Here’s how we would sum up Thursday’s disappointing 5-4 Kraken loss to the Ottawa Senators: You can’t win ’em all. Or can you? Hold on, maybe you can win ’em all. You definitely can win ’em all! Oh, wait, you may not win ’em all. Ok, you can’t win ’em all.
On a night when Seattle had a terrible start and dropped quickly into a 3-0 hole, there was a sense in Climate Pledge Arena early that the game would end up being a miserable experience. The Kraken battled back, though, erasing the three-goal deficit and actually grabbing the lead in the third period, only to give a tying goal right back and a winning goal in the waning moments.
“We didn’t start on time tonight,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “And then, a disappointing end. We didn’t get out of our end well enough in the third period, and it ended up costing us.”
Here are our Three Takeaways from a “disappointing” 5-4 Kraken loss to the Senators.
Takeaway #1: You can’t start like that
We need to give credit to the Senators, because they are a talented, young team playing desperate hockey and battling for one of the last playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The Kraken knew that coming in, though, yet somehow it took 10 minutes and a timeout for them to wake up and start skating with Ottawa.
The late arrival for the Kraken was enough to give Shane Pinto an easy tap-in, Jakob Cychrun a prime look from Main Street, and Patrick Brown a stinker that leaked through Philipp Grubauer.
Senators score two goals in a row. Chychrun got the first one, Patrick Brown got the second one on a shot that leaked through Grubi. #SeaKraken called timeout. 3-0 Sens. pic.twitter.com/YtGUdhRQ0Q
Hakstol called a needed timeout following the third goal against, and whatever his exact words were worked wonders. Seattle turned the game around from there, scoring four unanswered goals, including two more from McCann who now has 33 on the season.
“That remains on the bench,” Hakstol said of his message at the timeout. “It was just 30 seconds to settle things down and get pushing in the right direction.”
“The start wasn’t good enough; we didn’t come ready,” added Jared McCann. “Pretty simple message [during the timeout] that if you want to get back in the game, you got to figure it out. We did that, but at the same time, we gotta have a full 60-minute effort. We didn’t.”
After Vince Dunn gave the Kraken a lead at 3:23 of the third, Claude Giroux got the dreaded and torturous response goal 38 seconds later. Then, after Seattle appeared to be breaking out of its own zone before turning the puck over at the blue line, Alex DeBrincat got a lucky bounce off Will Borgen’s stick with just 2:23 left. That was all she wrote.
The hockey gods giveth, the hockey gods taketh away. Borgen with an unfortunate own goal.
“We scored enough tonight, that wasn’t the issue,” said Hakstol. “We gave up too much. And that’s— it doesn’t have to be a huge volume, it’s what we gave up and how we gave it up tonight, especially in the last 10 minutes of the hockey game.”
Had the Kraken been ready to play this game from the start, they should have extended their win streak to six games. Instead, they were left seething in the dressing room after letting a game slip away that they briefly had in their grasp.
Takeaway #2: The comeback was impressive, but…
For a stretch, it felt like the story was writing itself Thursday and that it would have a happy ending for the Kraken. After Jaden Schwartz tipped home a Dunn shot at 2:11 of the second period to make it 3-2 Senators, you could sense that a tying goal was coming for Seattle.
Lo and behold, Daniel Sprong erupted out of the penalty box after Seattle killed another of its four penalties on the night. He immediately ripped a shot toward the net that hit McCann and caromed in for McCann’s second goal of the game.
THEY DID THE THING! TIE GAME!🚨
Sprong gets sprung out of the box, immediately shoots, and hits McCann. The puck caroms in for McCann’s 2nd of the night and 33rd of the year.
Then, you knew Seattle would take the lead in the third period, and sure enough, Dunn made an outstanding play to score his 12th of the season. He knocked Austin Watson off the puck and got it to Yanni Gourde, then made himself open for a return pass and sniped a shot over the shoulder of Mads Sogaard.
DUNN DEAL! 🚨
Vince Dunn makes a hard play on the wall, passes to Gourde, and gets it right back. Dunn snipes to give the #SeaKraken their first lead of the night.
But the Kraken couldn’t close on this particular evening. The quick strike from Giroux and the late own goal ruined what otherwise could have been a memorable game in which the home team would have surmounted a three-goal deficit. That story would have been way more fun.
“We just won five in a row, right?” said Hakstol. “So we closed out a lot of games. We’re disappointed with the result tonight, we’re disappointed with giving up a goal with 2:22 to go when we have clear possession.”
Takeaway #3: Scoreboard watching
The top of the Pacific Division is a gauntlet right now. All four of Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Edmonton are winning seemingly everything, so any loss is magnified. All four teams were in action Thursday, and the Golden Knights, Kings, and Oilers all took two points from the Lightning, Avalanche, and Bruins respectively. Yes, the Oilers beat the Bruins 3-2.
The Kraken loss doesn’t change much in the playoff race for now, but it still stings that Seattle didn’t keep pace on a night when everyone else won. As it stands, the Kraken are back to four points behind the Kings and Golden Knights, and they are level at 80 points with Edmonton. The Oilers have played one more game than the Kraken, though.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Western Conference, Seattle’s opponent for its next two games—the Dallas Stars—hung 10 goals on Buffalo, embarrassing the Sabres 10-4 in their own building.
So, if Seattle has cleanup to do, it will need to figure that out in a hurry. The Stars lead the Central Division, and they have scored 21 goals in their last three games.
“I’m not sure what happened [Thursday], but we got to get back to what makes us successful,” said McCann. “That’s getting on the forecheck, laying the body, and we had some guys doing it and some guys not.”
The Kraken are rolling again with a five-game win streak, including a recent perfect four-game road trip. The Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here to bring you up to speed on all the latest news surrounding the team, from Andre Burakovsky getting back on the ice to Philipp Grubauer’s improved play. John, Andy, and Darren also give their closing thoughts on an uneventful NHL Trade Deadline for Seattle.
After they close out their Kraken talk, the guys shift toward segments which include:
Seattle Kraken prospect and Moose Jaw Warriors forward Jagger Firkus has a lot of tools in his bag. The diminutive but electrifying winger scores goals and creates chances with his skill and creativity.
But when it comes to Jagger, it’s more of his swagger that differentiates him.
“He’s an infectious guy,” Moose Jaw head coach Mark O’Leary said. “He’s loud, he’s energetic, he’s a positive person, and it brings out the best in his teammates and makes him a popular teammate.
“Guys flock to him because of that positivity. He’s a cheerleader, whether it’s in the gym or we’re practicing or if guys are playing soccer or ping pong around the room. Jagger is encouraging, and he’s usually fired up about it. He’s trying to win, but he’s trying to cheer on his teammates as well. I think that over the course of a long season, guys like that.”
Firkus’ presence has been felt by O’Leary and Moose Jaw’s players since Firkus first joined the Western Hockey League, which is not an easy feat for a rookie entering a dressing room full of 19- and 20-year-olds.
“Even when he was called up as a 15-year-old, he was buzzing around the room,” O’Leary recalls. “He wasn’t that quiet kid sitting in the corner not saying anything; he was a little guy with the big red hair and a missing front tooth that wanted to play hockey and contribute.”
That confidence is what makes Firkus, the 35th-overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, the player he is on the ice. The 18-year-old forward is on pace for back-to-back 80-point seasons in the Western Hockey League, the first of which postured him as one of the most intriguing forwards in his draft year and a top prospect in the Kraken system.
Part of his uniqueness comes from his creativity on the ice, his ability to maneuver through tight spaces, and the quick release on his shot. But his size — Firkus is listed at just 5-foot-10, 156 pounds — is what makes him a curious case as a prospect.
Most pundits agree Firkus has the tools to be an NHL contributor, but his size sprinkles mystery into his case for playing at that level.
However, while he’s well aware of his perceived limitations, it’s not something that bothers Firkus.
“I just embrace it,” Firkus said. “People are going to ask you about that, and I have an answer for it. So it doesn’t really worry me. I can’t change my size, so I can’t worry about that. It doesn’t really change me.”
One thing that’s working in Firkus’ favor: the stigma around smaller hockey players is slowly fading away as players like Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, who Firkus said he likes to watch and incorporate details he sees into his own game, excel at the NHL level.
Another diminutive forward with experience in Moose Jaw comes to mind for O’Leary.
“He’s not necessarily Brayden Point, but he has a lot of Brayden Point in him,” said O’Leary, who was an assistant coach for the Warriors during Point’s career in Moose Jaw. “One of the things that made (Point) special was his ability to put pucks in places around his body and around his feet where he protects it and be hard on it … there are things as a smaller guy you can do to play heavy and I think Jagger does that.”
“He’s also a slippery guy. He plays with his head up, and like Brayden Point, he seems to be very good at being evasive of hard and heavy contact.”
Firkus’ durability backs up O’Leary’s claim, as he’s only missed four games in the last two WHL seasons.
The Irma, Alberta native also said he has tacked on a couple of pounds during the season and plans to be more aggressive with gaining weight during the upcoming offseason.
But right now, Firkus’ focus is more on the ice, in particular on rounding out his game, something the Kraken have worked with him on in video sessions during the season.
“There’s one specific thing they want me to work on and that’s just spacing with the puck,” Firkus said. “For a smaller guy, you need to find open ice so you can give yourself room and that’s one big thing that they’ve been helping me.”
O’Leary also called out that Firkus’ defensive game has expanded this season, which earned him a spot on Moose Jaw’s penalty kill.
But make no mistake, Firkus still is imbued with the freedom to make plays offensively. This season in particular, he’s played primarily on a line centered by Brayden Yager, who is projected to be a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
The two have been “attached at the hip” since they both entered the WHL and showcase good chemistry with each other on and off the ice.
“He’s a fun guy to play with and just an unreal guy off the ice, too,” Firkus said.
Others would likely say the same thing about Firkus, whose aforementioned creative play style earned him the “Firkus Circus” nickname, which has an unknown origin but started in Moose Jaw and has spread to the rest of the hockey universe.
“I embrace it, I think it’s funny someone came up with that,” Firkus said.
Will the circus ever make its way to Seattle? That’s the burning question with any prospect, but especially one like Firkus, who harnesses more upside than most with his ability to put the puck in the back of the net and function as a playmaker for others.
He certainly has his supporters, including O’Leary, who is adamant that Firkus will crack the NHL.
“He’s got too much to offer,” O’Leary said. “He’ll find a way.”
The loss of Andrew Poturalski for the season and Jesper Froden to NHL callup have hurt the Firebirds’ depth, but Cameron Hughes and Tye Kartye have been integral in filling the void. Hughes has 15 points in his last 10 games and Kartye is nearly scoring at a goal-per-game pace with eight in that same stretch.
Kokko excelling on loan
Kraken goaltender Niklas Kokko, who was loaned to SaiPa in Finland’s top league last month, has been red hot for his new squad, posting a .949 save percentage in his last four starts.
It’s been an encouraging stretch for Kokko, who was selected by the Kraken 58th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. Not only has the 18-year-old netminder posted encouraging numbers in Finland’s top league, Kokko shined for Finland’s U19 squad in an international tournament last month.
Wright healthy once again
After missing eight games with a lower-body injury, Shane Wright returned to the Windsor Spitfire’s lineup on Feb. 23. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 draft has two goals and three assists in five games since his return.
The prized prospect started off sweltering hot for the Spitfires with over two points per game before his prolonged absence. We certainly aren’t sounding the alarm due to his drop in production, but we’re keeping an eye on it.
The Spitfires certainly could use more out of Wright. Windsor, which has dropped four of its five games since Wright re-entered the lineup, is trailing the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference leading London Knights, which feature Kraken prospect Ryan Winterton, by two points. The Spitfires have eight games remaining in the regular season, with the Knights holding a game in hand. Windsor ends the season with back-to-back matchups with London.
Playoff update
OHL
Ty Nelson (third-round pick in 2022) and Kyle Jackson (seventh-round pick in 2022) of the North Bay Battalion have clinched a playoff spot and are currently the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. North Bay is 10 points off Ottawa for the top seed and unlikely to catch the 67s, but it is fending off the Barrie Colts for home ice in the second round. The Battalion is three points up on the Colts with eight games remaining, none of which are against each other.
Tucker Robertson (fourth-round pick in 2022) and the Peterborough Petes are still vying to secure their spot in the playoffs, but are more than likely to make it. The Petes are jockeying with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Mississauga Steelheads, and Sudbury Wolves, who feature Kraken forward prospect David Goyette, for home ice in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Petes have the inside track, with 65 points to Hamilton’s 64, Mississauga’s 62, and Sudbury’s 60, and have a game in hand on the Bulldogs.
WHL
Firkus and the Moose Jaw Warriors are likely locked into the 4-5 matchup in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Warriors lead Lethbridge by five points, with the Hurricanes holding a game in hand, for home ice in the first round. But watch out for Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats. They likely can’t catch Moose Jaw, but they are only five back of Lethbridge with a game in hand. A first-round matchup pitting Firkus and Bedard against each other would be highly entertaining.
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Jacob Melanson (fifth-round pick in 2021) and the Sherbrooke Phoenix are currently in a tight battle for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Phoenix lead with 89 points, but the Gatineau Olympiques are hot on their tail with 88. Two of Sherbrooke’s nine remaining games are against Gatineau.
Liiga
Jani Nyman (second-round pick in 2022) and Ilves are in a dead heat with Tappara for the league’s top seed, with both teams boasting 110 points and Ilves having a game in hand. With three games remaining in the regular season, it may come down to the two teams clashing on Sunday in Ilves’ penultimate game of the campaign.
Kokko and SaiPa and Ville Ottavainen (fourth-round pick in 2021) of JYP will both miss the playoffs.
British Columbia Hockey League
Ben McDonald (third-round pick in 2022) and the West Kelowna Warriors are third in the Interior Division standings but are fending off Salmon Arm and Prince George, who is one point and four points back, respectively, with six games remaining. Salmon Arm holds a game in hand.
United States Hockey League
Barrett Hall (sixth-round pick in 2022) and the Green Bay Gamblers are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference with 55 points. There’s plenty of runway, however, with 16 games remaining in the regular season.
NCAA
Justin Janicke (seventh-round pick in 2021) and Notre Dame fell to Michigan State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament in a best-of-three series. The fourth-seeded Fighting Irish won Game 1 but failed to advance after dropping the next two to the Spartans, the No. 5 seed, and seriously jeopardized their chances of making it to the NCAA tournament. Janicke recorded one assist in the series.
Tyson Jugnauth (fourth-round pick in 2022) and seventh-seeded Wisconsin were swept by second-seeded Michigan in their first-round series. Jugnauth recorded two assists in the final two games of his freshman season. Also noteworthy: Wisconsin fired head coach Tony Granato, who ran the program for seven seasons.
Josh Horton
Josh Horton is a freelance writer, former newspaper journalist, and erstwhile Western Hockey League writer for the Everett Herald and The Spokesman-Review (Spokane). He is NOT a juggler, nor is he a former professional baseball player. Follow him on Twitter @byjoshhorton.
The Kraken got the job done against a bad Ducks team Tuesday in what coach Dave Hakstol called a “workmanlike” effort from his squad. That’s a pretty good way to describe that game, which didn’t have great flow or energy from either side.
But, two points are two points, and Seattle ultimately earned a no-doubter of a win against an uninspired opponent that didn’t appear to have much fight left in it.
“You’re gonna have workmanlike games,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “This is one you might have predicted, coming off the road, a couple of late nights on the road trip. You might predict that we were going to have to grind this one out a little bit.”
The victory extended Seattle’s win streak to five games and brought it within two points of the top of the Pacific Division.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 5-2 Kraken win over the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: Power play creativity
The Kraken scored a nice power-play goal at 8:29 of the third period to put the game out of reach of the mostly disinterested Ducks. On the surface, it looked like a pretty simple pass by Jared McCann through the seam to Eeli Tolvanen for a one-timer, but there’s more to it.
Here’s why the play resonated with us. First, we will give some backstory. Jared McCann scored his 31st goal of the season off the rush midway through the first period Tuesday, firing from the top of the left circle. If you’ve seen any of McCann’s goals this season, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him score from that spot on the ice. So, there’s nothing new about that; the guy just loves shooting from there.
“It just feels good, feels comfortable,” said McCann of that area that is quickly becoming his proverbial office.
With McCann’s office in mind, Seattle’s go-to play with the man advantage is for McCann to loop out near the blue line, get some momentum rolling downhill, receive a pass, and let his dangerous snapshot rip. With McCann being a left shot, it’s the opposite of what a lot of teams do, since he isn’t open for a one-timer. But, one-timers are not where McCann gets most of his success shooting, so the team plays to his strength by letting him skate into a pass and pick his spot.
The only downside is that it is a bit predictable. Opposing teams at this point know McCann is going to start moving downhill and his teammates are going to try to get him the puck.
But that is what made the Tolvanen goal special. McCann used Anaheim’s pre-scout on him to his advantage, and instead of ripping the shot that everybody expected—including all four Ducks penalty killers and goalie John Gibson—McCann instead laid a perfect pass in the wheelhouse for Tolvanen.
TOLVY TIME! 🚨
Love this play. McCann gets rolling downhill, as he always does on the PP, and draws players and the goalie to him. Instead of shooting, he puts a perfect seam pass in Tolvanen’s wheelhouse. Easy PPG.
“Just get my head up, trying to make the right play,” said McCann. “If the shot’s there, I’m obviously going to take it, but sometimes I feel like I force the shot a little bit too much. You know, Tolly got open for me, and it was a pretty simple play.”
The result was an easy one-time goal into a yawning cage for Tolvanen, his 13th of the season.
Opponents know McCann is a shooter. Seeing him use that knowledge against the Ducks Tuesday was a beautiful thing.
Takeaway #2: Vince Dunn almost lost his head, then he lost his mind
We saw two blown calls that involved Vince Dunn in this game. The first came 4:43 into the game, when Dunn took down Jakob Silfverberg. As Silfverberg was falling to the ice, he caught Dunn with a high stick and made him bleed from the nose. Even though Silfverberg got tripped, he is still supposed to be in control of his stick, so drawing blood should still bring a four-minute penalty. For some reason, the officials only gave him two minutes, which was odd. It clearly didn’t sit well with Dunn, either, as he questioned the matching minors while skating to the box.
Late in the game, Dunn sustained more damage to his face when Max Comtois delivered a high and obviously illegal hit. The refs did not call anything, though replay showed it was a clear hit to the head. Dunn stayed down for a moment before getting up and skating to the bench.
That’s where his wires crossed.
Dunn screamed at the official loudly enough that we could hear it up in the rafters of Climate Pledge Arena. What exactly he said was a topic of hot debate post-game, with interpretations ranging from, “Look at my f***ing face!” to “You’re a f***ing coward!”
Video showed he likely said both, though we’re no lip readers.
Vince Dunn was not happy with the refs after they didn't call a penalty on the hit by Max Comtois. 😮 pic.twitter.com/pekainCupR
Dunn slammed the bench door, smashed his stick against the glass, and eventually spiked his helmet as he stepped into the penalty box.
“He was pissed off, and I get why,” said Hakstol. “It was a little bit late, he held his cool getting off the ice, and then— hey, he snapped on the bench.”
For his outburst, Dunn was given a well-earned unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. After sitting in the box for just a few seconds of game time, he was let out and escorted to the Seattle bench and down the tunnel. We initially thought he had been ejected from the game, but no additional penalty was called. In actuality, Dunn was getting checked for a concussion.
Now, if a concussion spotter is telling the officials that a player needs to leave a game because he sustained a hit to the head, and the referees did not call said hit to the head, that’s a pretty good indication they may have missed the call.
“I’d love to comment, but that’s not my job to say that,” said Brandon Tanev of the elevated emotions late in the game. “The refs didn’t make the call, and that’s the way it goes sometimes, so we’ll just leave it at that.”
In any case, Dunn did not return, but there wasn’t much time left in the game when this all transpired. Hakstol said after the game he didn’t have any reason to believe Dunn is injured, but he did confirm the reason for his exit was a “call from up top.”
Takeaway #3: Taking care of business
We were nervous about Seattle’s chances coming into this game, as it felt trappy for a couple different reasons. One such reason was that the first game after a road trip is always tricky, as we saw when the Kraken returned to CPA following their perfect seven-game journey in January. The other reason is that we’ve seen Seattle play down to lesser opponents before, with the 4-0 loss in San Jose on Feb. 20 as a shining example. Plus, the Ducks had been winning games lately, despite them being well outside of the playoff hunt.
The Kraken didn’t have a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but they did what they had to do and dispatched a bad team. By jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, Anaheim went quietly into the night, save for some brief fireworks by Trevor Zegras.**
**Editor’s note: That goal was absolutely ridiculous. We expect to see that one on highlight reels for a long time.**
It won’t be the most memorable victory of the season, but those are two more enormous points in the standings. The Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights will need to go back to checking their rearview mirrors, because Seattle is suddenly back within two points of both teams and holds a game in hand over the Kings.
“We’re going to have to play well every single night,” said McCann. “Obviously we’re going to be playing some divisional games here soon too, and those are going to matter a lot more.”
It won’t be divisional, but the Kraken will face a tougher test in the Ottawa Senators Thursday, a team desperately trying to keep its playoff hopes alive. Seattle will look to extend its win streak to six games.
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 Musings post is usually published on Mondays, but with a big Kraken win on Sunday, we thought it might be good to let the victory content breathe a bit.
Kraken Thoughts
When I wrote the Musings last week, I was a little nervous. The boys had just lost three games in a row, and the playoff cushion was starting to shrink. My message was, “Don’t panic,” but if I am going to be honest, my hand was on the panic button.
As an act of defiance, the boys would go a perfect four-for-four on their road trip that ended with a thrilling come-from-behind overtime win against the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. Meanwhile, the Calgary Flames got just one point out of a possible six during the same time span. Now, it is Nashville who finds itself just on the outside of the playoff cut with several games in hand on Winnipeg and Edmonton. The Oilers and Jets currently sit in the Western Conference wild card spots.
What a difference a week makes.
Getting back to the Kraken games, all four were either tied or just a one-goal game entering the last minute of regulation play. Even in victory, the first two games of the road trip against St. Louis and Detroit felt a little shaky. Several defensive breakdowns kept those games closer than they should have been, but to the team’s credit, Seattle buckled down and figured out ways to win. It wasn’t until the third game of the week, against Columbus, did the Kraken look like the team we have come to expect this season.
Philipp Grubauer
Most regular readers of this column will know that I am a Philipp Grubauer supporter. I punched the numbers on my abacus and feel that all signs point to Grubi being the better goalie right now. Heading into last week, Grubi was coming off back-to-back losses to Boston and Toronto where he allowed 10 goals over those two games. They weren’t great performances by any statistical measure, but being how well the Bruins and Leafs played those nights, I am not sure Dominik Hasek at the peak of his powers would have made a difference in those games for the Kraken. It made me think that Grubi had been getting the more challenging starts this season, so I looked it up.
The data bears it out. On average, Grubi plays the better teams in the NHL and has faced just five teams under a .500 points percentage. That said, Seattle needs Grubauer to steal some games against the best teams in the league. I do not feel Sunday’s win against the Avalanche would constitute stealing one, but it was a big win against a quality opponent.
Trade deadline
It would have been nice to see the Kraken add a middle-six forward as a stop gap for Andre Burakovsky being out of the lineup and as insurance for any additional injuries down the road. The trade deadline is a time when teams overpay for players, though, and Ron Francis is more disciplined than a lot of us would be in the same position. The team still has draft picks and will have salary cap flexibility rolling into next season, so you wonder if the Kraken might be willing to pull some bigger levers this offseason.
Other Kraken musings:
Francis said Andre Burakovsky was back on the ice for the first time since his injury on Feb. 7. The team has missed him in the lineup. At the time of his injury, he was leading the Kraken in points, and although it has been better lately, his absence is most notable on the power play.
As an indicator of how teams tend to overpay during the trade deadline, the Kraken obtained Oliver Bjorkstrand for just a third- and fourth-round draft pick last summer. First-round picks were being passed around the league like candy last week for players inferior to Bjorkstrand.
Bjorkstrand’s shooting percentage is 12.5 percent since Jan. 1, compared to 5.4 percent prior to New Year’s Day. This is the Bjorkstrand we expected.
Jaden Schwartz had five points over the last three games, and his forecheck to get the puck for Brandon Tanev’s tying goal Sunday could have been the biggest play of the week.
Speaking of big plays, how about Grubauer’s save in Detroit? You never know how a goal there could have impacted the outcome of the game.
Chris Driedger is now 2-1-0 in three starts for the Coachella Valley Firebirds with a .907 save percentage. I believe we will see him get some starts for the Kraken before the end of the season.
If the Kraken finish the season with just 50 percent of the points available, they will finish the season with 97 points. The current forecasted playoff cut is right around 93 points.
Really enjoyed Alison Lukan’s article on the Kraken website on the different possession styles of Bjorkstrand, Wennberg, and Gourde who are all in the league top-10 in takeaways minus giveaways.
Kraken themes for the week ahead
The theme of the week should be getting points where you can, because this week kicks off the toughest 10-game stretch the Kraken will play the rest of the season. Anaheim, Ottawa, and Dallas have been relatively hot teams as of late and will each have their own motivations to beat the Kraken. Getting three out of six points will be fine, but if they can get more, excellent. If the Kraken can get the consistent goaltending from Grubauer (or Jones) and special teams stays hot, at least three points should be expected. The back-to-back games against Dallas should be a benchmark game to see how ready both teams are for the playoffs.
What normally would be thought of as an easy game Tuesday against Anaheim, the Ducks have won four out of their last five games with their only loss in that stretch being an overtime loss to the Washington Capitals. If there is anything the Feb. 20 San Jose game has shown us, you cannot take a night off against a lesser opponent and expect to win.
Thursday does not get any easier with the Ottawa Senators coming to town. Prior to the loss last night, the Senators won five games in a row and will be fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs.
Stick Taps / Player Performance
Philipp Grubauer (SEA) – three wins over four days with a .921 save percentage.
Kyle Jackson (NBB/SEA) – The unsigned seventh-round pick from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft has a five-game point streak for the North Bay Battalion in the OHL.
Jared McCann (SEA) – He had four goals and three assists over his last five games, including his 30th goal of the season, becoming the first Seattle Kraken to hit the 30-goal mark in a season.
Did you realize Jared McCann has scored 30 goals already this season? The former Canuck leads all skaters in shooting impact at even strength. pic.twitter.com/mbdXP4i58i
There has been a lot of talk about how well the Kraken special teams is playing right now. Here is a look at the outcomes of games depending on who wins the special teams in the game.
If you have any questions or comments on Monday Musings, please leave them below, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
We were 2:30 away from having a very different set of Three Takeaways Friday, as it looked like the Kraken were getting stymied by Alexandar Georgiev and the Colorado Avalanche. But at the eleventh hour, Seattle’s forecheck (and by “forecheck,” we mean Jaden Schwartz) went to work and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
“It was a gutsy effort,” said Schwartz. “Fourth game on the road trip. [It was] a lot of travel, and being down and just sticking with it, just keeping the pressure on. We stayed aggressive and put a lot of pucks in their end and just tried to wear them down.”
A late tying goal by Brandon Tanev and a thrilling overtime breakaway goal by Yanni Gourde meant the Kraken closed out the season series against the Stanley Cup champion Avalanche with a 2-0-1 record.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a thrilling 3-2 Seattle win.
Takeaway #1: Jaden Schwartz gets it done with hard forechecking
The No. 1 rule of the offensive-zone forecheck is to have two guys on the puck and overwhelm the puck carrier. The only two times Seattle broke through in regulation against Georgiev came after hard plays below the goal line, and Schwartz was right in the thick of it on both markers. On those plays, Seattle followed that No. 1 rule to perfection.
Down 1-0, the Kraken finally got on the board at the midway point of the second period. Bowen Byram looped behind his own net, looking for an escape hatch, but Schwartz stuck right on him like velcro. The Kraken forward angled Byram into the corner and separated him from the puck. Bjorkstrand jumped in to keep it alive, then Schwartz gathered it and fed it to Will Borgen at the blue line. Alex Wennberg got to the front of the net and got a perfect tip on Borgen’s shot.
WENNBERG! 🚨
Great forecheck by Schwartz and Bjorkstrand, Borgen shoots, and Wennberg gets a perfect tip.
Then, with the game winding down and things looking bleak for Seattle, Schwartz went back to work. This time, with Yanni Gourde acting as the F2 flanking Nathan MacKinnon, Schwartz went right at the superstar forward. He deflected MacKinnon’s chip, scooped up the puck, and twirled it around to Tanev, who had found a quiet spot in front of the net. Turbo banged it home for a late, game-tying goal to earn the Kraken a huge point in the standings.
TURBO TIES IT! 🚨
Great forecheck by Gourde and Schwartz. Schwartz with a nice pass to Tanev in the slot, and he bangs it home.
What’s funny, as that game was winding down, we had just been thinking about how we couldn’t recall the last time Seattle had gotten a late tying goal to send a game to overtime. As we doubted the existence of a “clutch gene” in the Kraken, we learned all they needed to do was forecheck the Avs to death. That’s what Schwartz did Sunday, and even with a stellar performance by Georgiev, it was enough to get Seattle to an extra frame with the Stanley Cup champs.
Takeaway #2: In overtime, patience is a virtue
Early in the season, the Kraken were a mess in three-on-three overtime. They worked on it at practice after dropping their first three overtime games, and have taken a very patient approach to the extra frame ever since.
On Sunday, Wennberg won the center-ice face-off to start the extra period, and Seattle never relinquished control of the puck. The Kraken cycled through two full trios of skaters, all while maintaining possession. If they tried to get into the offensive zone and didn’t like what they saw, they would sling it all the way back into their own zone to reset.
“In the OT, you can’t ask for much more,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “The guys won the opening face-off, and we were able to dictate play from there.”
After a minute and a half of playing keep away, Vince Dunn finally saw an opening. With the Avalanche changing, Dunn spotted Gourde at the far blue line and sent a perfect 100-foot pass to catch the scrappy forward in stride. Gourde lunged for the puck, kept his foot onside, and raced in toward Georgiev. He rifled a low shot that snuck under the Colorado goalie’s blocker, rang off the post, and rattled into the net.
Avs never touched the puck in OT. Incredible patience by the #SeaKraken, and Vince Dunn finally hits Yanni Gourde with an insane pass.
“I didn’t see much of the net, honestly,” said Gourde. “He’s a great goalie, he challenged the shot a lot. I didn’t see much, I just felt like shooting low blocker was my best option.”
What a goal, and what a finish to a thrilling game!
Takeaway #3: That’s a big-time road trip
It’s well known that the NHL season is a long, 82-game grind filled with ebbs and flows. If you were starting to panic after Seattle dropped three in a row to San Jose, Boston, and Toronto, you weren’t alone, but sure enough, that ebb has been replaced by a flow.
The Kraken went on the road after getting smoked by the Maple Leafs and righted the ship in a big way, rattling off key wins against the Blues, Red Wings, Blue Jackets, and—most impressively—the Avalanche.
“We’re happy with the two points,” said Hakstol. “We had to really stay with it.”
The eight out of eight possible points on the trip are enormously important for Seattle’s playoff hopes. The teams Seattle has been chasing in the Pacific Division, Los Angeles and Vegas, have been winning everything lately. That doesn’t really matter though, so long as the Kraken can keep those teams within a tentacle’s length and get themselves into the postseason. There, you never know what can happen.
With every passing day, it’s looking more and more obvious which eight Western Conference teams will end up in the playoffs, as Nashville and Calgary seem to be holding on by a thread. If the Kraken can stay above the Predators and Flames, that should punch their ticket, and they’re currently 10 and 11 points clear of those respective teams.
Getting two points against the Avs is big. Coming home from a four-game road trip at this time of year with eight points is invaluable.
Yanni Gourde’s winner at 1:24 of overtime propelled the Seattle Kraken to an improbable fourth straight road win and two huge points in the playoff race. Seattle found a way to a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena Sunday.
“We’re happy with the two points,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had to really stay with it, had to get a little bit better throughout the game, and in small competitive areas, we wanted to be a little bit better as we went through the game.”
In an overtime period that saw the Kraken win the opening face-off and not allow the Avalanche to touch the puck throughout, Vince Dunn noticed Colorado in a line change and sent a pass to Gourde. Colorado lost track of Gourde during the change, and he was able to skate in the Avalanche zone by himself and get a shot off that hit the post and went in for the game-winner.
“I didn’t see much of the net honestly,” said Gourde. “He’s a great goalie, challenged us a lot. I didn’t see much. I just felt like shooting low blocker was my best option.”
The fact that the game was in overtime at all was impressive.
Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev had made 32 saves and stymied Seattle all night. As time was running down, Jaden Schwartz stole the puck on a forecheck and got it to Brandon Tanev who was parked in front of the net. He scored at 17:30 of the third to tie the game at 2-2.
“[Tanev’s] got a lot of speed, plays hard, he’s good at reading the play a little bit and finding those pockets,” Schwartz said. “He’s had a lot of good chances and tonight was no different. He just stuck with it. He’s a guy that didn’t really let their goalie get in his head. He just kept going.”
Alex Wennberg scored and Schwartz had two assists for Seattle (36-21-6), who won its seventh overtime decision this season. Philipp Grubauer matched Georgiev all night, making 21 saves.
Nathan MacKinnon and Denis Malgin each scored for the Avalanche (34-21-6), who had lost the night before against the Dallas Stars.
MacKinnon gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first period. He got the puck in the right face-off circle and made a quick move to create a lane that allowed him to snap a quick shot off.
The Kraken tied the game at 1-1 at 9:52 of the second when Wennberg was able to deflect a Will Borgen shot for his 12th goal of the year and second in as many games.
Seattle’s momentum was short lived as Colorado wrestled the lead back at 11:45 when Cale Makar sprung Malgin free, and he was able to get a shot past Grubauer to send the Avalanche to the room ahead 2-1 at the second intermission.
Kraken win despite the power play
The Kraken ended the night 0-for-5 with the man advantage and looked like they had blown a big chance at the start of the third period. Colorado had been called for two penalties at the second period horn meaning the Kraken started the final frame with a full 5-on-3 look.
Seattle had looks but Georgiev stood stall and frustrated the Kraken.
“We could look back on that and that could be a real key point of this hockey game,” Hakstol said. “Fortunately for us, we were to be able to make a play that made that not the case. But we’d like to execute a little bit better overall on the power play tonight.”
Despite missing a golden chance, Seattle outshot the Avalanche 16-7 in the third period and 35-23 during the game. They stuck with it and were ultimately rewarded for it with a big, playoff-type win.
“He played unbelievable,” Grubauer said of his counterpart Georgiev. “I thought he made it really hard on us, was reading the shots really well. And then for us, it’s just about playing in our zone and for me making the stops.”
Tentacle Tales
Gourde became the 13th player on the Kraken roster with 10 or more goals this season.
Seattle is the first NHL team with 13 or more 10-plus goal scorers at this point in the season since the 1991-1992 Washington Capitals.
MacKinnon reached the 25-goal mark in a season for the fifth time in his NHL career.
Grubauer won three of the four games on the Kraken’s road trip that ended Sunday. Martin Jones won the fourth.
Making his first return to Columbus since being traded to the Kraken, all eyes were on Oliver Bjorkstrand Friday night as Seattle continued its four-game road trip. But, it would be a different former Blue Jacket who would score the game-winning goal in the third period and take the spotlight. Alex Wennberg scored a power-play goal in the final 20 that put the Kraken ahead in a 4-2 win against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
“Obviously, it’s really nice to get that goal,” Wennberg said. “I think the last time I scored a goal was against Columbus as well. So I mean, it’s a little nice for me to come and play your old team and have that success to score goals. But I mean, right now, it doesn’t really matter who scores. We got to win these games. It’s back-to-back and it’s a huge game to step up and get this win. We’ll take it and move on.”
The Kraken have started their four-game road trip with three-straight wins. Wennberg would add an assist on the night. He was originally a first-round draft pick by Columbus in 2013 and played six seasons with the Blue Jackets.
After Adam Boqvist scored on a rebound to tie the game 2-2 at 4:53 of the third period, Seattle went on a power play. Wennberg was in front of the net; he pivoted and slid the puck past goalie Elvis Merzlikins for his 11th of the season and gave the Kraken a 3-2 lead.
Brandon Tanev scored an empty-net goal for the second game in a row, at 19:12 to finish the 4-2 final.
“We were pretty consistent throughout a lot of specialty teams,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “On a back-to-back, I’d rather see a little bit more five-on-five, but you know, really consistent effort.”
Jared McCann scored a goal to become the first Kraken to reach the 30-goal mark and added an assist. Jordan Eberle scored a goal, and Vince Dunn had two assists for the Kraken (35-26-6), who will wrap up their trip in Colorado on Sunday. Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.
Patrik Laine and Boqvist each had a goal and assist for Columbus (20-36-5), who end the season series against Seattle 0-2-0. Elvis Merzlikins gave the Blue Jackets a chance by making 31 saves.
Laine broke up what looked like a goalie battle with a snipe on the power play at 10:18 of the second period to make it 1-0.
“We’ve been good on the PK,” Hakstol said. “When you make a mistake against that guy, he’s gonna find a hole and it was an elite shot on his part. But, we’ve been good [on the PK]. We’ve been consistent and working hard there.”
The Kraken would react, scoring twice in less than a minute. It would be McCann first, who blasted a shot from the top of the circle, which is becoming his favorite shooting spot, at 13:20 to tie the game at 1-1. It was the third straight game he has at least one goal, and this one was his 30th.
“It’s awesome,” McCann said of scoring 30 for the first time in his career. “Like, it’s great, but at the same time, we’re still trying to accomplish something as a team and we have a great group of guys in here that I’m happy that things stayed the way they were.”
McCann would be involved in the second goal of the period, at 14:08 to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead. McCann’s shot was stopped by Merzlikins, but the rebound went to Eberle who quickly fired it on net and scored his 14th goal and 50th point this season.
Merzlikins kept Blue Jackets in it
Seattle led in nearly every offensive category and could have won the game a lot easier if it weren’t for Merzlikins.
The Kraken outshot Columbus 35-23, including an 11-5 advantage in the second period. On top of those numbers, Seattle took 55.6 percent of the shot attempts while at 5-on-5, and had 71 percent of the shot advantage in the second period.
Tentacle tales
Bjorkstrand played just over 12 minutes, and had an assist, but left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury. He did not return to the game, and Hakstol did not have an update after.
Believe this is Oliver Bjorkstrand's last shift tonight, before he left with a lower-body injury.
He's in the frame for most of this video, disappears for a moment, then cuts his shift short and heads to the bench. Nothing obvious. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/OjVVcO4fFC
One year ago, the Seattle Kraken traded six of their regular players away for 10 draft picks in a flurry of activity in the lead-up to the NHL Trade Deadline. General manager Ron Francis and his staff were in full sell mode with the team proving to be one of the worst in the league. They offloaded almost all their expiring contracts with hopes of bringing back whatever assets they could get.
At the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, the situation for the Kraken was different. We expected them to be cautious buyers, making subtle deals here and there to upgrade the team, as it prepares for its first playoff push.
In the end, Friday’s 12 p.m. deadline came and went and the Kraken did… nothing.
Even minutes after the deadline had passed, we still anxiously awaited news to break of a deal done by Seattle, but such news never came.
Now, you could technically call Seattle’s acquisition of defenseman Jaycob Megna on Feb. 5 a “deadline” move, but even so, this was about as quiet as we could have imagined the team being at this stage of the season.
Seattle’s inaction was amplified as teams around the league beefed up their rosters this week. Superstars like Ryan O’Reilly, Timo Meier, and Patrick Kane headed east to Toronto, New Jersey, and New York, respectively. Meanwhile, within the Pacific Division, the Kraken’s rivals all made shrewd moves to address specific needs. The Edmonton Oilers got better on defense by adding defenseman Mattias Ekholm, the Vegas Golden Knights got better up front by adding forward Ivan Barbeshev, and the Los Angeles Kings got better by swapping out aging franchise legend Jonathan Quick for Joonas Korpisalo in net.
Even so, the Kraken stood pat, and Francis told media on Friday that he’s happy with the group and the chemistry that they have shown.
“At the end of the day, we believed in the group we had,” Francis said. “I [didn’t think] there were prices that we were willing to pay at this point to change that chemistry that we have in our locker room currently.”
What the Kraken could have done
Perhaps the Kraken could have used another addition on the blue line (supposedly Seattle was in on John Klingberg up until the very end when he was traded to Minnesota). We like the balance Seattle has on the back end, both in terms of right-shot and left-shot blueliners and with the mix of puck-moving and stay-at-home guys.
But we really would have liked to see a middle-six forward added to the group. Seattle has shown that its forward corps is not quite as deep as it seems on paper, especially with Andre Burakovsky out these past few weeks. Coach Dave Hakstol has a hard time backfilling any injuries up front, which is why you saw players like Brandon Tanev and Jesper Froden inserted onto a line with Jaden Schwartz and Alex Wennberg.
Hakstol finally made the move to break up his lovable third line of Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde, and Oliver Bjorkstrand before the St. Louis game on Tuesday, moving Bjorkstrand into Burakovsky’s spot and Ryan Donato onto that third line. Those adjustments seemed to have worked in the short term, as Seattle beat the Blues and Red Wings to start the road trip, and the team is suddenly scoring goals again. Plus, Francis said Burakovsky was getting back on the ice Friday, a huge step toward a return for the winger.
BUT… there were players out there that could have been had that would have made Seattle significantly deeper. The trickle down of adding a player like Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk—who wasn’t traded, but linked to the Kraken on Friday’s deadline, Barbeshev, or Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi—who was traded to Boston — would have been immense and would have made Seattle’s forward group even more formidable.
Why the Kraken did not make moves
Francis went back to the “chemistry” piece in his press conference on several occasions, and he held firm that he is happy with the group as it stands. He also made it sound like keeping some of the players that had been rumored to be available—Carson Soucy, Will Borgen, and Morgan Geekie were all supposedly discussed, according to various insiders—was a message to his players that they deserve to stay together and make a run at the playoffs.
But wouldn’t a better message be to add even one player to show the existing group that Francis believes they can go beyond just making the first round of the playoffs?
As far as Francis was concerned, not if it meant overpaying just because it was the deadline and teams around the league were making shocking moves.
“I think it’s easy to overpay for players at this point in the season,” Francis said. “Your emotions get involved, and you want to do that. I’ve always said the two most dangerous days are trade deadline day and free agency day.”
Francis also made the point that the front office has not sat on its hands over the past nine months. He reminded the media that including Sprong at the last deadline, Matty Beniers joining the club, acquiring Burakovsky, Bjorkstrand, and Martin Jones in the offseason, and plucking Tolvanen off waivers, Seattle actually has made a lot of moves, even if they didn’t come during deadline week.
Like the patient approach or not, this is the group Seattle will march down the stretch with.
“I’ve got complete faith in them,” Francis said. “They can do this.”
It wasn’t always pretty, but the Seattle Kraken overcame several defensive lapses Thursday and got two more huge standings points with a 5-4 overtime win over the Red Wings.
It was a high-flying, back-and-forth affair in which Seattle let a lesser opponent hang around by making some big defensive boo-boos. Good on ’em, though; they stuck with it and got the win in the end.
“We gotta stay patient, try to get back on track, and not make those mistakes,” said Oliver Bjorkstrand. “It’s a close game in the end, and it’s just important we got the job done.”
Jared McCann and Bjorkstrand got two goals each, and Philipp Grubauer replaced Martin Jones early in the second period, making 16 saves to earn the win.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a nerve-racking 5-4 Kraken victory against the Red Wings.
Takeaway #1: A timely goaltending change
When Seattle lost 6-3 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10, we thought there were several moments in which coach Dave Hakstol should have given Jones the hook. It’s not always about the goalie, but when you make a change, it can have a calming effect for the rest of the team. Plus, you can usually tell by the third goal against if your goalie has it on a particular night. We didn’t think Jones had it that night at MSG, and we didn’t think he had it Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
Against the Red Wings, Hakstol didn’t hesitate. Jones gave up a stinker—his third in two games—on an unscreened, short-side offering by Ben Chiarot at 3:07 of the first period. That negated Jared McCann’s game-opening goal and came on Detroit’s first shot of the game.
Red Wings answer and tie it on their first shot of the game. Not sure about that one. A couple questionable goals last game, too. 😬
Early in the second, with the Kraken up 3-2 and hemmed in their zone, Jones went for a swim, overcommitting on Filip Zadina, who skated himself out of a shooting position. Zadina made a nifty backhand pass to Jonatan Berggren, and the net was wide open for an easy goal.
That was all Hakstol needed to see, and he sent in Philipp Grubauer after Jones had allowed three goals on just twelve shots.
#SeaKraken get hemmed in for a long time early in the 2nd, and the play ends with Zadina making a sick pass to Berggren, the game getting tied, and Martin Jones getting yanked after three goals on 12 shots.
“Jonesy— I didn’t think he was seeing the puck as well as he normally does,” said Hakstol. “That particular goal, the third goal, there was a lot of things that happened in front of him that we need to be better in defending. But we wanted to get Grubi in there to change the momentum a little bit, settle things down.”
Hakstol was rewarded for the decision; Grubauer was outstanding. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in 39:51 of game time, and the lone goal he allowed fell heavily on the shoulders of the defenders in front of him (more on that in Takeaway #2).
Grubauer’s best save was a save-of-the-year candidate. Late in the second period, and with the game in a tenuous position at 4-4, the Kraken had one of their many defensive breakdowns. Matty Beniers, Adam Larsson, and Vince Dunn all got caught below the goal line at the same time, and the puck ended up on Joe Veleno’s stick in front of the net without a Kraken defender in the neighborhood.
Veleno waited, deked, and appeared to have Grubauer dead to rights. But Grubauer lunged to his right and made an unbelievable save with the heel of his stick.
“It was a pretty athletic save in desperation,” said Hakstol. “He got back with his blocker and stick to make a huge save, and that kind of set the tone and settled things down for us.”
What a save!
Takeaway #2: The Kraken defense is shoddy right now
We aren’t sure what has been going on with Seattle’s team defense since the All-Star break, but it needs improvement. It’s easy to point at the goalie and say, “He should have had that,” but bad breakdowns led to Adam Erne’s six-on-five goal late in the first and Jake Walman’s highlight-reel goal late in the second. And, let’s not forget the aforementioned Veleno opportunity on which Grubauer rescued his mates.
“We felt like we kind of gave our goalies a tough time tonight with making saves, and obviously didn’t make it easy for ourselves,” said McCann. “We need to clean it up and be better tomorrow.”
On the Erne goal, Seattle had a delayed penalty coming, and Ville Husso was off for an extra Detroit skater. Larsson and Dunn were right next to Erne, but Larsson engaged with Veleno and Dunn did nothing to tie up Erne’s stick or push him out of Jones’s grill. Erne got his stick on Mo Seider’s shot and deflected it inside the post.
The Walman goal was a comedy of errors. First, Alex Wennberg threw a pizza to the blue line, before Jaden Schwartz bit on the fake shot and slid right by Walman. Meanwhile, Will Borgen and Jamie Oleksiak stood at either side of the goal crease, while David Perron was left all alone to screen Grubauer.
What a goal by Jake Walman!
Wennberg threw a pizza🍕, then Walman faked Schwartz out of his… shorts. Perron provided the screen in front.
It’s becoming a common theme over several high-scoring games in a row that when Seattle gives up goals, they seem to have guys in the area that could take the body or lift up sticks, but they get caught puck watching.
Thankfully for their playoff hopes, the Kraken have played a couple inferior teams in a row, and they’ve gotten away with inconsistent play in their own zone. But, that needs to change quickly if they’re going to get past some of the better teams they’re set to face down the stretch.
“There’s a lot of things in there that we could critique and we want to be better at,” said Hakstol. “A lot of times that comes back to our puck play, but we were able to find a way through.”
Takeaway #3: Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand come up big
That was a pretty negative Takeaway for a crucial win, so let’s close this thing out with some warm fuzzies. Jared McCann and Oliver Bjorkstrand had a big night offensively for the Kraken and pushed them past the Red Wings.
We gave credit to Hakstol for his timely goalie change, but we also need to call out the lineup adjustment he made before the St. Louis game on Tuesday. It was a gutsy decision for him to separate Bjorkstrand from Seattle’s most consistent line with Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen, but the move has paid off with two straight wins.
Hakstol was clearly reluctant to make that change, which is why he tried guys like Brandon Tanev and Jesper Froden in Andre Burakovsky’s spot in the top six. But those guys are not top-six forwards. Oliver Bjorkstrand is a top-six forward, and he showed why on Thursday with two nice goals, including the overtime game winner.
Bjorkstrand’s first goal showed his offensive wherewithal in a couple different ways. First, he tried to set up Alex Wennberg with the always-dangerous pass off the pads. It did go to Wennberg but came off Husso’s pads a little too hot to for Wennberg to be able to skate into it. Instead, Bjorkstrand smartly crashed the net, and his old Blue Jackets teammate gave the puck back for an easy tap in.
BJORKSTRAND GIVES 'EM BACK THE LEAD! 🚨
Lots happening early here.
Pretty play, as Bjorkstrand makes the pass off the pad to Wennberg, who gives it right back for an easy tap in.
“Every time [Wennberg] gets the puck, you got to get open,” said Bjorkstrand. “The rebound came to him, and I knew that if I found that area, he would try to find me. He made a good pass, and easy for me to put it in.”
Bjorkstrand’s second goal finally gave the Kraken an official power-play goal on the night, after they scored two separate times, mere seconds after power plays had expired. With a four-on-three advantage, Bjorkstrand made a simple play, looping around the zone, and shooting against the grain as Schwartz took away Husso’s eyes.
McCann, meanwhile, is somewhat quietly having a phenomenal season. He set another new career high for goals Thursday, using his quick release to score twice in the first period. He now has 29 on the season, and would have had No. 30 and a hat trick if he hadn’t launched a shot over an open net at the first period horn.
The Kraken face another inferior opponent Friday in Columbus. With the change to the top six, the offense seems to be clicking again. Now, if they can just clean up some of the defensive mistakes, they could get back on a roll in March.
