That’s a shame. The Seattle Kraken took a good swing at the high-flying Edmonton Oilers on Monday, but one of the NHL’s best teams gained a shred of momentum in the second period, and that was all it needed to slip past Seattle for a 4-2 win.
In a game where the Kraken scored first—thanks to a positive goalie interference bounce—and carried a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes, they just couldn’t keep their foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes. In the end, a second-period lapse and a dismal power play cost them.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken loss to the Oilers.
Takeaway #1: Second-period letdown
The Kraken earned their second 5-on-3 in as many games toward the end of the first period. Even with the massive advantage, they didn’t generate much, and the Oilers came out and killed off the remaining 35 seconds when the second stanza began.
That seemed to spark Edmonton. Soon after returning to full strength, Connor McDavid had a 2-on-1 opportunity with Zach Hyman. Joey Daccord stopped the initial shot but lost track of it after it deflected off the inside of his blocker. McDavid buried his own rebound, tying the game at 2-2.
They gotta watch out for 97.
2-on-1 rush, and McDavid gets his own rebound. Daccord loses track of it after it hit the inside of his blocker.
Oilers looking a little different to start the 2nd so far…
The eventual game-winning goal by Corey Perry, scored at 9:38 of the second, came with several oddities. A little earlier, Hyman hit the crossbar with a wide-open net, and everyone in Rogers Place—including a goal horn operator with an itchy trigger finger—thought it was in. The horn blast created confusion in the building, and play on the ice went back and forth in a firewagony style. Seattle seemed momentarily disorganized.
Perry capitalized on the chaos by pulling off a variation of the “Hocus Pocus” play, sneaking onto the ice unnoticed by taking his time with a line change. While his mates defended down a man in their zone, Perry lingered near the offensive blue line, until Darnell Nurse found him with a stretch pass for a breakaway.
It was a clever move, but I partly blame the goal horn operator for causing the initial confusion. I also fault the Kraken for failing to convert on a 5-on-3, a missed opportunity that loomed large.
Takeaway #2: The power play killed the Kraken
I already mentioned the 5-on-3 in the previous Takeaway, but the Kraken’s power play as a whole struggled mightily in this game. Seattle had four power-play opportunities compared to Edmonton’s one. Not only did the Kraken fail to score on any of them, but they also struggled to create sustained pressure.
Coach Dan Bylsma didn’t hold back when assessing the team’s performance with the manpower advantage.
“Even the one in the third period, I think it was… It just wasn’t good enough,” Bylsma said. “You want your power play, A., to provide a goal, but B., provide a spark, and the power play didn’t do that. And that was a dent in the game.”
It’s also so easy to point to the failed 5-on-3 as the turning point in the game. Remember, against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Seattle converted on a 5-on-3, and that put the game on the rails for the Kraken. Bylsma emphasized after that game how crucial it was to convert on the opportunity.
But on this night, the Oilers killed the penalties with ease, and momentum swung firmly in their favor.
Takeaway #3: Interesting goaltending decision
Before the game, I was curious how Bylsma would manage his goaltenders for this back-to-back with travel. Conventional wisdom suggests using your stronger goalie against the better team and your backup against the weaker one.
Even with Joey Daccord in net for his 10th consecutive game (he didn’t start all of them but played in each), this matchup against the Oilers always felt like an uphill battle for the Kraken. To win, they needed more stellar play from Daccord and a full 60-minute effort from the team.
Daccord was solid, making 27 saves, though perhaps not as sharp as in his previous outings. Meanwhile, the team played well but fell short of the sustained 60-minute effort required to beat a team like Edmonton.
Now, Bylsma has no choice but to start Philipp Grubauer on Tuesday when the Anaheim Ducks visit Climate Pledge Arena. That shouldn’t be a concern; your backup goalie, especially one earning $5.9 million, should be able to handle the second game of a back-to-back against a relatively weak opponent.
But Grubauer has had two of his worst performances of his Kraken tenure when handling one segment of back-to-backs. On Nov. 29, he gave up seven goals on 26 shots in an 8-5 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the first of back-to-backs. That night, Bylsma clearly wanted to get the hook but resisted, knowing that he needed Daccord for the following night. Then, on Jan. 12, when Grubauer started the second leg of a back-to-back at the Detroit Red Wings, he allowed three goals on four shots before Daccord was forced to step in. That was the last time Grubauer has seen game action.
Part of me would have preferred to see Daccord rested Monday, giving Seattle the best chance to earn two points out of these four on Tuesday. That said, it was also encouraging to see the Kraken remain competitive with the Oilers, so… insert shrug emoji here.
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.
The Kraken just wrapped up a fun week of hockey at Climate Pledge Arena, winning two out of three games with victories against the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their only loss came against the league-leading Washington Capitals. I won’t pretend it was the prettiest stretch of games, but let’s face it—winning is fun.
Saturdays are fun again
The win against the Penguins on Saturday marked the Kraken’s fourth home victory on a Saturday this season. Last season, they went 0-7-2 at home on Saturday nights. Pittsburgh seemed to dominate lengthy stretches of the game, but the Kraken capitalized on key opportunities and never trailed. An added bonus of Saturday’s game was the annual Kids Game, featuring several kids shadowing job functions during the event—not to mention the many young fans in the crowd, thanks to the family-friendly start time.
Face-off follow-ups
It was great to see people discussing my mention of Chandler Stephenson’s defensive capabilities on Reddit last week. Measuring defensive skills using public data is challenging because so many important events aren’t captured. Thinking out loud here: it would be great to have metrics like deflections of passes, elimination of passing lanes, coverage of players, possession in the defensive zone, controlled zone exits versus zone exits that immediately concede possession, and so on—all measured against the strength of the competition on the ice.
Someone in the Reddit thread pointed out Stephenson’s low face-off percentage in the defensive zone, as available on NHL.com stats. I commend the poster for digging into the data and investigating on their own. However, even that stat requires context.
For most of the season, Stephenson has been part of the first penalty kill unit, meaning he takes a lot of face-offs while the team is shorthanded. Being shorthanded naturally reduces a team’s chances of winning a face-off. League-wide, shorthanded teams win only 46.9 percent of face-offs in all scenarios. Meanwhile, Stephenson’s face-off percentage while shorthanded is 50.8 percent.
I should also point out that face-offs are an incomplete stat because what you really want is possession, which isn’t the same as simply winning the face-off. That said, face-off percentages are the best we have right now and are generally a good indicator of possession—though not 100 percent of the time.
Sign or trade
In case you missed it, we did an exercise on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast last week called “Sign or Trade,” focusing on the Seattle Kraken’s pending unrestricted free agents. Using the AFP Analytics midseason extension projection model, we analyzed a couple of players and shared our opinions on whether the Kraken front office should re-sign or trade them based on their forecasted cap hits.
Yanni Gourde’s projected cap hit was $4.1 million AAV over three years. We all agreed the Kraken should trade him if that is what it would require to re-sign him, but I wonder—at what point does the AAV start to make sense for the team? The Kraken need another center for next season, and there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the pipeline who could fill the fourth-line center role. So, if Yanni would stay for $3.5 million, would you consider it?
The other part of the equation is what the Kraken could get for Yanni on the trade market. As I mentioned last week, if a first-round draft pick is on the table, you have to make the trade regardless of Yanni’s potential re-signing number. You could always try to bring him back in free agency, but that rarely happens—so I wouldn’t count on it.
The other interesting player is Brandon Tanev, whose projected cap hit is $2.4 million AAV for two years. Tanev has played very well this season, and at those numbers, re-signing him would definitely be worth considering.
Other musings
The Kraken improved to 6-2-0 all-time against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The only Eastern Conference team they have a better record against is the Buffalo Sabres, who they defeated on Monday. Seattle is now 7-1-0 against the Sabres.
Fans at the Capitals and Penguins games this week had the chance to see goals from Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. Neither player had scored at Climate Pledge Arena since the Kraken’s inaugural season.
With their win on Saturday, the Kraken’s record improved to 12-5-3 in games where they score first. When the opposition scores first, Seattle’s record is 10-20-0.
At this point, it feels like a stretch to consider Seattle, Anaheim, and Nashville in the playoff race. However, Nashville has been the hottest team in January and is inching back into the conversation.
I haven’t completely given up on the Kraken making things interesting, but until further notice, they are out of the playoffs and are likely sellers at the trade deadline.
The Kraken have two games against the Calgary Flames before the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Two regulation wins in those matchups would certainly make things more interesting.
The Capitals looked very strong when they played the Kraken last Thursday. Impressively, the Caps also boast one of the best prospect pools in the league—not bad for a team that hasn’t tanked. They’ve only missed the playoffs once in the last 10 seasons.
The big trade on Friday between the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche officially kicked off trade season. There’s usually a major trade in late January that starts to grease the trade gears—last year it was Elias Lindholm, and the year before, Bo Horvat. Expect trades to pick up steadily as we approach the March 7 trade deadline.
Matty Beniers is playing his best hockey of the season right now. His performance seemed to improve after the Kaapo Kakko trade. Since Kakko joined the team, Beniers has scored seven goals in 17 games; before that, he had just four goals in 33 games.
Speaking of the Kakko trade, Will Borgen signed a five-year contract with the New York Rangers over the weekend. The average annual value clocked in a $4.1 million. I’m happy for Will and, at the same time, thankful the Kraken did not sign for that price tag.
Buoy attended one of those mascot night events at a Portland Trail Blazers game. I wonder if all those mascots get together after work to enjoy a few “college sodas.”
Jared McCann (SEA) – McCann’s goal-scoring is off pace compared to previous seasons, but he’s contributing in other ways. He recorded one goal and four assists over the Kraken’s last three games.
Tyson Jugnauth (POR/SEA) – The unsigned Kraken prospect is on an active 10-game point streak, tallying six goals and 13 assists during that span.
Joey Daccord (SEA) – Daccord is 4-2-0 in his last six starts with an impressive .928 save percentage. Even in his two losses, he’s kept the Kraken competitive with a chance to win.
The week ahead
The Kraken face a tough matchup on Monday when they head to Edmonton to play the Oilers in Connor McDavid’s first game back after his three-game suspension. It’s hard to expect much from the Kraken in that game, as Edmonton has been playing well lately, winning seven of its last 10 games. Adding the best player in the league back into the lineup certainly won’t hurt the Oilers.
After Monday, the schedule lightens up with home games against Anaheim on Tuesday, San Jose on Thursday, and a Sunday game against Calgary. Both Anaheim and San Jose have been struggling recently. Anaheim is 3-5-2 in its last 10 games, while San Jose has managed just one win in its last 10. I don’t take anything for granted this season, but if there are two games you expect to win, these are them.
Calgary presents a bigger challenge. The Flames currently hold the last wild card spot and have been stingy on defense. One potential advantage for the Kraken is that Calgary will be playing the night before against the Red Wings, which might mean Seattle faces backup goaltender Dan Vladar instead of Calder Trophy candidate Dustin Wolf. That said, Vladar played well against the Kraken earlier this season, allowing just two goals in an overtime loss back in October.
I’ve accepted that a playoff push is unlikely, but I’d still like to see the Kraken make things interesting the rest of the way. Six points this week, including a regulation win against Calgary, are almost mandatory if they hope to have any shot at climbing back into the playoff picture. Either way, I still enjoy the winning—especially at home—so I’d probably be satisfied with a couple of home victories this week.
The Seattle Kraken secured their third win in four games on Saturday with a convincing 4-1 result, completing a season sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The win pulled the Kraken within six points of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. However, there’s some smoke and mirrors in play; to reenter the playoff picture, Seattle still must leapfrog four teams despite having played as many as four additional games compared to the teams ahead of them.
So, the playoffs remain farfetched at this point, but who knows? If they can keep cooking and win, say, six of their next seven (again, farfetched) before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, they could at least get back into the conversation.
As it stands, let’s just say that the win on Saturday was a solid one, featuring some nice passing plays to create goals and more stellar goaltending from Joey Daccord, who stopped 28 of 29 shots.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-1 Kraken win over the Penguins.
Takeaway #1: Joey Daccord shines again
I keep expecting Daccord to show cracks in the armor, especially with coach Dan Bylsma having no choice but to lean on him game after game. But all Daccord has done is continue to rise to the occasion and put up outstanding performances.
In his six starts since returning from the upper-body injury he suffered on Dec. 22, Daccord is 4-2-0 with a .928 save percentage. In the two losses (Winnipeg and Washington), he allowed two goals per game while his team managed a measly one combined goal at the other end.
This performance against Pittsburgh didn’t require quite as many flashy saves as the game against the Caps on Thursday, but you can see from the way he’s reading the play that he seems to know where the puck is going before it gets there.
As a prime example, watch the below 3-on-2 opportunity from the first period, in which Drew O’Connor ends up in alone with Daccord. Daccord gives O’Connor plenty of room on the glove side, instead opting to hold closer to the blocker-side post, reading that O’Connor is going to try to go five-hole. Indeed, O’Connor did try to get Daccord to open up, but Joey clamped his pads down and rejected the scoring chance.
I asked Daccord after the game if he’s feeling any different right now because he does look especially dialed in. Here’s what he said: “No, not at all. I try to just be the same every day. I know if I just play like myself and play like I’m able to, then I don’t need to elevate above what I’m capable of at a consistent level. So I just try to bring the same mindset, the same focus, same energy levels every single day. And if I do that, then I feel like I’m able to put a pretty consistent game on the ice.”
As for the heavy workload he’s been shouldering? “I like playing a lot. So, it feels like it’s just another day. Most goalies will tell you that they like playing a lot, and for me, I felt like the third period of last game just carried into this game and just kept rolling. And yeah, I love it. They tell me to play, I play. They tell me to sit, I sit.”
Takeaway #2: Tic-tac-toe passing
After a paltry offensive performance against the high-flying Washington Capitals on Thursday, Seattle bounced back by seizing rush opportunities to slide past the Penguins. Three of the four goals came off transition plays, with two of those coming on bona fide odd-man rushes and one from a shrewd pass to space by Shane Wright to create something out of nothing.
The first of the three rush goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand made it 1-0 at 2:16 of the second period. Chandler Stephenson stole the puck inside Seattle’s zone to set up a 2-on-1 with Bjorkstrand. I always love when everyone in the arena expects a certain play, and the puck carrier makes a different play that works out.
This was one of those scenarios. Instead of saucing it across to Bjorkstrand, Stephenson dropped it back to a trailing Andre Burakovsky, turning the 2-on-1 into a 3-on-2. Burky seemed ready for it, and he, in turn, made a perfect dish into Bjorkstrand’s wheelhouse for the one-timer into an open net.
“Truth be told, I was probably [looking for Stephenson] driving and shooting the puck,” Bylsma said. “He made a better play to Andre, and Andre over to Bjorky for that goal.”
The play Wright made on the Tolvanen goal was subtle but brilliant. He was surrounded by three Pittsburgh defenders coming over the line with no direct passes available. So he laid it into the corner where only McCann could get to it, and McCann made a perfect pass to Tolvanen, who was left wide open as a result.
EELI GOALVANEN! 🚨
Smart play by Shane Wright to throw it into the corner, which creates something out of nothing, then McCann makes a perfect pass.
“Wright put the puck to space and let me skate into it,” McCann said. “Obviously, he is a very skilled player who… is going to continue to use his offense to help us.”
And finally, Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers continued building on their chemistry after Kakko intercepted a pass at the offensive blue line and set up Beniers off a clear-cut 2-on-1. That made it 4-1 and sealed the game for the Kraken.
MATTY MAGIC! 🚨
Kaapo Kakko with the steal and the pass, Beniers with the finish.
“Love the Matty goal, too,” Bylsma said. “Great passing play, good defense for that line in the neutral zone, creating the turnover, but Kakko to Matty, getting that goal, yes, great passing.”
The pretty passing plays don’t always result in goals, but when they work out, they’re fun to watch.
Takeaway #3: Critical 5-on-3 conversion
With the game tied 1-1 in the second period, Kris Letang cross-checked Beniers to give the Kraken a rare 5-on-3 opportunity. It felt like a turning point in the contest one way or the other because if Pittsburgh kills that off, it’s probably a big momentum killer for the Kraken and a swing in the other direction for the Penguins.
Seattle wisely called a timeout to regroup and let Jess Campbell draw up a plan, resulting in a crucial power-play conversion. It wasn’t anything pretty, just Vince Dunn letting it rip from the point and getting a friendly bounce off Noel Acciari while Jaden Schwartz wreaked havoc in front of the net.
HE DUNN DID IT! 🚨
Vince with a big blast that looked like it got a deflection off Noel Acciari.
“I think we were able to generate some good chances [on the 5-on-3],” Dunn said. “I think we took what was given, and [Jaden Schwartz] has been so good out front of the net all year… did his part and made it easy for me.”
The goal got Seattle into the third period with a 2-1 lead, and it was all Kraken after that.
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.
Welcome to “Down on the Farm,” Sound Of Hockey‘s weekly update on Seattle Kraken prospects. This week we’ll take a look at Tyson Jugnauth’s play for the Portland Winterhawks, highlight an area where the Kraken front office is lapping the competition, provide updates on a few standout goaltending performances, share scouting video on Jani Nyman, and much more.
If you have a prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X or BlueSky @deepseahockey. Let’s dig in.
Jugnauth is leading from the blue line in Portland
When Sound Of Hockey spoke with Kraken director of player development Jeff Tambellini a few weeks ago, Tambellini brought up one player in entirely unsolicited fashion: 2022 fourth-round pick Tyson Jugnauth. According to Tambellini, the 5-foot-11 blueliner has been “outstanding” in his second WHL campaign.
Those who follow Kraken prospects closely are familiar with Jugnauth’s unique journey at this point. He played for the University of Wisconsin for over a year following the draft before making the decision in December 2023 to jump from a depth role in college to a featured role in the WHL.
Since the move, he has 121 points in 102 WHL games. His 64 points from the blue line this season (as of Saturday, Jan. 25) are 15 more than the second place defenseman in the WHL. (Kraken prospect Lukas Dagicevic is second with 49 points.)
“To decide to go from college hockey back to the Western League is a really big decision,” Tambellini said. “And then to go perform the way he has for the last year and a half, it’s really impressive.”
It was evident to the Kraken at training camp that they were onto something with Jugnauth. “Our NHL [personnel] kept saying, who’s the [defenseman] with the white stick?” Tambellini recounted, referring to Jugnauth. “[It was] so good to watch him against our best players. He’s playing out of pressure, spinning guys off. There’s something there.”
Fast forward today, and “he’s been putting on a show” in the WHL. His smoothness and skill in his movements, as well as his calm demeanor dealing with pressure, immediately stand out on his junior tape. “He is playing the game with such ease and setting up goals that are just really impressive,” Tambellini said.
Jugnauth’s uncommon skating ability allowed him to dissect the entire Saskatoon defense to score a goal on Jan. 15.
Jugnauth is currently unsigned and bound for Michigan State University in the fall. But if he keeps up this scoring production, I’d wager he’ll be joining the Seattle organization sooner or later.
Kraken have proven adept at finding talent in the middle rounds
Amidst the frustration of what is shaping up to be a second straight season out of the NHL playoffs, it is tempting to view everything about the Kraken through the prism of organizational failure (or “crisis,” if you will). Things are rarely so simple, though, and The Athletic provided a good reminder of that with a recent column ranking the 50 best under-23 prospects in the league that were drafted outside the first round.
The Kraken have stockpiled second- and third-round picks in recent years, so it is not surprising that the team fared well in this exercise. What is notable, though, is that Seattle have by far the most players ranked—six of the top 50. (The next closest teams had only three such players.)
As we have discussed here and on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, the likelihood of identifying future NHL players drops off precipitously outside the top half of the first round of the draft. Seattle’s unparalleled ability to identify potential NHL contributors outside this range sets the franchise up well for sustained success in the not-too-distant future.
Indeed, it is easy enough to dream on a balanced, competitive, and almost-entirely homegrown team to begin the 2026-27 season (see box). Of course, we are very unlikely to see a lineup like this in reality for a variety of reasons, not the least being prospect attrition. But it is an enviable situation to have the depth of NHL-caliber talent that such a thought experiment is even possible. (What’s more, this hypothetical lineup would leave many interesting prospects knocking on the door at the AHL, including Julius Miettinen, Clarke Caswell, Caden Price, Lukas Dragicevic, and Semyon Vyazovoy.)
Notes on three more Kraken prospects
Kim Saarinen | G | HPK (Liiga)
Goalie prospect Kim Saarinen is the Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week. He posted two shutouts and a one-goal game in three starts this week—his first Liiga action since his trip to Canada for the World Juniors. His .911 save percentage ranks fourth in Liiga, and second among under-22 goalies (behind only World Juniors teammate Petteri Rimpinen).
We began the season impressed that the Liiga rookie was simply getting regular opportunities in a professional net as an 18-year-old. His recent production has been a showstopper. That said, the development path for goalies—even the best goalies—is long. I’d expect him to remain in Finland for at least one if not two more years. (His contract with HPK goes through 2026-27, per Elite Prospects.)
Jani Nyman | F | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Jani Nyman added a goal this week, bringing his season total to 16—the most among all rookies and players aged 20 or younger in the AHL. We looked at his early-career accomplishments last week. Check out his shifts from Coachella Valley’s Jan. 12, 2025, game against the Chicago Wolves below.
Ty Nelson | D | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Ty Nelson has flown under the radar in this his first full professional season with the Firebirds. He was very quiet in terms of production in the early going, but it was clear that he earned the trust of the coaching staff from the beginning. While every other rookie sat for at least one game in the first month, Nelson was a lineup stalwart. Mix in some impressive durability and he is one of only two Firebirds to have appeared in every game for the team. (Logan Morrison is the other.) In his last four games, his hard work has been rewarded on the scoresheet too. He has two goals and two assists in that span. His plus-six on-ice plus-minus for the season is seventh-best on the team.
Kraken prospects data update
After an impressive World Juniors performance and a trade to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Caden Price would be forgiven if his head were still spinning a bit. His scoring production has taken a dip in the last couple weeks. Elsewhere Ollie Josephson has been missing from the Red Deer lineup for a few weeks, and both Zeb Forsfjall and Julius Miettinen have not yet returned to their respective club team lineups since the World Juniors.
Everything College Hockey recently followed Kraken prospect and Colorado College forward Zaccharya Wisdom for a day and produced a ten-minute video on the experience. It’s worth a watch.
If not for Kim Saarinen’s standout performance, Semyon Vyazovoy likely would have been in the running for Prospect of the Week honors. His run of stellar play continues. He is currently tied for third in the KHL in save percentage—as a 21-year-old rookie.
Visa Vedenpaa remains sidelined, but that’s the only real blemish on the organizational goaltending depth chart right now.
2024-25 Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
Clarke Caswell: 2
Berkly Catton: 2
Tyson Jugnauth: 2
Alexis Bernier: 1
Andrei Loshko: 1
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard: 1
Victor Östman: 1
Caden Price: 1
Kim Saarinen: 1
Nathan Villeneuve: 1
Semyon Vyazovoy: 1
Previewing the week ahead
The Everett Silvertips take on their rival Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night at Angel of the Winds Arena.
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.
The Washington Capitals looked like the NHL’s best team on Thursday, and—apart from Joey Daccord—the Seattle Kraken didn’t have much of an answer for them, as the Caps rolled to their sixth straight win.
We often hear players and coaches talk about “playing fast,” and the way the Caps performed in this game was a perfect example of that. They were in sync for most of the night, connecting to make difficult passes look easy and capitalizing on Seattle’s many blunders to create breakaways and even some 2-on-0’s.
Meanwhile, Seattle struggled to get anything going in the other direction.
“That was a game against a good team, and we weren’t able to abate their pressure enough to be able to get to our pressure,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “It was a tough-sledding game, for sure.”
Here are three takeaways from the Kraken’s 3-0 loss to the Capitals.
Takeaway #1: Joey deserved better
Even with the fluky goal he allowed to Aliaksei Protas at 4:36 of the second period to break a scoreless tie, Joey Daccord was stellar in this game. Oddly, he was credited with 30 saves on 31 shots—good for a .968 save percentage—but still two goals against because Protas’ marker didn’t count as a shot. Daccord stopped the initial attempt but inadvertently swatted the puck into his own net, so the goal wasn’t recorded as a shot.
D'oh! 1-0 Caps.
Tom Wilson looked offside, but the puck came out of the zone, so the play resets. #SeaKraken couldn't challenge.
Daccord made a great save, then accidentally gloved it into his own net. Protas gets the goal. pic.twitter.com/Cl6bgv77aX
Even on that play, where Kraken fans surely wish he had caught the puck cleanly instead of batting it over his shoulder, Daccord had just made one of his many outstanding saves, sliding across to steal a sure goal away from Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Adding insult to injury on the Protas goal, it appeared Tom Wilson played the puck in an offside position seconds earlier. However, since he exited the zone—which resets the play—Seattle couldn’t challenge for offside. The puck only crossed the blue line by about a foot before coming back in, but those are the rules of when a team can and cannot challenge. It would have been swell if the linesman had simply called it correctly.
On the second goal, Daccord made another excellent save after Kaapo Kakko turned the puck over to Ethen Frank at the Caps’ blue line, creating another of many breakaways. Daccord kicked out the initial shot, but Frank, far behind Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn, whacked his rebound past Daccord.
“[Joey was] excellent,” Bylsma said. “We’re talking about three breakaways, even the goal against, [another] breakaway. And he makes the save on the first one, doesn’t get the second one. But… you need to have good goaltending against a team like that to stay in the game, and Joey gave it to us.”
This game could have ended with a score in the 6-0 range, but Daccord stood on his head and gave the Kraken a real chance to steal a win against a superior opponent. He deserved more support from his teammates.
Takeaway #2: Two back-breaking plays late in the second
With the way Daccord was playing, it seemed possible Seattle could steal this game. But two critical plays late in the second period crushed those hopes.
First, Frank scored with 1:55 left in the frame, making it 2-0 and sucking much of the energy out of Climate Pledge Arena.
Seattle had a golden opportunity to respond when Oliver Bjorkstrand found himself on a breakaway in the dying seconds of the period. Caps goalie Charlie Lindgren—playing his first game since sustaining an upper-body injury on Jan. 10—stood tall and gloved Bjorkstrand’s shot, keeping the score at 2-0 heading into the third.
“Just a quick shot. I thought it kind of jumped on me,” Bjorkstrand said. “No excuse, though, but it took kind of an odd bounce. I didn’t really get enough on it as I wanted to, but I was just trying to shoot it.”
Late goals and missed opportunities like these can be devastating. A goal from Bjorkstrand might have turned the game around.
Takeaway #3: Kraken got banged up
Chandler Stephenson left the game after blocking a Trevor van Riemsdyk shot with his left glove hand at 10:20 of the second period.
Stephenson briefly returned for two more shifts in the second but didn’t play in the third period. Bylsma later said the center would need “further evaluation.”
Jared McCann also appeared injured in the second, putting little weight on his left leg and wincing in pain on the bench, though he stayed in the game. Eeli Tolvanen was also seen hunched over in pain at one point, adding to a tough night for the Kraken.
Bonus Takeaway: An interesting night for Ovechkin and the Capitals
There were some interesting storylines from the Washington dressing room after this one, including Alex Ovechkin closing within 20 goals of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time career goals record with his late empty-netter.
“They don’t ask ‘How?,’ they ask ‘How many?’” Protas joked. “You’ve got to score that goal from the defensive zone. With all the accomplishments that he has, he fully deserved that.”
Plus, Martin Fehervery—who had an early goal negated because of a successful offside challenge by the Kraken—got hit in the face by a deflected Vince Dunn slap shot in the second period but returned to play the third. He already had a cut on his cheek, so Fehervery’s face now looks like that of an MMA fighter that just got knocked out in the first round.
There were some great quotes from John Carlson and Capitals coach Spencer Carbery about Fehervery.
Carlson: “He’s had a hell of a run here. Today is one thing, and it’s amazing that anyone would come back after that. But he’s been on a heater with pucks just finding ways to hit him in the worst spots and taking hits that are unnecessary and what have you. And he’s a warrior. He’s been fantastic all year, and certainly, that’s another thing that in the room, guys build off of and rally around, people just laying it on the line for each other.”
Carbery: “It’s a microcosm of what our group and what our guys are all about on this team. He lays it on the line, takes a puck up high, and then he still— he has to go get repairs, his eye looks like it’s a mess, and he comes back out, plays, and he’s still blocking more shots. It’s… yeah… just a complete example of what our group is all about: guys that lay it on and sacrifice for one another, and he embodies that. Marty… the kid’s a warrior.”
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.
