Three Takeaways – Jared McCann gets 40th goal, Kraken get 100th point against Coyotes

by Darren Brown | Apr 10, 2023 | Three takeaways

The Kraken had a big second period Monday against the Coyotes and glided through to their fifth consecutive win, 4-1. Four unanswered goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand, Justin Schultz, Matty Beniers, and Jared McCann made a first-period icebreaking goal by Arizona’s Jack McBain feel irrelevant in the end. 

The Kraken beat the Coyotes three times in eight days by a combined score of 16-4, so we are confident Arizona’s players will be happy this season series is now over. 

Here are our Three Takeaways from another convincing Kraken victory. 

Takeaway #1: 40 goals for Jared McCann

Jared McCann has made general manager Ron Francis look like a genius over the past two seasons. The Penguins traded McCann to the Maple Leafs just before the 2021 Expansion Draft, and Toronto turned around and exposed him to Seattle. Francis and company snatched McCann up, and he has proven to be (arguably) the best selection the Kraken made in said Expansion Draft. 

Coming into Seattle’s inaugural campaign, McCann had never scored more than 19 goals in a season, and that was split between Florida and Pittsburgh in 2018-19. He followed that up with two consecutive 14-goal seasons, playing down the lineup for the Penguins, before getting to the Kraken and lighting it up. 

“I just needed a chance,” said McCann. “There’s a lot of guys in the NHL who don’t get the opportunity, not that they don’t deserve it. Sometimes it’s just the way it goes.” 

With an elevated opportunity in Seattle’s top six and a spot on the power play, McCann notched 27 goals last season, which was then a career high by a long shot, earning himself a five-year, $25 million contract extension from Francis in the offseason. 

McCann has smashed that career high to bits this season and hit an enormous milestone Monday by scoring his 40th goal on a play we’ve seen from him on many occasions. 

Every practice, McCann spends time looping around at the top of the left circle, taking a pass, and firing a shot. He does it over and over again to close out each on-ice session. The practice has paid off repeatedly this season, as McCann has done significant damage in that exact way. Against the Coyotes, he did it again.

On the power play, McCann passed it up top to Justin Schultz, who walked the line, and then gave it back to McCann. The lateral movement from Schultz gave McCann just enough time to do his little loop and get in position for his lethal shot. McCann fired it through the legs of Josh Brown and under the glove of Ivan Prosvetov. 

The goal was also McCann’s 70th point of the year, after he had assisted on Matty Beniers’ second-period marker with a slick little drop pass. 

Boy, at $5 million per year, that new contract looks like a real bargain now. 

Takeaway #2: 100 points for the Kraken 

The magical second Kraken season continued Monday, as they hit 100 points in the standings. As our good friend, Curtis Isacke, pointed out, Seattle is just the third team ever to reach 100 points after earning 60 or fewer the season prior. 

Coming into this season, a 40-point improvement seemed almost unimaginable, and yet here we are. 

“Everybody knows that’s a nice marker for our group,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We want them to be proud of that. That’s a hell of a number. A lot of these guys that were here through the year last year, to be here a year later, they need to take a lot of credit for that.” 

This is a weird point in the season, though. The Kraken have clinched a postseason spot and—based on possible playoff matchups—their best bet for getting through the first round likely comes from the Central Division. But as Seattle has mowed down bottom dwellers over the last week, they’ve closed in on Los Angeles for the third spot in the Pacific Division. If the Kraken do jump the Kings, they would most likely face Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers. 

The Kraken did pass LA in the standings for a fleeting moment Monday, drawing level in points with a game in hand, but the Kings beat the Canucks 3-0 to go back up by two on Seattle. 

It’s such an odd spot because fans should want Seattle riding high as they hit the postseason, but we at Sound Of Hockey would prefer not to face the Oilers right away. So, would it be better for Seattle to lose one or both of these next two games against Vegas? Or do they play to win to help on the mental side of things?

Takeaway #3: Perfect handling of the goaltenders

After Martin Jones got hurt Saturday, we got excited about the idea of Arizona State alumnus, Joey Daccord, potentially playing at ASU’s Mullett Arena. Daccord is the only ASU player ever to play in the NHL, and he was a huge part of bringing that program to life after it moved up to NCAA Division I. Daccord has such a love for the university, in fact, he still has a Sun Devil pitchfork on the back of his mask and a “Sparky” mascot hidden in the paint job. 

Much to our chagrin, Hakstol opted to play Philipp Grubauer against the Coyotes, leaving Daccord and his cool mask on the bench. 

We fully understand the decision, though, and we probably would have done the same thing. If it were us, and we were trying to prepare for the playoffs, we would want our starting goalie feeling as confident as possible at the conclusion of the regular season. Playing the first game of back-to-backs against a bad team gave Grubauer a much better chance of feeling good about himself than playing in the second game against the Golden Knights in Vegas (Seattle’s opponent on Tuesday). 

Lo and behold, Grubauer looked sharp Monday and stopped 22 of 23 shots, surely a nice confidence booster for him. 

And, in a classy move by Hakstol, Daccord was sent in to close the game in the last couple minutes. He got a standing ovation from the home crowd as he stepped onto the ice for a moment he will never forget.

“He didn’t get a chance to play in this building during his time here, but he had a huge role in growing this program and growing hockey in this community,” said Hakstol. “So, in an ideal world, maybe at a different time of year, it would have been nice to get Joey a start. We couldn’t— that wasn’t the right thing for our team, so we were able to get him a minute, minute and a half at the end of the game.”

We expect Daccord to get the start Tuesday in Vegas. 

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 – Kraken win 7-3 over Blackhawks, clinch top wild card, lose Martin Jones

by Darren Brown | Apr 9, 2023 | Three takeaways

For Saturday’s game between the Kraken and the Blackhawks, we found ourselves watching with a slightly different energy than we’ve had during games throughout the season. Now that the Kraken have clinched their first playoff appearance, the tension went down a notch, as Seattle cruised by a team that is actively trying to lose. 

Still, it was a party-like atmosphere in Climate Pledge Arena, where fans continued to celebrate the home team and its remarkable turnaround from last season. With the win, the Kraken are now one win away from 100 points on the season after finishing last season at the bottom of the Pacific Division with a measly 60 points. 

Here are our Three Takeaways from an imperfect—but ultimately easy—7-3 Kraken win over the Blackhawks. 

Takeaway #1: Seven different goal scorers 

There are only so many different ways we can write about Seattle’s depth scoring being its strength, but the team demonstrated this for the umpteenth time Saturday. Seven different players found the back of the net, 12 players had points, and four players had multi-point games. 

The most notable scorers on the night were Jamie Oleksiak, who had three assists, Daniel Sprong (again), who had a goal and two assists, and Jared McCann, who scored his 39th goal of the season. 

“That’s kind of been our strength all year,” said Jordan Eberle, who became the club’s fifth 20-goal scorer on the season. “Every line, it seems like we’re getting contributions each night from different guys, different lines, defense pairings, whatever it may be. So that’s obviously a big skill to have going into the playoffs.” 

We can’t help thinking of everything now in that context of the postseason. How will this balanced approach work in playoff hockey? We *think* it should be an advantage, but until we see Seattle in playoff action, we just don’t know.

We think about a team like Edmonton, which effectively has the opposite makeup of the Seattle Kraken. The Oilers have two of the most talented players in the world, and they lead the Western Conference—by a long shot—in goals scored. But they also give up a lot, and they are very top-heavy. They can be beaten if a team figures out a way to limit the damage Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can do.

On the other side of the coin, a team like the Kraken probably won’t have one guy put his mates on his back and carry them through a series. But it’s awfully difficult to check a team that has a 20-goal scorer even on its fourth line. 

Thinking that way gives us hope the Kraken can surprise some folks in the coming weeks.

Takeaway #2: Adam Larsson has silky mitts, Dave Hakstol has jokes

With the Kraken killing a penalty midway through the second period, Adam Larsson, Yanni Gourde, and Alex Wennberg found themselves on a three-on-two rush into the offensive zone. Larsson passed it to Gourde, who gave it right back to the defenseman, but Larsson shot it off the outside of the net. He then blew a tire and crashed hard into the end boards, and then—from a prone position—extended his stick and tripped Seth Jones. 

It wasn’t the smoothest-looking play, and the penalty came 200 feet from Seattle’s net, an area in which coaches generally despise taking penalties. It put the Kraken down five-on-three for almost a full minute. 

Jones scored his second goal of the game during the two-man advantage, and that brought Chicago back into the game at 3-2. The marker came before Morgan Geekie’s initial penalty had ended, so Larsson remained in the box, and the Kraken stayed on the penalty kill. 

Larsson’s teammates did kill off the rest of his infraction, and when he came out of the box, he quickly made amends for taking the penalty that led to the goal against. 

Oleksiak deflected a Chicago pass to McCann, and McCann quickly passed to the newly freed Larsson in the neutral zone. On a breakaway, Larsson showed off some silky moves and deked Peter Mrazek right out of his jock. 

This isn’t the first time Larsson has made a move like that; he scored the overtime game-winning goal in Dallas on March 21 in similar fashion. 

The goal led to some good chuckles in the dressing room after the game. Larsson was asked if he should be a candidate for future shootouts, and he said, “Yeah, I think so. But Hak probably doesn’t think so.” 

Following that, Hakstol was then asked if he knew Larsson had that kind of move in his toolbox. Hakstol said, “Which, the one when we went down five-on-three, or the one after?”

That’s cold, coach. That’s cold.

Takeaway #3: First wild card clinched, new health concerns

Now that the Kraken have hit the first big postseason-related milestone, it’s our opinion here at Sound Of Hockey that the two best things Seattle can do are 1.) stay healthy, and 2.) stay right where they are in the standings. 

On the health front, there are a couple new concerns after Saturday’s game. Martin Jones left after the second period and was not on the bench for the third period. Asked if it was injury or illness that forced Jones out of the game, Hakstol said, “[He was] just unavailable. I won’t comment, but it wasn’t illness.” 

We expect Philipp Grubauer to be the starter throughout Seattle’s playoff run, but the team needs two goalies. You simply never know what can happen, and if the top guy falters, it’s always good to have a second guy that can potentially turn the tide in a series. 

Joey Daccord has reportedly been recalled from Coachella Valley, so there’s obviously something going on with Jones. Daccord playing in the arena of his alma mater sure would add some intrigue to Seattle’s game against the Coyotes on Monday, though, wouldn’t it?  

Also worth noting, Jaden Schwartz did not play Saturday. We would guess that’s more of a maintenance thing, but Hakstol did say he’s “day to day,” so we will keep an eye on that. Meanwhile, Andre Burakovsky, who skated with the team for the first time last week, hasn’t skated with his mates since then. 

As for seeding for the playoffs, Seattle clinched the first wild card spot, so they can’t move backwards and can’t face the top seed in the Pacific Division. That’s a good thing. They are quickly closing in on Los Angeles for third place, though, and they currently sit just two points back with a game in hand on the Kings. 

Meanwhile, Edmonton is two points behind the Golden Knights. If Seattle were to leapfrog the Kings, they would play either the Oilers or Golden Knights, whichever team finishes second in the division.

“You’re always looking at the standings,” said Oleksiak. “But, you know, you can only control what you can control, right? So I think we’re just going into games, getting as many points as we can, and see what happens here. I think at the start of the year, a lot of people probably didn’t see us where we’re at now.”

We like the Central Division matchups that would come with Seattle’s current position better than Vegas or Edmonton, so it may behoove Seattle to drop a game or two in these last few outings. 

Three Takeaways – Kraken beat Coyotes, clinch first playoff berth

by Darren Brown | Apr 7, 2023 | Three takeaways

What a night that was. As the Kraken stepped onto the ice before their game against the Coyotes, and “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys blasted in Climate Pledge Arena, the crowd let out the type of cheer that only comes when a fanbase is truly proud of its team. It was one of those cheers that sent goosebumps up and down our arms and made us reflect on what an incredible journey the last two seasons have been.

That journey is far from over, but the Kraken hit a major milestone Thursday by qualifying for their first playoff appearance with a 4-2 win over Arizona. 

“We’re new, right?” said coach Dave Hakstol. “Everybody in this room a year and 10 months ago was new, but we’ve grown a little bit. So that belief has shown itself, and we probably put just a little building block of tradition in place by solidifying a playoff spot tonight.”

To get Seattle over the line, the entire Jared McCann / Matty Beniers / Jordan Eberle line contributed in a big way, combining for eight points, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots.

Here are our Three Takeaways from a memorable night.  

Takeaway #1: A huge night for the McCann/Beniers/Eberle line

Last game, we were raving about a Matty Beniers backcheck that thwarted a JT Miller breakaway. This game, we’re raving about the forechecking he did to create two goals for his linemates. Oh, and he scored a beautiful goal to boot on a night when his whole line was clicking.

Beniers’ first goal-producing attack came in the waning moments of the first period with the game tied 0-0. Jared McCann tried to center the puck, but it got deflected behind the net. Nick Schmaltz corralled it but couldn’t escape Beniers, who seemed to read Schmaltz’s mind and took the puck right off his stick. In a flash, Beniers had found Jordan Eberle in front, who got it back to McCann for McCann’s 38th goal of the season. 

The second goal Beniers created came six minutes into the second period, although Beniers actually did not get onto the scoresheet for this one. With the puck deep in Arizona’s zone, JJ Moser was first on the puck. His defense partner, Patrik Nemeth, slowed down to create a pick and fend off Beniers. That plan backfired, though, because Beniers checked Nemeth into Moser, who coughed up the puck to McCann. It was the old two-for-one special. 

“Gotta try to do something,” Beniers said. “Just trying to push them in, trying to make them make a mistake, and it kind of popped to Canner, and Canner made a great play.”

McCann returned the favor to Eberle from earlier in the game, and Eberle had all day to wait out Karel Vejmelka and give Seattle a 3-0 lead. 

The two veteran forwards didn’t keep all the goal-scoring glory for themselves, though, as they worked together to send their rookie mate on a breakaway 3:37 into the third period. On that play, McCann made an elite defensive read to pick off a Juuso Valimaki pass in the Kraken zone. He spun and passed to Eberle, who then sprung Beniers. Beniers went in and sniped his 23rd goal of the season, then skated by the Coyotes bench and either shushed them or hit ’em with the Shooter McGavin finger gun. 

“I don’t know if I did that, did I?” Beniers said with a massive grin. “Emotions run high, so I don’t know. I don’t even remember doing that, so… sorry.” 

Takeaway #2: More late-game silliness from the Coyotes

It is a weird quirk in the NHL schedule that the Kraken and Coyotes are playing each other three times in a week, right at the end of the season. There must have been some carryover emotions from the Coyotes after the Kraken had embarrassed them 8-1 on Monday. In the most recent contest, the desert dogs embarrassed themselves, led by Liam O’Brien and Milos Kelemen.

In the third period, with the game out of reach, Will Borgen crushed Laurent Dauphin in the neutral zone with a clean hit. Kelemen quickly responded with a dirty hit from behind on Brandon Tanev. Tanev didn’t like that, and he got up punching. 

Later, the game got out of hand when Valimaki blindsided Eeli Tolvanen away from the puck. Yanni Gourde went after Valimaki, both teams converged, and O’Brien picked a fight with Borgen. 

Kelemen and O’Brien each received 17 penalty minutes for their roles on those two separate plays. 

This isn’t Seattle’s game, per se, but with the playoffs now officially on the horizon, we have been really impressed in these two games against the Coyotes with how the Kraken have handled themselves. They’re taking care of a bad team between the whistles, but after the whistle, they’re sticking up for each other when Arizona starts running around. Fighting isn’t a big part of the playoffs, but being willing to pay a physical price and stand up for your teammates certainly is. Seattle has shown this week that it is more than willing to pay that price. 

Takeaway #3: The Kraken did the damn thing

Coming into this season, the team was consistent in its message that the goal was to make the playoffs. Recognizing the massive turnaround that was needed, we were quite guarded in our optimism and were just hoping to see meaningful hockey at the end of the regular season. 

Seattle gave us that meaningful hockey and more, achieving its own goal and clinching its first playoff berth with four games left in the season. 

“You look at the leap that we made, I mean, it’s special,” said Eberle. “We’ve got a special group here, and I think from Day 1, a lot of people have written us off. And to get to this point is obviously an accomplishment.”

It’s a remarkable jump after the Kraken finished in the basement last season. Give credit to general manager Ron Francis for his many shrewd offseason additions, and even his in-season ones, like claiming Eeli Tolvanen. Also give credit to coach Dave Hakstol, who has proven time and again his ability to diagnose problems for his group and quickly fix them. The result has been an entire regular season in which a second-year team has avoided anything more than three consecutive losses. 

“We use the term and the word ‘belief,’ and that’s a really hard thing to establish,” said Hakstol. “But you establish it through working hard, you establish it through camaraderie, you establish it through going through some ups and downs together and coming out on the other side with a little bit of success. And this group did that throughout the season in small little increments.”

Now, staring down their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, can the Kraken make some noise? 

“I think this group feels that we’re not done,” said Eberle. “You look at the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that’s why it’s the funnest thing to play in, everybody has a chance. So, this is only half the battle, and now it’s time when the real work begins.” 

Kraken overcome two-goal deficit to beat Canucks in Vancouver for the first time; Magic Number down to 2 points

by Curtis Isacke | Apr 5, 2023 | Three takeaways

The Kraken came back from a 2-0 first period deficit to defeat the Canucks in Vancouver Tuesday night, 5-2. Seattle had been winless in its first six road meetings against its geographic rival to the north dating back to last year, but the Kraken have now won their first in Rogers Arena, taken two straight from the Canucks, and even “won” the 2022-23 season series with Vancouver, five standings points to four.

More importantly, the Kraken now have 94 standings points overall with five games remaining on the schedule. The team is now just one victory (or two standings points, however secured) away from earning its first ever berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. (More on this below.) The stakes are clear for this team as it returns to Seattle Thursday for a second game in four days with the Arizona Coyotes.

Main Takeaway

The Kraken penalty kill wrote the narrative in Vancouver. The team was five-for-five killing penalties overall (including one in the first period and a double-minor in the third period), but it was how the team handled two overlapping penalties early in the second period that really changed this game.

The Kraken came into the second period down 2-1. They weathered a first Vancouver power play chance late in the first and into the second, but couldn’t convert that kill into any momentum because the team quickly took two more undisciplined stick infractions. First, Vince Dunn tripped Sheldon Dries at 2:17 in the second; and then, just over a minute later, Alex Wennberg’s stick caught J.T. Miller up high.

Facing an extended two-man disadvantage of almost a minute, the Seattle penalty killers did an admirable job winning the defensive zone draw, clearing the zone, and then denying controlled zone re-entries for much of that time. Yanni Gourde, in particular, stood out for his active work.

After killing the first penalty, Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy attempted a clear, but the puck ricocheted off Conor Garland and directly to Brandon Tanev who broke up the ice one-on-one with Vancouver defenseman Akito Hirose. Jared McCann jumped into the play as well, which held Hirose off, and Tanev snapped off a wicked wrist shot high blocker for a shorthanded goal at 5:07 in the second period.

Tanev’s score only tied the game at 2-2, but it effectively ended the night for Vancouver. The Canucks managed just six more shots on goal over the remaining 35 minutes of game action and never again looked like a team capable of beating Seattle. The Kraken, on the other hand, poured on 17 more shots on goal and lit the lamp three more times (including an empty netter). The penalty kill was the difference maker.

Source: MoneyPuck

After the game, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol noted the importance of this stretch. “The kills in the second, the five-on-three, and then finding a [short-handed goal] to tie the game up, that really energized the bench,” Hakstol said.

Stock Up

Penalty Kill. As mentioned above, Seattle went five-or-five on the penalty kill. Since January 16, 2023, the Kraken rank second in the NHL in fewest opponent power play goals allowed, with just twelve allowed. The Carolina Hurricanes are first in this stretch with just eight allowed goals. Similarly, the Kraken are second overall in net goals while at a manpower disadvantage in this time period. The Kraken have scored four shorthanded goals, for a net negative eight goals overall; again only the Hurricanes are better, at net negative five.  Good stuff from this group, which has found its footing since going to a diamond scheme and incorporating Jared McCann as a forward penalty killer.

Matty Beniers. Some of the talk coming into this one was about payback for Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers for his hit on Beniers during the last meeting between these two teams. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol conceded before the game that the team hadn’t forgotten that hit, but insisted the team’s focus was on two points and the drive for the playoffs. Beniers did not disappoint in this regard. After Brandon Tanev leveled the score at two goals apiece, Beniers’ line went to work at even strength, and the young forward ground away on the boards, won the puck battle, and centered for Jordan Eberle for a beautiful go-ahead, game-winning goal. 

This is the type of play the Kraken will need to see from the young Calder Trophy candidate if the team is going to make any noise in postseason play.

Later in the second period, a ferocious backcheck from Beniers foiled a J.T. Miller shorthanded scoring chance. Hakstol called it a “huge” play that “erased what could have been a game-changing mistake.” Kraken fans have come to expect this kind of defensive play from Beniers, but it is worth taking a moment to note just how incredible Beniers’s defensive contributions have been this year. On-ice shot effect models characterize his defensive zone play as somewhere between very good and elite. And all of this is coming at a young age, before we would expect Beniers’s defensive play to peak. The sky is the limit for him on the defensive end, particularly if he can add some more strength to his game and improve his face-offs.

Source: JFresh Hockey

Defensive structure in the second half of the game. As mentioned above, the Vancouver Canucks managed just a half-dozen shots on goal over the second half of the game. The Kraken suffocated Vancouver’s transition game through the middle of the ice and shut down the dangerous scoring areas in the zone. In the third period, Natural Stat Trick credited Vancouver for generating shot quality worth just about one-third of an expected goal. This was great work by the Kraken protecting a lead—something the team has struggled to do in the past.

The Bjorkstrands. Oliver Bjorkstrand was a late scratch and did not play in this one because he was needed back in Seattle for the imminent birth of his first child. Congratulations to the Bjorkstrand family.

Stock Down

Some poor defensive coverage in the first period. A few lackadaisical plays in coverage through the middle of the ice and in the defensive zone cost the team in the early going. First, certified Kraken killer Elias Pettersson tipped in a goal when Will Borgen failed to neutralize him in front of the net. Later, Anthony Beauvillier finished off a cross-seam pass—read poorly by Martin Jones and the Kraken defense—into an open net. Fortunately, from Seattle’s perspective, Yanni Gourde found the back of the net on a screened long-distance wrister to give the team some momentum at the end of the first frame.

Alex Wennberg’s stick control. Wennberg took six minutes worth of penalties for getting his stick up into the faces of his opponents. Generally, Wennberg is a disciplined player who does not take many penalties, but he should be thankful his teammates picked him up in this one.

Jesper Froden and line shuffling. With Bjorkstrand out, Jesper Froden drew in on Yanni Gourde’s wing. Froden did not skate a normal compliment of shifts, however. Indeed, he ended with just 4:55 in total ice time. The coaching staff likely did not trust Froden to jump back in at full speed after such a long layoff. This led to some line juggling throughout the game and some sequences where the forward lines seemed out of sync.

Parting thoughts

Kraken prospect has a big night. Here’s a fun one: Jagger Firkus scored three straight goals for the Moose Jaw Warriors Tuesday in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. Moose Jaw is on the brink of eliminating Lethbridge, so it seems we will likely get to keep seeing the Firkus Circus for a while longer. We’ll be watching.

This Kraken team is built differently. This Kraken team generates offense in a fashion unlike any team the NHL has recently seen. According to the ROOT Sports broadcast, this Kraken team is the first since the 2005-06 season to have 13 different skaters record 30 or more points. And ROOT Sports’s Scott Malone noted on Twitter that the Kraken are the first team in more than 30 years to have 13 different players score 12 or more goals.

The depth of scoring has powered this team to within striking distance of the playoffs. “That’s been a part of our group’s success all of the way through and it’s going to have to continue for us to be in [the playoffs] and for us to have success once we get in,” Hakstol said after the game. Will it translate if and when the Kraken qualify for the postseason? That is the question.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are in sight. The Kraken now have 94 standings points and sit in the first of two wild card positions in the Western Conference. Seattle is competing with the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and Nashville Predators for these two playoff spots. If Winnipeg wins out its remaining games, the Jets would end up with 99 standings points. If Nashville wins out, it will get 96 standings points. If Calgary wins out its remaining games, it will end with 95 standings points. Since the Kraken already hold the regulation win tie-breaker on Nashville, regardless of the remaining games, this means the Kraken need to match Nashville’s maximum point total (96) to clinch one of the two wild card spots in the playoffs. In other words, the Kraken need just two more standings points from their remaining five games to clinch the postseason. They’ll have a chance to get those two points at home on Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

Three Takeaways – Kraken close in on playoff spot with easy 8-1 win over Coyotes

by Darren Brown | Apr 4, 2023 | Three takeaways

The Kraken took another big step toward their first playoff berth with a dominant 8-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes Monday at Climate Pledge Arena. After letting inferior teams hang around for a little too long in recent victories, Seattle put this one out of reach in the second period and left no doubt in the end. 

Jared McCann had two goals, and Daniel Sprong, Vince Dunn, Carson Soucy, Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Justin Schultz each had two points. Meanwhile, Philipp Grubauer stopped 21 of 22 shots and had an assist of his own. 

With the easy win, the Kraken got themselves off on the right tentacle for what figures to be a series of winnable games over the next week. It put them back to five points up on Calgary with a game in hand, and with Nashville losing Monday, the Predators are almost cooked. Now, by our math, if the Kraken can win three of their last six games, they are guaranteed a playoff spot, regardless of what happens elsewhere. Losses by Nashville and Calgary would shrink that number even more.

Here are our Three Takeaways from a big 8-1 Kraken win over the Coyotes, which earned the home squad two enormous points in the standings. 

Takeaway #1: Jared McCann is so good

If Jared McCann ends up scoring 40 goals this season, he may go down as the 40-goal scorer with the least national press attention in history.

After potting two Monday against Arizona in his 500th career game, he needs just three more to hit the 40-goal milestone, a number typically reserved for the top echelon of players in the NHL. Yet, nobody seems to talk about him outside of Seattle. 

“I’m not a guy that’s really focused on numbers,” McCann said. “I want to win a Stanley Cup. That’s the main thing, right? Your time in the NHL goes by so quickly, ask anybody on our team that’s been in the league [for a while], Jordan, Jaden, even some of those guys that have won a Cup. You have to work so hard for it, and if you get in the playoffs, it’s special and you need to take advantage of it.”

Ok, fine, but still, for a guy that says he’s had to “grind it out” in his career, we think it’s pretty special that he’s closing in on 40 goals after never hitting 20 before arriving in Seattle. 

McCann’s first goal of the night came shorthanded after Matty Beniers broke up an Arizona zone entry, then quickly turned the puck north. Facing even numbers, Beniers and McCann did a simple cross-and-drop play, and McCann quickly snapped off his lethal shot, getting some help from an Arizona deflection. 

McCann’s second goal of the night and 37th of the year was an absolute banger, and one that he created almost entirely on his own. He, Soucy, and Travis Boyd were all whacking away at a bouncing puck, just inside the Seattle blue line. McCann came away with it, and he and Jordan Eberle were off to the races on a two-on-one rush. Eberle went hard to the far post, and McCann did the rest. 

The star scorer tried to toe drag the puck around the outstretched stick of Juuso Valimaki. Valimaki got a piece of it, but not enough to fully dislodge it, so McCann carried on with his drive to the slot and fired the puck against the grain. It was a perfect shot, off the inside of the post and in behind Ivan Prosvetov. 

“He had a great year last year here, and this year… he’s coming up big for us,” said Sprong. “He’s a threat offensively, he has the shot, and he’s dangerous every time he’s on the ice. And, you know, it’s [his] 500th game, so it’s good to see that he had a night like that. He deserved it.”

McCann’s pace had slowed of late—he had two goals in his previous 10 games before scoring twice against Arizona—so it was encouraging to see him get back on the horse in a big way. 

Takeaway #2: The power play is suddenly cooking

We were chatting with Sprong this week about the power play, and he told us he thought the units had been getting good looks recently, so he felt like it was only a matter of time before they started clicking again. He has been a big part of the recent success, from his position on the left half wall on Seattle’s second unit, which is where he scored his crucial goal from against the Ducks on Thursday.

Sprong may have used that goal in the Anaheim game to the Kraken’s advantage Monday, as Coyotes defenders—who surely had seen the goal in their pre-scout—seemed to shift toward him once he got the puck. Instead of letting his wicked shot go this time, he whipped a shot-pass into the slot, where Jordan Eberle was waiting for the redirect.

The power-play goal got Seattle on the board, marking the third game in a row the Kraken have converted with the man advantage. 

“We’re moving the puck, we’re getting pucks on net, we’re playing with confidence on the power play,” said Sprong. “And we’re taking the chances we need, the looks are there, and we’re capitalizing on it. So it’s good momentum for us, especially near the end of the year.”

Takeaway #3: That was the killer instinct Seattle needs this week 

The second of back-to-backs Tuesday in Vancouver could be a tough game for the Kraken, but even so, it’s fair to say Seattle faces a weak schedule this week. The Kraken need to win a few more before they officially qualify for the playoffs, though, so taking care of business against these bad teams is critical. 

The Kraken did just that against the Coyotes, and they left no doubt in this one, something we couldn’t say about their March 30 win against Anaheim. In that game, Seattle had chances to put a weaker opposing team away in the second period, but failed to do so, letting the Ducks hang around and giving a generally nervy feeling. 

Monday against the Coyotes, the Kraken ended the second up 4-1 and gave themselves a good, comfortable third period to cruise through to victory. 

“I think we just said in the dressing room, ‘We gotta stay on ’em,'” said McCann. “We can’t let up. We have a tendency to kind of back up a little more and kind of play defensive, and that kind of puts us in the soup sometimes. So we did a good job of staying on ’em tonight.”

As an aside, we love that phrase, “It puts us in the soup.”

What we saw in this one is exactly what we would love to see in Seattle’s next four games against Vancouver, Arizona again, Chicago, and… Arizona… again. Keep playing like that and closing bad teams out early, and clinching a playoff spot will be a breeze. 

Bonus Takeaway: Unnecessary Roughness

Things got feisty at the end of this one. At 12:19 of the third period, Liam O’Brien gave Jamie Oleksiak no choice other than to fight him, a challenge Oleksiak accepted. O’Brien—who is much smaller than the 6-foot-7 Oleksiak—got the worst of it, but hey, at least O’Brien had his name called by the radio and TV broadcasters for his trouble. 

Moments later, Soucy delivered a textbook reverse hit on Lawson Crouse, who then wanted to fight Soucy for some reason. The linesmen broke them up, but had they been allowed to drop the gloves, Soucy would have gotten a Gordie Howe hat trick. 

Finally—and this is where things got out of hand—when Ryan Donato scored to make it 8-1, Sprong was going hard to the net. A second after the goal, Connor Mackey blew up Sprong with a completely unnecessary hit. Donato saw it and immediately went after Mackey, who dropped his gloves and punched Donato several times. 

The hit by Mackey was an apparent retaliation for a hit Sprong had on Mackey earlier in the game, which earned Sprong an obvious interference penalty. 

Here is what Sprong said about the play by Mackey. 

Worth noting again, these teams play each other two more times in the next week. 

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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