup against the Ducks did not go well. Anaheim handed the Kraken a 7-4 loss at Climate Pledge Arena on a night that felt like Seattle never had a chance.
Who to watch on Anaheim
The expectations for Trevor Zegras have been high since he was drafted ninth overall in 2019. He has lived up to those expectations with an impressive freshman season at Boston University in the 2019-20 season and an MVP performance that helped USA clinch a gold medal at last year’s World Junior Championship. He has also caught fire at the NHL level, showing creativity with his mind-boggling assist on the leading candidate for goal of the year.
Jamie Drysdale is another top-10 draft pick by the Anaheim Ducks. He is projected to be an elite defenseman in the NHL and is already starting to showcase his skill in his second NHL season. Drysdale might not be a household name now, but he will be in a few years.
The skinny
Yes, winning in Anaheim would be ideal, but even getting an overtime point should be considered a victory for Seattle. We know they are capable of skating with anyone, but the Kraken have lacked consistency, and a positive performance against one of the top teams in the division would be a confidence booster.
Saturday, Dec. 18, Edmonton Oilers at Seattle Kraken
ROOT Sports, CBC
The Kraken played their best game of the season the last time the Oilers visited Climate Pledge Arena in a 4-3 nail-biting victory. Edmonton has lost four in a row since visiting Seattle and will have revenge in mind on its final game in Seattle for the 2021-22 regular season.
Who to watch on Edmonton
Edmonton has two of the best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Those two are rather obvious players to watch, but we want to call out Zach Hyman as another player to watch. Hyman is a hard-working forward that has been thriving on the Oilers since signing with them in the offseason.
Derek Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto are not household names, but in Washington State, they should be. Both were born and raised in Spokane and played for the Spokane Chiefs. Ryan might not get many minutes, but he does the little things that coaches appreciate from a fourth-line center. His journey to the NHL is an incredible one, and he shared it with us on the Sound Of Hockey podcast last year.
Sunday, Dec. 19, Toronto Maple Leafs at Seattle Kraken
This will be the Maple Leafs’ first and only trip to the Pacific Northwest this season. The Leafs have been inconsistent but should still be considered as one of the top teams in the league. They started this season with a 2-4-1 run that had a fan base screaming to tear it all down and rebuild, only to follow that up by winning 10 out of the next 11 games.
Player to watch on Toronto
Michael Bunting is a 26-year-old rookie who is putting together a great season since signing with the Maple Leafs in the offseason. He is taking advantage of playing on the top line with Auston Matthews and has 19 points over 29 games.
The skinny
Luckily for the Kraken, Mitch Marner will be on injured reserve for this game, and the Kraken should be seeing the Leafs’ back-up goalie with Toronto on the second night of a back-to-back. Beating the Maple Leafs would be another huge feather in the cap for the Kraken, who have taken down several elite teams.
It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Kraken fans this season, and this week could be part of the ride. At this point, fans should be looking for consistency in the team’s compete level. Given the skill of the opponents they are about to face, grabbing four out of eight points this week should be considered success and something to build on heading into the end of the calendar year.
SEATTLE – Less than 24 hours after a disappointing 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Seattle Kraken were back at practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex Tuesday morning.
The biggest surprise was seeing captain Mark Giordano back with the team and skating. Giordano tested positive for COVID-19 the morning before Seattle took on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 26. He’d been quarantining in a Tampa hotel by himself before clearing protocol and flying back to Seattle on Monday.
“It’s tough to sit in a room by yourself for 10 days but I just listened to the docs and our staff here,” Giordano said Tuesday. “I talked to them daily and then go from there but just try to have some time to myself. I reflected on a few things I guess over the 10 days but thank God for iPads and phones and being able to FaceTime family and stuff like that.”
Giordano says that he didn’t have many symptoms other than a touch of congestion, but he did lose his sense of smell and taste.
His taste has slowly come back to him.
“It was actually yesterday, I landed in the afternoon, and I had some chicken and some pasta at home and it caught me off guard that I could taste it,” Giordano said. “It’s a weird feeling of being hungry and not being able to taste your food. I don’t wish that on anyone for sure.”
Giordano was a full participant in practice Tuesday but wasn’t sure yet if he’ll play Thursday when the Kraken host the Winnipeg Jets at Climate Pledge Arena.
“It was a perfect practice for me to be honest, to get back in and get my lungs and my legs where they need to be,” Giordano said. “Just looking forward to now feeling better tomorrow and then looking forward to Thursday… I haven’t talked to the coaches or training staff yet about [playing Thursday] at all. But yeah, anytime, as a player, you want to get back in there as soon as you can and play.”
Kraken up the battle level at practice
Practice on Tuesday was not for the faint of heart. The Kraken worked hard with several physical puck battle drills. There was hitting as guys battled one-on-one in the corners and later in two-on-two competition.
“There was no message there,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We just take a lot of pride in our level of compete and we got a little bit away from it last night in our home building. We just went out and had a good hard work and practice today.”
While Hakstol says it was just a hard practice, which it was, the team hasn’t had a practice as physical since early in training camp. It came a night after the team started slow and gave up three goals in the first five minutes.
It was a departure from the tight, structured way the team had played during it’s 5-1-1 streak coming into Monday’s game.
“I wasn’t looking at a message today,” Hakstol said. “Today we went out and worked and that’s what we do. Like I said, we feel like we got away from that a little bit last night. We got back to it today. There’s nothing more, nothing less to the practice today. It was a good hard work and practice with guys competing hard.”
Other practice notes
Chris Driedger was a full participant Monday, sharing reps in net with Joey Daccord. He’s still on injured reserve but looked like he was moving without any discomfort.
The team didn’t get into any line rushes Tuesday and Hakstol hinted that there may not be a lot of change coming to his lineup. “That’s not the first place that I’ll look coming out of last night,” Hakstol said. “That’s one thing as we get to Thursday, some of those things could change, but that’s not going to be the first area that I look to. Won’t be close to the top of the list.”
