Three Takeaways – Young players, power play help Kraken force another Game 7

by Darren Brown | May 14, 2023 | Three takeaways

Saturday’s Game 6 between the Kraken and Stars was another “pinch me” moment in a series of too-good-to-be-true experiences for Seattle’s budding fanbase. With the Kraken pushed to the brink of elimination, they shoved their way off the ledge with a high-flying (though sometimes imperfect) 6-3 win to force another Game 7.

“I love the way our team handled today,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We knew what was on the line… We as a staff didn’t have to say a whole lot.”

Climate Pledge Arena was rocking all afternoon, and the 17,151 screaming fans went home happy, as their beloved team lived to fight another day.

Here are our Three Takeaways from another unforgettable Kraken playoff win.

Takeaway #1: The kids are alright

A trio of young heroes—all still unable to rent a car because of their age—emerged to help the Kraken win Game 6. Rookies Tye Kartye and Matty Beniers each scored, and 24-year-old waiver claim Eeli Tolvanen had three points to lead the way for Seattle.

These guys have been such interesting stories. The undrafted Kartye was playing junior hockey last season, signed a free-agent contract with the Kraken in the offseason, and surprised everyone by becoming the AHL Rookie of the Year in Coachella Valley. He only got called up after Jared McCann got hurt in Round 1, and he has done so well on the line with Beniers and Jordan Eberle that even Saturday, when Hakstol shuffled McCann back into the top six, Kartye kept his spot on the top line.

Kartye’s goal demonstrated one of the 22-year-old forward’s best assets, a hard and deceptive shot that he can get off even when he doesn’t seem to be in a great shooting posture. Off a three-on-two rush with Eberle and Beniers, Kartye elected to pull the puck into his feet and shoot, surprising Jake Oettinger and putting him on the bench after the Stars netminder had allowed his fourth goal.

“That goal from Karts, looking off Ebs on the other side, I love it,” said Yanni Gourde, who had a big day himself. And that’s not the first time in these playoffs Kartye has done that exact same thing to score a goal.

Meanwhile, Beniers, the No. 2 overall pick in last season’s draft, is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy as a 20-year-old. He helped create his fellow rookie’s goal by passing it off to him and then driving hard to the net. He also scored a beauty in the third period that should have been the dagger, if it weren’t for Seattle’s propensity for allowing response goals.

Moments after the Kraken had completed a crucial penalty kill, Carson Soucy painfully blocked a Ty Dellandrea shot, and the puck caromed to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz sprung Eberle and Beniers on a two-on-one the other way. Eberle made a perfect pass to Beniers, and Beniers showed his finishing ability, making it 5-2. The two rookies now have three goals each in the playoffs.

Tolvanen, meanwhile, has remained one of the most fascinating storylines since he arrived in Seattle. Placed on waivers by the Predators in December, then scratched for his first two weeks as a Kraken, he finally played his first game with the club on Jan. 1. He hasn’t left the lineup since and has become a staple on the line with Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Tolvanen finished a beautiful passing play to make it 3-1 in the second period, after Gourde buttonhooked and found a trailing Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand then served it up to Tolvanen, who rifled it into a yawning cage from a bad angle.

Let’s not forget Tolvanen also created Gourde’s opening goal by dropping the puck back and hustling to the crease and also Eberle’s power-play goal with a blast off the far pad.

What has Hakstol’s messaging to that trio of youngsters been? “Keep playing, fellas. Just keep playing,” Hakstol said. “They’re playing their tails off, they’re playing with a lot of confidence.”

Takeaway #2: The power play looked awesome in Game 6

While the depth of the Kraken has been their biggest strength all season, another key to their success has been their ability to adjust and improve in areas of weakness. The power play has not been good in this postseason, clicking at just 14.7 percent and contributing just five total goals, including Eberle’s tally Saturday.

This was an area of noticeable improvement in Game 6, though. We thought the power play units showed glimpses of improvement in Game 5, but they took a big step Saturday and were downright dynamic, even when they didn’t score.

“We were pretty simple,” said Hakstol. “We won face-offs… Let’s just start with puck battles, and that’s a puck battle, right? So, you start with the puck. We were looking not just to get set up and stay on the outside, we were looking to get into an attack mode with that mentality, but the first power play really set the tone for us.”

They did keep it simple and seemed to be focused on getting shots through to the Dallas net, but they also had more player movement in the zone than we’ve seen all postseason, and McCann looked like his old self, rifling dangerous shots from the top of the left circle.

“Honestly, we needed that, and our guys went out there and they did the job,” said Gourde. “They were amazing. They shot the puck and that’s what you need to break things down a little bit, shot volume, and then eventually you find your place inside and Ebs was able to find the back of the net there.”

Another thing that stood out was the way Seattle carried the puck through the neutral zone to create clean zone entries. They have always used the “slingshot” play, where one guy starts up ice, and as soon as he meets pressure, he does a deep drop pass for the next guy. We didn’t see the drop passes Saturday, as Kraken players instead just took whatever lane was given to them and sliced their way through the Stars’ neutral zone forecheck.

It was an interesting little tweak that seemed to work wonders. The funny thing about it is it’s a change to how they did things even in the game before, yet Seattle didn’t practice—not even a morning skate—between the two games. So, they successfully changed a tactic without ever trying it out on the ice.

Takeaway #3: Overcoming letdowns

Game 6 was a thrilling contest and an impressive performance by the Kraken, who knew coming in their backs were against the wall. They came out flying in the first period and rode another second-period outburst to a 6-3 win that staved off elimination.

But it was far from perfect for Seattle, which gave up response goals on THREE separate occasions in this game. Mason Marchment scored 31 seconds after Gourde’s icebreaker, Joe Pavelski scored on the power play 1:14 after Kartye made it 4-1, and Joel Kiviranta got Dallas back within two just 15 seconds after Beniers thought he had the dagger.

Plus, the opening of the third period was downright sloppy. Considering the situation, the Kraken were way too stretched out to open the final frame, and the Stars got some golden opportunities as a result. Just 30 seconds in, Pavelski and Miro Heiskanen had a two-on-one opportunity. Pavelski hit the post, the puck skittered to Heiskanen and hit off him, then slid behind Grubauer and out the other side. Two minutes after that, Jason Robertson also hit the post off a rush.

It was almost as if the Kraken were so hellbent on not sitting back in the third period that they overcorrected toward playing on their toes and almost threw the game away.

To their credit, they used the lucky breaks to right the ship and ended up with a convincing victory.

“[We took] a breather,” said Gourde. “I think we had a whistle in the D-zone, there was a face-off, and we needed one shift in the O-zone. We went down there, took a shot, and then from there, we were like, ‘Ok, let’s reset.'”

After that game, the fans may need a breather too, but there’s no time! Bullets dodged, Game 6 won. Let’s go play another Game 7 on Monday, shall we?

Three Takeaways – Kraken pushed to brink after Game 5 loss to Stars

by Darren Brown | May 12, 2023 | Three takeaways

This second-round series between the Kraken and the Stars has taken a turn in Dallas’s favor. After Seattle had a chance to grab a 3-1 lead in a pivotal Game 4, the team now faces elimination, trailing 3-2 after a Game 5 loss at American Airlines Center on Thursday. 

The Kraken spotted the Stars another big lead in this one, 3-0, before turning on the jets and nearly completing the comeback. Instead, Dallas bent but didn’t break and skated away with a 5-2 win and its first lead of the series. 

Here are our Three Takeaways from a tough Kraken loss to the Stars in Game 5. 

Takeaway #1: Kraken spotted Dallas a three-goal lead

The first period was hard to reconcile. The Kraken had a pretty hot start and played the first two shifts almost entirely in Dallas’s end. Heck, they managed the puck well for the majority of the period and went to the room after 20 minutes with a 14-5 shots-on-goal advantage. 

But they didn’t generate anything inside on Jake Oettinger, and two early breakdowns in a span of just 1:38 both ended up in the back of Seattle’s net. Add Joe Pavelski getting his seventh goal of the series off his own rebound 35 seconds into the second period, and the mountain got too steep for the Kraken to climb. 

“The first one is just a quick play that we kind of stab at, instead of being able to kind of take command of the puck and make a play on that,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “That’s the first pass-out goal, and then the second one is off of transition, quick.”

Wyatt Johnston’s opening goal had a dash of bad luck involved for Seattle. Alex Wennberg blocked a shot, but it rimmed around the boards and went right to Jani Hakanpää. A moment later, Will Borgen broke up a pass, but his deflection went right back to Jamie Benn below the goal line (that’s the “stab” Hakstol was referencing). Benn was able to get the second pass attempt through to Johnston, and—although Borgen came close to both breaking up the pass again and blocking the shot with his leg—Johnston got a quick shot off and beat Philipp Grubauer over the glove. 

The second goal was off a rush, and though the Kraken had players back, Roope Hintz used Borgen as a screen and wired a wicked wrister off the post and in. 

“You want to play aggressive, you want to play on your toes, you want to skate, and so that’s kind of the way that we’d like to play,” said Jordan Eberle. “We want to be quick team, but we have to be smart about it too. We can’t be diving in everywhere and giving them odd-man rushes and opportunities to score.”

Perhaps because the three-goal deficit was built up by such an early point in the second period, the game didn’t feel out of reach for the Kraken until Hintz scored his second of the game to make it 4-2 in the third period. Still, you’re not going to win many games you trail by three goals at any point, and the Kraken have now done that in each of the last two games. Unsurprisingly, the results have been losses in each. 

Takeaway #2: The comeback came up short

It’s been said thousands of times now, but the Seattle Kraken never quit. 

Down 3-0 in the second period, they finally generated their first good chance inside and answered the Pavelski goal. Matty Beniers made a tape-to-tape pass through the neutral zone to Tye Kartye, who dished to Jordan Eberle and went right to the net to take Thomas Harley out of the play. Eberle then showed his elite passing prowess and threaded the needle to Adam Larsson, who scored his second goal in as many games. 

It appeared Larsson had another one five minutes later, as he was (for some reason) the one creating havoc in front of Oettinger when Jared McCann fired from the top of the right circle. It first looked like Larsson had gotten his stick on the puck to redirect it in, but replay showed it had actually deflected off Joel Hanley’s foot. 

With the goal credited to McCann, that made him the 18th unique goal scorer for the Kraken in these playoffs, leaving Ryan Donato as the only player in the Game 5 lineup (aside from Grubauer) to have not registered a goal. 

Momentum is a real thing, and sometimes in hockey you can sense goals coming. Once Seattle got it back to 3-2, it *really* felt like an equalizer was on the way for several minutes of the second period, and then again once the Kraken finished killing off a Jamie Oleksiak penalty to start the third. 

“We had a push,” said Eberle. “You could feel it on the bench, [we were] like, ‘Keep going,’ you could feel it coming. But obviously that fourth one is a bit of a dagger.” 

Sadly for the Kraken, like in the first period, although they outshot the Stars 10-4, they had a hard time getting pucks inside. At the other end, one doozy of an opportunity for Roope Hintz was all Dallas needed to put the game away. 

“We’re always confident that we’re going to be able to go out there and get that goal, no question,” said Hakstol. “We didn’t sustain quite enough in the third period.” 

Takeaway #3: Is Philipp Grubauer cooling off? 

Grubauer has been Seattle’s best player in these playoffs, without a doubt. He was also hung out to dry on two of the goals he allowed in Game 5. The thing is, though, he’s been “hung out to dry” plenty of times in these playoffs and has routinely come up huge, bailing out his mates on countless golden opportunities for Colorado and Dallas. 

He didn’t bail the Kraken out as much in the last two outings, though, and allowed nine goals in those two games. We still wouldn’t say he’s playing badly—he kept the Kraken in Game 4 through about half the game, and he got better as Game 5 went on—but he also is not on fire the way he was through Round 1 and in the early stages of Round 2. 

“I think Grubi, he was battling it a little bit early to find the puck,” said Hakstol. “Even on that second one, that’s one where if we get that save, it helps just settle us down a little bit and keep us in a little bit better spot.”

At this point, there’s no changing goalies for Game 6; Grubauer is the guy. But, the success of the team in this postseason has largely hinged on the German Gentleman’s ability to make the saves he isn’t supposed to make, so he will surely need some of those if the Kraken are going to survive Saturday’s elimination game. 

Bonus Takeaway: The Kraken are on the brink 

In line with the “Kraken never quit” theme, they now face up to two games in which a loss means their season is over. Oddly, as these playoffs have gone on, every time Seattle has had the upper hand in a series, they’ve crumpled. For example, they won Game 1 in Colorado and Dallas, then lost Game 2 in both series. Similarly, with a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead in Game 4, they gave up four goals in the second period and allowed Dallas to level the series.

They haven’t played the last two games with enough desperation, so now—with their backs against the wall—they should certainly have that in Game 6. Will it be enough to force another Game 7? 

Larsson thinks so. “I’m confident we can come back in this series,” he said. “It’s far from over.”

Eberle also seems excited about it. “It’s do or die next game. This is when it gets exciting; these are the games you want to play in.”

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.

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Three Takeaways – Goalie interference drama, Kraken “not good enough” in Game 4

by Darren Brown | May 10, 2023 | Three takeaways

Tuesday’s Game 4 between the Kraken and the Stars at Climate Pledge Arena was pivotal in this second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series. Had Seattle pulled out a win, it would have been in complete control with a 3-1 lead and Dallas pushed to the brink. Instead, the Stars showed they knew the stakes and played with more desperation, flipping the script from the previous game and cruising to a 6-3 win. 

As is tradition for the Kraken, they did make a game of it in the third period. It was too little, too late, but if a controversial goal by Max Domi in the second had been called the other way, Seattle may have been able to level the score. 

Here are our Three Takeaways from a 6-3 Game 4 Kraken loss to the Stars. 

Takeaway #1: “Guaranteed goalie interference”

You could sense the game heading in the wrong direction after Thomas Harley scored at 4:46 of the second period to make it 2-0. Philipp Grubauer had made some nice saves in the first, but even with a two-goal lead, Dallas was continuing to press. It felt like a sideways turn was coming at any moment. 

That moment was the 9:25 mark of the period, when Max Domi beat Grubauer over the shoulder from an angle. Even to the naked eye, the goal looked odd, though, and Grubauer immediately protested that he had been bumped by Jamie Benn. 

Replay showed that Benn actually gave Grubauer a shove at the top of the blue paint, which moved Grubauer out of the goalcrease. When Grubauer tried to get back, Benn ran into him again, just as the shot was coming, though that contact was outside the paint and happened because Benn was pushed by Carson Soucy. 

Rightfully, coach Dave Hakstol challenged, but after a long review, the officials determined it to be a good goal. By rule, the failed challenge meant Seattle was assessed a delay-of-game penalty, during which Joe Pavelski scored his sixth goal of the series and made it 4-0. 

We asked Jared McCann—playing his first game since suffering a suspected concussion in the previous series—what he saw on the play, and McCann did not mince words. “I have no idea what the hell goalie interference is anymore,” McCann said. “I really don’t; I don’t think anybody does in this league. We thought it was like guaranteed goalie interference. So, obviously, he made contact with Grubi, and then the puck went in. It was pretty obvious, but I don’t know what else to say.”

Hakstol was equally perturbed and somewhat comically said he didn’t want to get into the specifics of why he challenged the call… before then very much getting into the specifics of why he challenged the call. “I just felt like Grubi got blown out of the crease,” Hakstol said. “And regardless of the amount of time in between, to be able to reset was impossible.”

That’s what we saw too. We understand the rule as it is written and that contact has to happen inside the crease for the call to go the goalie’s way. We also understand that there’s some subjective period of time given, in which the goalie is expected to reset and get back in position. 

What we *think* happened from the officials’ point of view (Hakstol was not given an explanation, so we’re just hypothesizing) is they viewed the two points of contact as two separate plays and that Grubauer reset between the two.

If the second contact was the only contact that had happened, then we could get how that call would have gone Dallas’s way. But we don’t get how you can look at the second contact separately from the first contact, when Grubauer never would have been in that position, well outside the crease, if Benn hadn’t pushed him out there in the first place. 

Recognizing it’s hard to look at plays like this with a level head, we also asked Stars coach Pete DeBoer what he saw. “It looked to me like there was a little bit of a bump,” DeBoer said. “I thought he reset, and then I thought, from my perspective, I thought he— there was a second bump, but [Benn] got pushed in on the second one, and it was outside the paint. So, I thought it was the right call.”

It’s the duality of sports. One team is furious with the decision, the other thinks it was the right call. 

It has to go one way or the other; sometimes it goes in your favor, sometimes it doesn’t. What we really dislike about the goalie interference challenge, though—and this is a great example—is that there is gray area sometimes where it’s hard to make the call. The officials proved this was a hard decision when they hovered over their tablets in the penalty box for several minutes before finally emerging and announcing “good goal.” 

So why should a team be penalized for challenging in that scenario? The Kraken very well could have (and should have?) won the challenge in this case, yet they still have to send a guy to the box because the referees interpreted the play differently. It turns it into a two-goal swing, and if you eliminate the empty-net goal at the end of the game, this is a two-goal contest. 

It’s all very silly.

Takeaway #2: Jared McCann back in action

One big positive in this game was the return of Jared McCann, who hadn’t played since getting knocked out of Game 4 by Cale Makar in the first round. In the early going, things looked a bit sloppy for McCann, who played initially on the fourth line with Ryan Donato and Brandon Tanev. He did have a good look off a one-timer from the top of the slot, but you could tell he wasn’t at peak performance in terms of how he was handling the puck. 

As the game went on, he seemed to settle in and was shuffled around the lineup to play a few shifts with his usual linemates, Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers.

“First couple shifts, it was a little tougher,” said McCann. “But towards the end there I felt really good.”

Hakstol hadn’t yet talked to McCann after the game, but said he was curious to get the star forward’s take on how he felt. “From my vantage point, I thought things slowed down a little bit for him as the game went on,” said Hakstol. “And that’s what you would hope for and expect.”

With Daniel Sprong now out with an injury, McCann’s return came at just the right time. He finished the night with three shots on goal and 13:11 of ice time. 

Takeaway #3: Not good enough

As much as we want to hang this one on the controversial goalie interference ruling, the Kraken were not good enough in the first 40 minutes to win a playoff game against a good team. In fact, those were Hakstol’s exact words when he was asked about the team putting just 10 shots on Jake Oettinger in the first two periods. “Not good enough,” Hakstol said. 

The play that really sticks out to encapsulate how Seattle performed is the opening goal by Benn, which came on a power play late in the first period. Seattle had its first manpower advantage of the game in progress but allowed Radek Faksa to drive all the way in on Grubauer for a dangerous shorthanded scoring chance. Vince Dunn had no choice but to saw Faksa’s stick in half, washing out the power play after one minute. 

As Esa Lindell was getting freed from the box, putting Dallas onto the power play, Seattle had the puck in the offensive zone. For some reason, Jamie Oleksiak just softly poked it around the end wall, effectively handing over possession for no apparent reason. Four passes later between Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen, and Benn, and suddenly the Stars were up 1-0. 

“We had possession of the puck, as [their penalty] came to a close, with the right guys out there,” said Hakstol. “But we gave them the puck, and they started with it. And obviously, coming into the zone, we just didn’t defend it the right way coming in.”

It was a head scratcher of a play, and one of two gaffes by Oleksiak in the game; he also had an egregious turnover to Hintz for Dallas’s fifth goal. 

Of course, it wasn’t just Oleksiak in this game, and he has been one of Seattle’s most important players in this playoff run, so we’re not trying to pick on him. But, it was plays like those two—where the Kraken just didn’t seem to be going the extra mile like they typically have in the postseason—that pushed the Kraken into a 5-1 hole to start the third period. 

Again, to Seattle’s credit, the group battled back and almost got back in the game, hopefully setting a positive tone for Game 5 on Thursday. 

“Every period matters,” said Hakstol. “Seven game series, this is Game No. 4, 2-2 right now, and every shift, every play, every period matters.”

It’s a whole new best-of-three series now.

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.

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