Three Takeaways – Kraken blow lead, lose to Pettersson (and the Canucks) in shootout

by Darren Brown | Dec 22, 2022 | Three takeaways

One day, the Seattle Kraken will beat the Vancouver Canucks.

It really felt like that first elusive victory was going to come Thursday, as Seattle had the game in its grasp. After Daniel Sprong put the Kraken back up by two goals six minutes into the third period, we were certain they would be skating into the Christmas break with a three-game win streak. 

Instead, Elias Pettersson dominated, registering points on all five of Vancouver’s goals, including scoring the game-tying goal late in the third period. For good measure, Pettersson also sealed it with the shootout winner because of course he did. 

That loss was as painful as they come, and it will certainly leave a bad taste in the mouths of players, coaches, and fans alike. 

“They had a push, and you know, they capitalized on their chances,” said Sprong. “Sometimes that’s the way hockey goes, but it’s of course not the way we wanted to end going into the break.” 

Here are our Three Takeaways from a stinging 6-5 Kraken shootout loss to the Canucks. 

Takeaway #1: Credit where it’s due; Elias Pettersson was outstanding

Sometimes you just have to tip your hat.

Michael Jordan’s most famous performance came when he was battling flu-like symptoms in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Though we don’t put Pettersson in the same echelon as Jordan, this was an individual performance that will go down in Canucks lore for similar reasons.

Prior to this game, it was stated that Pettersson was a game-time decision after missing Vancouver’s previous two games with the flu. Coincidentally, the Canucks had lost those two by a combined score of 10-2. If Pettersson was feeling any lasting effects from the illness, it didn’t show against the Kraken. He factored in on all five of Vancouver’s goals and scored twice before closing out the game with the shootout winner. 

With the Kraken leading by two, Yanni Gourde took a slashing penalty on Quinn Hughes in the offensive zone at 8:18 of the third period. The Canucks’ lethal power play went to work, and from that point on, it was all downhill for Seattle. That was where Pettersson really took over. 

On that power play, the Canucks were snapping the puck around Seattle’s zone, and Pettersson hit Brock Boeser with a perfect shot-pass at the top of the crease for an easy redirect. That brought the Canucks back within one. 

Late in regulation, with the score still 5-4 and netminder Spencer Martin off for the extra skater, Vancouver’s six-on-five advantage looked very similar to a power play. The Canucks quickly worked it around the zone, and J.T. Miller found Pettersson for a one-time blast and an emotional game-tying goal. 

Believe it or not, Pettersson was also one of three Canucks to hit the post in the overtime period, before he potted the deciding goal in the shootout.

The score on the night was 5-0 Vancouver with Pettersson on the ice and 5-0 Seattle when he was off.

Of course, we would have liked some better defensive coverage from the Kraken, but there are times when you have to give credit to the opponent. Pettersson was incredible Thursday. 

Takeaway #2: Too many mistakes

Kraken fans were deservedly riding high for most of this one, and after Sprong scored his second of the game to again put his team ahead by two, we too were convinced this one was in the bag. But if you look back at the goals against, there were just too many mistakes made by the Kraken in all three zones that allowed Vancouver to get back in the game. 

On Vancouver’s first goal, Justin Schultz played too tight on Andrei Kuzmenko in the neutral zone, then lost him and allowed him to find Pettersson coming through with speed. That created the two-on-one opportunity, and Lane Pederson eventually scored. 

The third Canucks goal came seconds after Seattle had a golden chance to take a three-goal lead at the other end. On a three-on-two rush, Jaden Schwartz passed to Andrei Burakovsky, who was in a prime scoring position. Instead of shooting, Burakovsky tried to force one more pass to Yanni Gourde, but it was broken up, and suddenly the Kraken had three players above the puck. Five passes later, it went from almost being a three-goal game to instead being a one-goal game. 

“The third goal injected a little bit of life into them, even though we got that back right away,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “That changed the tone of the period a little bit. We take a penalty a couple minutes later, and they get it to a one-goal game.” 

If you look at every goal, you can find a pivotal spot where Seattle was either not strong enough on the stick to get a clear or blew a coverage and left a player standing wide open next to Martin Jones. 

No matter how well you’re playing offensively, when you make mistakes like Seattle made Thursday, you’re asking for the opposition to get back in the game. 

Takeaway #3: That one will sting for a while 

There were a lot of positives to take out of this one. Here are a few: 

• The Kraken got their first point ever against Vancouver, giving them five out of a possible six in their last three games before the Christmas break. 
• Sprong scored two goals, giving him 10 goals on the season and putting him well on his way for the best season of his career, despite playing exclusively on the fourth line. 
• Oliver Bjorkstrand had two points, including a nice finish off a great dish by Schwartz on a two-on-one. That was Bjorkstrand’s first goal since Nov. 29, and boy, did he ever need/deserve it. 
• 11 different players had points for the Kraken. 

Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, that is one of the more painful losses in Kraken history. They had a great start, scored first, and had two-goal leads on three separate occasions during this game, only to have it all unravel in the end. 

“There’s a couple things we have to do better,” said Hakstol. “We have to do better when we’ve got a two-goal lead. You know, that’s a game that we feel like we should be able to close out.” 

Making it sting even more, it came against Seattle’s closest geographical rival, a team the Kraken still have somehow not beaten in six tries. AND it was just one game after Seattle defeated the Blues, another team it had previously never beaten. 

So, that one hurts a lot, and having it happen as the last thing we’ll remember for the next six days of this holiday break doesn’t help. 

The Kraken do have the second-best point percentage in the Pacific Division at Christmas. We hope that lessens the sting.

Three Takeaways – Pretty stretch passes help Kraken earn first win over Blues

by Darren Brown | Dec 21, 2022 | Three takeaways

The Kraken were in the holiday spirit Tuesday, and they gifted their home fans with a solid 5-2 win over a St. Louis Blues team that had Seattle’s number coming into the game. In fact, the Kraken had lost all four previous meetings against the Blues.

In front of a boisterous full house at Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle got on the board late in the first period, dominated the second period to get out to a 4-0 lead, and then held on despite some hiccups in the third to earn the victory. 

“It’s huge,” said Ryan Donato. “It just goes to show when you do the right things, you can beat a lot of good teams in this league.”

Things got loose in the final frame, which coach Dave Hakstol didn’t like. But by that time, Seattle had gotten so far ahead, a big save by Martin Jones and an empty netter by Brandon Tanev quickly assuaged any growing angst in the festive crowd.

Here are our Three Takeaways from the first ever Kraken win over the Blues. 

Takeaway #1: Stretch passes are really cool when they work

Seattle scored two breakaway goals Tuesday, one by Donato to make it 1-0 in the first period, and one by Daniel Sprong to make it 3-0 in the second. 

The finishes by both players were impressive, but what really made the goals pretty were the home run passes that set them up. 

Donato’s goal, which came 16:27 into the game, was created by an outstanding 125-foot pass by Adam Larsson from deep in the Kraken zone. Drifting back and surveying the ice, Larsson spotted Donato coming off the bench and snapped a pass all the way to the far blue line. Donato did the rest. 

“That was a spectacular pass from him,” said Donato. “I saw it coming a little bit, but with him going backwards with his momentum carrying him that way, to be able to get it all the way across his body and up that far, that was awesome.” 

Hakstol noted that Larsson actually had options on the play and said he made the right read. “If we’re going to go into a full line change, you got an option of bringing it back, getting organized, and getting five guys going up ice, in which case, you’re going to face five of them,” said Hakstol. “Or doing what he did, he read the play, he saw speed coming off the bench, and  he got it moving.”

Not to be outdone, Geekie too made an unbelievable pass to… wait for it… spring Sprong for his breakaway goal. As Tanev was slinging the puck around the boards in Seattle’s end, Geekie made a quick look to see where Sprong was on the ice. Then as soon as the puck got to Geekie just inside the blue line, he blindly spun and fired the puck up to his linemate before getting clobbered by Colton Parayko. 

While we didn’t get the sense from Hakstol that the Kraken were looking to exploit opportunities to connect on stretch passes, they sure utilized them to perfection Tuesday. 

Takeaway #2: Ryan Donato is cooking

It has been easy to root for Ryan Donato ever since he signed with the Kraken before the team’s inaugural season. He’s gotten kicked around the league a bit in his career, and even after a good year with Seattle in 2021-22, he was not tendered a qualifying offer and could have left as an unrestricted free agent. 

Yet, here he is, again filling whatever role Hakstol asks him to fill, and again finding ways to produce offensively. Donato’s first-period tally Tuesday gave him goals in four consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career, and this one was a beauty. 

“As I was going in on the breakaway, I just kind of closed my eyes and hoped for the best,” Donato said. We aren’t sure we fully believe him on that, since he made a heck of a move to get Thomas Greiss moving the wrong direction before pitching it up high. “You kind of pray for those opportunities. They don’t come around very often, and when they do, you’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t capitalize on them.”

Interestingly, Donato scored in three straight games right around this time last year as well. He has been streaky at times in his career, but he has the ability to score in bunches and do so in different ways. That’s what we’re seeing from him now.

“It definitely is sweet,” he said. “It’s exciting, but I mean at the end of the day, I think everybody in here can agree that it’s more about winning, so for me, to be a part of that win, it’s definitely a good feeling.” 

Takeaway #3: Both goalies are playing well

We didn’t love Philipp Grubauer’s game in Tampa Bay on Dec. 13, but since then Seattle has gotten three straight solid performances in net. Two of those good starts have come from Grubauer and one has come from Jones. 

It is exciting to see both goalies starting to play well again, as things weren’t looking too good in that area during Seattle’s recent two-week rut. Neither has faced huge volumes of shots in these last two games against St. Louis and Winnipeg, but there were important saves made by both netminders at key points in those respective games. 

Jones’s best save Tuesday came in the third period, soon after a miscue between Will Borgen and Carson Soucy let Parayko get St. Louis on the board. With the Blues showing life after the goal, Jones slid to his left to rob Brandon Saad and—at that time—keep the score at 4-1. 

Pavel Buchnevich did notch a power-play goal two minutes later, but if both of those had gone in, we have a feeling this story would have a very different tone. 

Hakstol said it’s important to have both goalies performing. “You gotta have it. I’ve said it all year, both guys gotta do their part, and Jonesy did his part tonight, just like Grubi did a couple nights ago.”

Suddenly, it feels like the team can be comfortable with whichever goalie it taps to start in Vancouver on Thursday, where the Kraken will play their final game before the Christmas break. 

Three Takeaways – Kraken get an important 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets

by Darren Brown | Dec 18, 2022 | Three takeaways

Getting a win over the Winnipeg Jets Sunday felt important for the Seattle Kraken on multiple levels. 

Not only has the team been in a rut since the start of December, this particular game was against an opponent that was on the second night of back-to-back games with its backup goalie playing. The Jets were also the team that beat Seattle in overtime on Nov. 13, when the Kraken had the lead late, but Carson Soucy took an undisciplined penalty that cost the team the win that night. 

And although the Kraken still have games in hand on almost all of their divisional rivals, they have been losing ground in the standings. 

One win doesn’t necessarily cure all of a struggling team’s problems, but it definitely helps build confidence. Seattle needed that one. Here are our Three Takeaways from an important 3-2 Kraken win over the Jets. 

Takeaway #1: Goals don’t come easy in the NHL

For most of this season, the Kraken have enjoyed the spoils that come with having an astronomically high shooting percentage. As long as they were shooting, pucks were going in, the team was winning, and everybody was happy. 

It’s no coincidence that as Seattle got into its December downturn, the goals dried up. The players have clearly been gripping their hockey sticks a little too tightly, and while the Kraken came out on top Sunday, offensive success still didn’t come easy against the Jets. 

“That’s the league at this time of year,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We went through a stretch a couple weeks ago where there were some crazy scores, right? All over the league. But in general, the league gets tight.” 

Hakstol explained that as the season goes on, teams get better in their structure, and it becomes harder and harder to score. 

On Sunday, even against Winnipeg’s backup goalie, it was still hard to find goals. But Seattle stuck with it, kept firing shots at David Rittich, and eventually broke through enough times to take two points in the standings. 

“We stayed patient, we stayed with it, scored a couple determined goals, and that made the difference for us,” Hakstol said. 

Jared McCann, who scored the game winner on what Hakstol called a “world-class shot,” said he thought pucks had stopped going in because Seattle had been trying to get a little too cute offensively. 

“We kind of got away from shooting the puck a little bit,” McCann said. “I felt like we tried to make the extra play, the backdoor tap-in, that kind of thing. Sometimes that’s— you know, defensemen have such good sticks in the NHL. You’ve got to just shoot the puck sometimes, and you know, I try to preach that as much as possible.” 

By sticking with their game and continuing to push, the Kraken eventually earned the win they deserved Sunday. We hope this will get them to start really trusting in their abilities again to pull themselves out of this rut. 

Takeaway #2: Jordan Eberle had a ridiculous goal 

While McCann’s game-winning snipe was nice, Jordan Eberle’s goal to get Seattle on the board in the second period was nicer. 

Adam Larsson made a pass to Eberle at the left hash, and in one fluid motion, Eberle spun to his backhand and flung it toward Rittich. The puck eluded Rittich’s mask and snuck just under the bar. 

Ryan Donato, who also scored for the third game in a row, called Eberle’s goal “disgusting,” while McCann said it was “vintage Jordan Eberle.” McCann added that it was the kind of goal he remembers seeing from growing up watching Eberle play. He then joked he was probably making Eberle sound older than he actually is. 

“I had to look twice at it,” said Hakstol. “I think I was yelling ‘Shoot the puck!’ before Lars passed it over, but that’s just a great play by Ebs.”

Plays like that remind us that Eberle is a very gifted player. It was only his second goal in his last 10 games, so perhaps this will help him get rolling again.

Takeaway #3: A solid team game

Nothing about that Kraken win over the Jets was easy, but as we mentioned before, Seattle needed that one badly. What is encouraging about the victory is that the group really earned it by sticking to its game, playing mostly sound defense, and firing 34 shots at Rittich. 

“This is what we are, right?” said Hakstol. “As a team, we have to have everybody contributing. And it’s not about the number of minutes or who’s scoring the goals or anything like that, but when you’re out there you gotta do your part for the group.”

Seattle was good in all three zones and only let 17 shots through to Philipp Grubauer, with both goals against coming on Winnipeg power plays. Even in the closing minutes of the game, when the Jets were trying to push, the Kraken hemmed them into their zone so long, Rittich was having a hard time getting to the bench for an extra skater. 

“That’s the way we should play for 60 minutes,” said McCann. “If we could do that, we know we’re one of the best teams in the league. We need to find that every night.”

Getting out of a slump always happens step by step, and turning things around often comes with two steps forward and one step back. So, we don’t think Seattle is out of the woods yet, but Sunday was a nice move in the right direction.