With the Seattle Kraken loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night, and the Kings defeating the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Kraken have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. If the Kraken were to win out the rest of the season, they would top out at 89 points, and the Kings currently sit at 91 points. The Kraken have seven games remaining, and with that 89-point maximum, Seattle has been mathematically eliminated.
How the Kraken did this week
Mar. 30 — 3-0 shutout loss to the Stars
Apr. 1 — 4-2 win versus the Sharks
Apr. 3 — 5-2 loss at the hands of the Kings
As mentioned in last week’s playoff update, if the Kraken lost two games this week, that would be enough to eliminate them from playoff contention. Seattle did just that this past week, going 1-2-0. Both losses came against teams currently in playoff position, but the Kraken did not look like they belonged in either of those contests. The win against the lowly Sharks did feel good, and the Kraken dominated the play for a lot of the night but drooped in the second period to let San Jose back in the game.
The Kids
Shane Wright was called up from Coachella Valley this week. The 2022 No. 4 overall pick centered a line with Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz. In the game against the Sharks, Wright scored on a 2-on-1 rush with Eberle.
In the two games Wright has played during this current call-up, he has looked improved and has averaged over 15 minutes of ice time and two minutes of power-play time per game. The only nitpick I had on Wright’s game was that there were three occasions where he made a pass, only to look up and realize nobody was there. Two of those passes were to the front of the net, though, so I was glad to see him trying to get the puck off the boards and to the center of the ice.
Overall, Wright looks good, and we expect him to make the big club full time next year.
Logan Morrison and Ryan Winterton also have remained with the club. Morrison has played in three games and Winterton in four. Neither forward has registered a point yet, and both were scratched against the Kings. Still, they are getting valuable time in the NHL to adjust to the speed of the game. It has been fun watching them play on the fourth line with Tye Kartye and generate some offensive chances.
At times, Ryker Evans has been on the ice with the fourth line. It has been amazing to see four players on the ice at the same time that are working their way through the Seattle Kraken development path. Morrison and Winterton do not have guaranteed roster spots on the Kraken next year. Development Camp should continue to get more and more competitive as these players push for spots.
Returning to Coachella Valley
At some point the “kids” will be sent back to Coachella Valley for the AHL playoff run. Wright can play four more games before burning a year of his entry-level contract. If Wright plays one more game for the Kraken, he would not be eligible next year for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s rookie of the year, but this is probably not a big item on the mind of general manager Ron Francis.
Morrison and Winterton are not eligible to have their contracts slide this year, as both are over 20 years of age. So, there is no rush to send them back to the Firebirds. There is a possibility they will stay with the Kraken for the rest of the season before going back down and contributing to the Firebirds’ playoff run.
Kraken Games this coming week (Apr 5-11)
Apr. 5 — Kraken @ Ducks
Apr. 9 — Coyotes @ Kraken
Apr. 11 — Sharks @ Kraken (last home game of the year and fan appreciation night)
The Kraken have a pretty easy week playing against three “Tanker” teams. The Kraken have a combined record of 5-1-2 against the Ducks, Coyotes, and Sharks. With 75 games played, the Kraken have a .500 points percentage, earning 75 points. This week is against lower-quality opponents, so a winning record can be expected. After this week, the Kraken will finish up their season with a four-game road trip against some tougher competition (Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Minnesota).
Paint the Ice
Just a side note here, as the Kraken have been eliminated from playoff contention, there is an end-of-season event to look forward to called the “Paint the Ice” event. This event is for season ticket holders and requires a ticket, but it far exceeded my expectations last year. I highly recommend going if you have the option. “Paint the Ice” is scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 13, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Here are the results from the last year’s event at Climate Pledge Arena.
Please leave any comments or questions below and follow me @blaizg
Everett Silvertips fans, as well as hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest in general, should become acquainted with the name Landon DuPont.
The Everett Silvertips won the Western Hockey League prospects draft lottery last Wednesday and will pick No. 1 overall in May’s WHL Draft, thanks to the first-round pick they acquired in the trade that sent Olen Zellweger to Kamloops last season.
The consensus top prospect is DuPont, a defenseman from Calgary, Alberta. He is considered a generational prospect.
“This is a player that can perform at a high level but also make everyone else around him better. When that starts to happen, you start to build a real window (of contention),” said Joel Henderson, the director of scouting for Puck Preps and a WHL scout for FC Hockey.
“He does so many things well. … He’s mobile, he’s fluid, he’s smart.”
This lottery could net the winner maybe the second player ever granted exceptional player status in the WHL. Landon DuPont is that good and HNLive has been along for part of his ride with @edgeschool at U15 and as an underage U18 player. Where does he land!? #landonduponthttps://t.co/sYH48ZtwKApic.twitter.com/xCtDpFN844
DuPont hasn’t decided yet if he’ll play in the WHL or go the NCAA route. Regardless, Zoran Rajcic, the Silvertips’ chief operating officer, told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that the Silvertips will take DuPont No. 1 overall, calling it “a no-brainer.”
“I don’t know any player who is a top player in any draft that wouldn’t look at every option. I would be surprised if DuPont and his family didn’t do their due diligence,” Henderson said. “I can’t speak to anything in particular, but if I’m betting money, he gets exceptional status, and he’s in Everett’s lineup next year.”
“Exceptional status” is a designation given out by Hockey Canada that allows players to play in the Canadian Hockey League before they turn 16. Only seven players total have received it, including Kraken prospect Shane Wright.
If given exceptional status, DuPont would be the second WHL player to receive it, with the first being Connor Bedard.
“I think it would be a disservice (to his development) if he doesn’t get exceptional status,” Henderson said.
Landon Dupont could be going to Tri-City, Everett, or Kelowna.
Here are some quick facts on how dominant DuPont has been this past season
His 62 points (19 goals and 43 assists) were third among all players and first for defensemen in CSSHL U18. Worth noting, DuPont is still just 14 years old, playing in a U18 league.
It’s the most points all time for a defenseman his age in CSSHL U18, and it’s not particularly close – Wild prospect Carson Lambos is second with six points in 2017-18.
His 2.07 points per game trails just Bedard and Matthew Savoie among players of that age in CSSHL U18.
DuPont is the No. 1 ranked player in North America, according to PuckPreps. For the WHL draft in particular, the No. 1 pick is the grand prize.
“With no disrespect to any of the players in this draft … the dropoff from Landon to No. 2 is significant and the dropoff from No. 2 is significant as well,” Henderson said.
Publicly, DuPont is drawing comparisons to Cale Makar due to his offensive skill set. For Henderson, there’s shades of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram in DuPont’s game.
“By all metrics he’s ahead of where Bowen Byram was at this point pretty substantially,” Henderson said. “But he’s that type of player who can quarterback an offense, he can move the puck consistently, he’s really smart with his decision making, he’s got powerful, smooth, skating strides. … He’s a really unselfish player. If anything I’d want him to be a little more unselfish.”
DuPont and Everett are an excellent marriage, according to Henderson.
“There aren’t too many landing spots in the WHL that suit Landon’s playing style better than the way Everett plays,” Henderson said. “Everett’s going to really enjoy him.”
Imagine being a 21-year-old hockey player, battling it out in the American Hockey League, and you get called up to the NHL for the first time in your career. Now, imagine you get that news you’ve been dreaming of your entire life, and you also find out that one of your best friends and roommates is making the trip up to the big club with you. That’s what happened to Logan Morrison last week, who has played his first three NHL games on a line with his close pal, Ryan Winterton. For his part, Winterton played his fourth, fifth, and sixth NHL games with the Seattle Kraken.
Morrison and Winterton go back several years, having played together with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL before reuniting with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
“We hang out a ton,” Morrison said. “It’s not one of those roommate things where you don’t really hang out and talk, we’re always together, we’re always making fun of each other. We have a pretty good relationship, tons of golf together, going out for dinners, and pretty much everything you can think of we do together… So to be called up with him was pretty special.”
The “kids” line with Kartye and the two recent call-ups from Coachella Valley, Winterton and Morrison, looked good in its two games against Anaheim and one against Dallas. Morrison did make a mistake on the second goal against in the Thursday game against the Ducks, handing the puck over to Jakob Silfverberg at the offensive blue line to create a partial breakaway. But coach Dave Hakstol had Morrison right back out there on the next Kraken power play (of which there were 10 that night), and the rookie center did not miss a shift for the mishap.
“It depends on what we’ve seen up to that point in the hockey game from any one player,” Hakstol said on whether he has more patience for missteps from youngsters getting their first taste of NHL hockey. “Those guys were some of our most reliable players, not only [Thursday], but over the past couple of nights. So yeah, absolutely, they’re going right back out.”
Morrison and Winterton joined a growing group of players that have spent time developing with the Firebirds before making the jump to the big club. Kartye has been with the Kraken for the entire season after getting his call-up during the playoffs last season, while defenseman Ryker Evans has remained in Seattle for most of the season, though he has been scratched at times. Meanwhile, goaltender Joey Daccord, who backstopped the Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals last season, has emerged as a bona fide NHLer.
“[Morrison and Winterton] have worked super hard to get here and earn the opportunity, so it’s pretty cool to be here with them to experience that,” Evans said. “I mean, they’re great kids off the ice, super laid back, and I love hanging out with them.”
A script for a buddy movie
Off the ice, Morrison and Winterton’s relationship has only grown since they decided to live together, along with fellow OHL alumnus Tucker Robertson. Winterton said the trio has done a good job of sharing the housework, like washing dishes, and that they all manage as best they can at cooking meals for themselves.
“Tucker is probably the best at cooking,” Winterton said. “Me and Mo kind of just get by, eating the same things every night, mostly steaks, but it’s been good.”
Morrison following Kartye’s path
Morrison is the second Kraken player to reach the NHL after signing as an undrafted free agent, following Kartye, who joined the organization in March of 2022 after a stellar career with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL.
The successes and quick ascensions of Kartye and Morrison are reminders to young players that even if they don’t get drafted, they still can make it to hockey’s highest level, and the Kraken organization is a great potential landing spot for players in that situation.
Morrison implied it was an easy decision to sign with Seattle.
“I think just talking to [director of player development] Jeff Tambellini and how much he liked me and what he was telling me about the organization, and I talked to Ron Francis too before signing, and it just seemed like everything was so first class.” Morrison said. “And it has been, so I couldn’t be more happy with choosing Seattle.”
The Guelph, Ontario, native said that reaching the world’s best league after getting passed on in multiple drafts has only added to the experience of the past couple weeks.
“It kind of makes it a lot more special, honestly,” Morrison said. “The fact that I had to grind a lot to get here, and being passed up three times, it’s something you don’t want to deal with. But I think looking back now, it’s kind of the best thing that happened for me to be able to kind of choose where I wanted to go.
“And Seattle has been unbelievable, everything about it… Coachella… everything’s been great. So yeah, looking back it wasn’t easy at the time, but I think it was the best for me in the long run and to be able to say I’m in the NHL not even a year after signing is pretty crazy.”
Shane Wright also back with the Kraken
When Winterton made his NHL debut with Seattle on Nov. 9 in Colorado, he had fellow youngster Shane Wright with him to show him the ropes. On this current stint, Winterton has been paying it forward to Morrison.
“It was Shaner showing me what to do and making me feel kind of more calm out there [when I made my debut],” Winterton said. “But this time it was me for Mo. But he’s played awesome, and he was ready for it, so there’s not much to tell a guy like that.”
Now, in an interesting twist, Wright is also back up with the Kraken, giving this late-season version of the team an even younger look. If Matty Beniers, Evans, Winterton, Morrison, Wright, and Kartye all play Monday, Seattle would have six players age 22 or younger in its lineup.
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.
If the Kraken were going to win that one against the Dallas Stars, it would have had to happen in a rope-a-dope, frustrate-the-pants-off-them kind of way. That’s an even better club than the one that knocked Seattle out in Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season and a true championship contender this season.
The Kraken hung in there for a while, but budding star (not “Star,” as in “Dallas Star,” but “star,” as in “star player”) Wyatt Johnston broke the ice late in the second period, and then Joe Pavelski took advantage of a five-minute power play to give Dallas breathing room.
“In order to generate against this group, you have to be willing to really… you’ve got to be committed to get to the bottom,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “If you don’t have an out-number situation, it has to go to the bottom, and you have to do the work.”
What Hakstol is saying is that if Seattle isn’t creating anything off the rush, which it wasn’t in this game, then the group has to be willing to win battles deep in the offensive zone to create opportunities, and that clearly didn’t happen enough.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-0 Kraken loss to the Stars.
Takeaway #1: The Stars are really good
Down to the last minute of the series between the Kraken and Dallas last postseason, we thought the Stars were beatable. This year, they’ve added some depth scoring in guys like Matt Duchene that has allowed them to rise to the top as one of the few teams that might have a real claim for the Cup in a couple months.
Interestingly, Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said at morning skate on Saturday that this version of the Stars is built a little more like last season’s Kraken team, though their higher-end talent is better than that of Seattle’s.
To get a win on this night and end Dallas’ six-game streak, Seattle needed some opportunistic scoring to go with a stout defensive effort. The Kraken did play well in their end and got solid goaltending from Joey Daccord, who made 27 saves on the night.
“Joey played a good game,” Hakstol said. “The first goal is a face-off goal, it’s a high tip, and that’s a real tough play for a goaltender, with where that’s tipped from. Obviously, the power-play goal against, we’re in our right spots, but unfortunately we give it right to the guy that’s very good in that area.”
But while the defense and goaltending was decent, the offense never came alive at the other end, and the Kraken managed just 0.95 expected goals, good for 24 percent of the shot quality.
Jake Oettinger has been rolling pretty well over his last five games, and when an all-world goalie like him is on, it’s going to take more than 17 shots to beat him.
Takeaway #2: Really? A game misconduct?
Adam Larsson’s hit on Chris Tanev 19 seconds into the third period earned him a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. The initial call on the ice was five and a game for boarding, and after the officials reviewed it, they changed the call to five and a game for elbowing.
Adam Larsson was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing on this play. It was initially called boarding, then reviewed and switched to elbowing.
Now, call us crazy, but we’ve watched this several times, and we really don’t see contact between Larsson’s elbow and Tanev’s head, which—to us—would be the only thing that would have warranted that steep of a penalty.
Tanev hustled down the tunnel after, clearly favoring his right arm or shoulder, which got pinned awkwardly between Larsson and the boards. But that doesn’t make it a major penalty. It’s especially puzzling because the referees reviewed the hit with video replay and still made that call, so clearly they saw something that we don’t see.
Hakstol was asked about the call after the game and declined to comment. It was an important moment in the game, though, because Pavelski quickly scored to pad the Dallas lead.
Once the officials made the initial call and reviewed it, they could have knocked it down to two minutes, but being that Pavelski’s goal came just nine seconds into the manpower advantage, the length of the penalty didn’t really matter in the end.
On the plus side, there’s no way Larsson gets supplementary discipline for this, right?
Takeaway #3: Oliver Bjorkstrand with the save of the game
Since there was no offense to speak of in this one for the Kraken, we’ll take this opportunity to admire this incredible save by Oliver Bjorkstrand, which earned him a rare “Save of the Game” honor for a player (i.e., not a goalie).
what save by…*checks notes*…..OLIVER BJORKSTRAND?!!
“I was just kind of there, and it bounced to the left of the goal,” Bjorkstrand said. “[It was] just kind of a desperation save, so yeah, lucky it hit me.”
Sure, it’s kind of lucky, but that’s also a great read by Bjorkstrand to recognize that Joey is beaten and to slide perfectly into the far post to rob Jason Robertson. That’s an outstanding save.
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.
Here. We. Go. The 2024 WHL Playoffs, the best time of year for fans of junior hockey, is finally upon us, with games beginning Friday night. The barns throughout the WHL will come alive and fill with some of the most passionate fans in not just junior hockey, but hockey as a whole. And with stakes in every game, there’s never a dull moment.
There will be goosebumps aplenty. Who will be dancing in the Western Conference this season?
1.Prince George vs. 8. Spokane
Pick: Prince George in five games
There’s going into the playoffs hot, then there’s what the Prince George Cougars have been doing down the stretch, with them winning nine in a row to clinch the Western Conference regular-season title. They also won the B.C. Division for the second time in their history since moving from Victoria in 1994.
A lot of the credit goes to the one-two punch of Zac Funk (WSH) and Riley Heidt (MIN), who have been the driving force on the front end for the Cougars. Funk and Heidt finished second and third respectively in points on the season, with Funk being the top goal getter in the WHL this season with 67.
The Cougars clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference during the final weekend of the regular season, having their spot in the dance reserved long before their first-round opponent in the Spokane Chiefs could even nab the No. 8 spot available to them.
The Chiefs gingerly enter the playoffs as the lowest seed, but they could be dangerous with a few weapons of their own. A pair of 100-point forwards in Berkly Catton and Conner Roulette are the lifeblood of the Chiefs’ offensive attack.
Catton, 2024 draft eligible and projected to go in the top 10, was named first-team All-U.S. Division with 116 points during the regular season and finished just one point behind Heidt for third in total WHL points.
Travel could play a factor in this series, which will be played in a 2-3-2 series to limit the number of trips back and forth. The ride from Prince George to Spokane will feel even longer for the Chiefs if they can’t find a way to pull off at least one win up north in Games 1 and 2.
Spokane’s key to the series: Production from all lines
The Chiefs were a team during the regular season that relied on their stars to do the heavy lifting offensively, with each contributing points on over 40 percent of the goals Spokane scored on the season. A dynamic player can steal a game or two in the playoffs, but involvement from up and down the lineup is pivotal against a team like Prince George.
Head-to-head: The Cougars and Chiefs each won a pair of games in the four matchups between the two this season, with each winning one game at home and one on the road.
2. Portland vs. 7. Victoria
Pick: Portland in four games
Arguably one of its deepest teams in franchise history, the Portland Winterhawks have a spread-out attack throughout their lineup. And they honestly couldn’t have asked for a more ideal first-round opponent.
The top-placing team in the U.S. Division couldn’t quite finish with the top seed in the conference, but still, the Winterhawks are going to be one tough cookie to crumble.
The front end is loaded and led by Gabe Klassen, James Stefan (EDM), and in-season acquisition Nate Danielson (DET), and Portland is led on the blue line by defensive stalwart Lucas Cagnoni (SJS), who became the first WHL defenseman in 30 years to reach 90-points in a single season.
The Winterhawks’ opponent in the Victoria Royals has had trouble neutralizing offenses this season with a negative-51 goal differential, by far the worst for any team that qualified for the playoffs.
Portland’s key to the series: stay true to offensive strengths
Against a weaker team like Victoria, even though at times they can force opponents to spread out across the ice and play to the outside, the Winterhawks need to keep the puck moving at a quick pace to stay the course.
Head-to-head: Portland and Victoria met four times in total during the regular season, with Portland grabbing wins in all four games played.
This series will be structured the same as the Prince George-Spokane series.
3. Everett vs. 6. Vancouver
Pick: Everett in six games
It’s been a roller coaster of a week for the Silvertips prior to their series against the Vancouver Giants.
Could there be potential distractions surrounding Everett, in particular for soon-to-be-former head coach and general manager Dennis Williams? Williams has been named the head coach at his alma mater, Bowling Green State University in the NCAA.
We officially welcome Dennis Williams to Bowling Green as our ninth head coach 🏒
He comes to BGSU after winning a gold medal for Team Canada at the 2023 World Junior Championships and a highly successful WHL career with the Everett Silvertips
The timing of the announcement is unfortunate with the series just about to begin, but in order for Williams to get a head start with the NCAA transfer portal, it had to be done sooner rather than later.
On Dennis Williams to Bowling Green: difficult timing with WHL playoffs. But NCAA hockey required a fast hire with the transfer portal opening next week. Time was of the essence. BG/Williams needed to move quick if he was the guy. The timing could help prevent underclassmen…
Williams will remain with the Silvertips through the playoffs, even though he was introduced at a Bowling Green press conference on Thursday. Even with him staying through the postseason, the coach having one foot out the door already leaves questions about how focused his group will be. Will that impede on the current mentality of the coaching staff as a whole? Will that trickle down to the players on the ice during these pivotal games?
Even if these playoffs go sideways as a result, winning the first overall selection in the WHL Prospects Draft for the first time in team history surely will help console Silvertips fans. Everett won thanks to one of the first-round picks they acquired from the Kamloops Blazers as a part of the Olen Zellweger deal last season. They will more than likely select ’09-born defenseman Landon Dupont from Edge School U18 Prep.
— x – Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) March 27, 2024
As for the current team, it’s been harped on all year that home ice is Everett’s bread and butter. To have the advantage of the extra game of a best-of-seven playoff series helps the team’s chances.
Leading point-getter Ben Hemmerling (VGK) and Dominik Rymon each matchup well against Vancouver’s steady blue line. Rymon has five goals and six assists in four games against Vancouver this season.
While Vancouver has gotten decent goaltending numbers, with starter Brett Mirwald finishing third in save percentage among goalies with 30 or more starts (.913), a high-volume shooting team like the Silvertips should overwhelm the Giants’ efforts to neutralize attacks.
Everett’s key to the series: getting the quick starts
The Silvertips were one of the better teams in the WHL at getting the ball rolling early in games this season, scoring the first goal in 26 of 36 home games, and those goals would often come within the first 10 minutes of action. It sets the tone for them and gives them the direction they need.
Head-to-head: The Silvertips took three out of four in season series, but the Giants took the most recent matchup 4-3 on Feb. 3.
4. Wenatchee vs. 5. Kelowna
Pick: Kelowna in seven games
For the first time in Wenatchee, not only will they be in the playoffs, but they’ll hold home-ice advantage. Unfortunately for the Wild, it’s the dreaded four versus five, flip-of-a-coin matchup that could go either way.
Kelowna stuttered into the playoffs but still has a more complete offense to match up with Graham Sward and the Wild’s defense units.
Andrew Cristall (WSH) and 2024 draft-eligible prospect Tij Iginla lead the charge for the Rockets. Each recorded over 40 goals during the regular season.
Wenatchee’s key to the series: Kenta Isogai
Just let Isogai go off and do his thing. The leading scorer on the Wild this season had his best performance against the Rockets on Jan. 6 when he tallied three goals and two assists. The Wild are going to need him to channel that energy more often to give them a chance to win.
Head-to-head: Both teams took two games apiece from each other in the four games they played this season, but haven’t met since that Jan. 6 game when the Wild snatched a 6-3 win.
Hey, as long as the Seattle Kraken play the Anaheim Ducks every game, they’ll be just fine. Unfortunately, that’s not how NHL scheduling works, so they do still have to face other teams, but this two-game sweep by Seattle offered a nice respite from the losing that we had come to expect.
It wasn’t easy or particularly pretty on Thursday, and the first two periods were rather dull. But the third period got chaotic after the Kraken gave up two short-handed goals in a span of 44 seconds and put themselves up against the ropes.
“I guess it’s how you answer, and our power play answered,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Obviously, to give up the sloppy goals back to back that we did can be catastrophic in a game. Fortunately for us, we had another opportunity coming, and those guys were able to capitalize and get one back.”
Indeed, the Kraken took advantage of a whole raft of Ducks swimming to the penalty box, especially in the third period, and skated away with a 4-2 win.
Takeaway #1: Tye Kartye plays hero
It had been a long time since Tye Kartye scored a goal—he went 25 games without one, in fact—before Yanni Gourde found him streaking down the slot for the eventual game-winner on Friday.
“Yeah, it felt pretty good,” Kartye said with a sheepish grin.
Through the recent long stretch of poor efforts from the Kraken, Kartye stood out as a player that was giving it his all every single night, so it was good to see him get rewarded in this one.
“He’s one of the guys up front that consistently plays a hard, heavy game, plays a straight-line game,” Hakstol said. “I know he’s still growing as a player, he’s still learning to find his spots and pick his spots. But he plays a straight-line game, and he’s most effective when he’s doing that and when he’s physical.”
Kartye was also seen mucking it up with various Ducks throughout this game, and Hakstol said that it was him, Gourde, and Brandon Tanev that helped will the Kraken back into the lead after they fell behind 2-1 in the third period.
“I don’t think we’ve had many third-period comebacks this year… I mean, I guess it wasn’t a comeback,” Kartye said. “But yeah, it feels good, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”
Takeaway #2: Chaotic third period
This was a strange game, in general. The first 40 minutes were relatively uneventful, with Jaden Schwartz scoring the lone goal by falling down in the crease and having Jordan Eberle’s 400th career assist bank in off his stick.
🚨 THE POWER OF THE SCHWARTZ! 🚨
Assist No. 400 for Jordan Eberle, as he banks it off Schwartz in the blue paint. PPG.
So, Seattle took a 1-0 lead to the third, but things when haywire in the final 20. On one power play, the Kraken allowed two separate partial breakaways to Isac Lundestrom and Jakob Silfverberg, and both ended up in the back of the Kraken’s net for short-handed goals. With a manpower advantage, they went from ahead 1-0 to down 2-1.
What if we told you the #SeaKraken gave up a second short-handed goal within a minute?
“I feel like we stayed positive, and we knew there’s still a lot of time left,” Kartye said. “That’s why we were able to sneak one out there.”
Indeed, Andre Burakovsky got Seattle’s second power-play goal to tie the game at 6:25, then Kartye scored at 13:03, and Matty Beniers tipped home a Jared McCann shot at 15:35 to solidify the win.
“I thought [McCann] got a stick on it because his stick was right there,” Burakovsky said of his tying goal. “I told him to go first in line and fist bump the boys, but he said he didn’t touch it. I mean, it went in either way, so it was nice to see it go in.”
Takeaway #3: Terrible discipline from the Ducks
Helping bail Seattle out was horrendous discipline from Anaheim, which took a total of 12 penalties in the game and gave the Kraken 10 power-play opportunities, on which the Kraken converted thrice. Kartye’s goal also came just a few seconds after a power play had ended.
Trevor Zegras, who returned from a long-term ankle injury for Tuesday’s game and was mostly unnoticeable in these two matchups, made a bone-headed play at 5:21 of the third period, just a couple minutes after Silfverberg had given Anaheim the lead.
Racing up the boards with Tanev, Zegras took a holding penalty (though that call perhaps could have gone the other way), then let his emotions get the better of him and cross checked Tanev in the back to earn a second penalty. The infraction was announced as four minutes for cross checking, but that was later changed to two for holding and two for cross checking, which made more sense.
Trevor Zegras takes an ill-advised four-minute cross-checking penalty.
Strange, though, the official put his arm up on the original hit but only called 4 minutes for cross checking. 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/6RCVUI2Je4
It was during the four-minute power play that Burakovsky scored his tying goal and got Seattle back on track.
Zegras did not play another shift after that. We know he has been in trade rumors, and that some folks have said Seattle should try to get him this offseason. Of course, he’s fresh off a major injury, but these two games did nothing to indicate that he would be a fit in Seattle or that he would do anything to help push the club forward. No thanks.
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.
