Things haven’t been going too well for the Kraken lately, but it’s been an interesting week for the team, with lots of happenings. Seattle claimed Eeli Tolvanen this week, Jamie Oleksiak got suspended, and Justin Schultz got injured.
John, Andy, and Darren break down all the latest news and consider what has been happening with the club.
After Kraken talk, the guys go “Down on the Farm” to discuss Kole Lind scoring his second hat trick of the season, and the Coachella Valley Firebirds performing well. Andy also gives a WHL Update, which leads to some WJC talk.
Next, things shift to segments, which this week include:
When Kole Lind scores goals, they tend to come in bunches — at least that’s been the case this season.
The Kraken forward prospect notched a hat trick, his second of the season, during Coachella Valley’s 8-3 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Dec. 10.
Lind’s goal-scoring outbrust came in the Firebirds’ fifth consecutive win, which was eventually snapped the next night in a 5-4 overtime loss to Bakersfield.
Lind, 24, leads Coachella Valley with 10 goals on the season and is third on the team in points with 20. He also leads the team in penalty minutes with 35.
The Shaunavon, Saskatchewan native, who starred for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL during his junior career, figures to be one of the next forwards up in case Seattle needs to call up a forward. The second-round pick played in 23 games for the Kraken last year, scoring two goals and tallying eight assists.
With how the Kraken’s lineup looks currently, and with Eeli Tolvanen recently claimed off waivers from Nashville, it will likely take an injury for Lind to break the Kraken lineup. However, it’s certainly encouraging to see Lind producing at the AHL level in the meantime.
New arena opening in Coachella Valley
Speaking of Lind and the Firebirds, Coachella Valley will play its first game in its new home rink, Acrisure Arena, on Sunday, Dec. 18, against the Tucson Roadrunners. The Firebirds, who recently concluded a 16-game road trip, practiced on the new arena’s ice for the first time on Monday. The Desert Sun has the full story.
Additionally, all of the local connections that started camp with the team made the final roster. Seattle Thunderbirds forward Reid Schaefer was particularly excited.
Schaefer: *shakes head* “It was a time. We were just pacing back and forth in our hotel room. Then we heard the knock and we thought ‘oh boy’ but there was a camera in our face.”
Says first thing he did was call his dad. Hasn’t been able to answer the rest of the texts/calls.
Finland is another team to watch for Seattle fans. Forward Jani Nyman and goaltender Niklas Kokko, both second-round picks last year, will play for the Finns.
Nyman, who has seven goals and 10 points for Ilves in Liiga — Finland’s top league — this season, is expected to play a big role for a strong froward group. It will be ineresting to see if Kokko will earn the starting job for Finland between the pipes.
Kyle Jackson piling up points
Kyle Jackson, the Kraken’s seventh-round draft pick in 2022, is on a nice little stretch for the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion. The 20-year-old forward is riding a nine-game point streak and has notched at least two points in seven of those contests.
Jackson boasts 37 points with 17 goals in 29 games this season.
North Bay is a team to monitor for Kraken fans, as defense prospect Ty Nelson also plays for North Bay. The third-round pick’s 35 points rank third amongst OHL defensemen and amongst his North Bay teammates.
A slow start, a bad goal, and three bad minutes of hockey in the second period were all it took for the Kraken to get zapped out of Tampa Bay by the Lightning in lopsided fashion.
Tampa Bay’s stars were all shining at Amalie Arena, and after Seattle showed some bite to get back in the game in the second half of the first period and beginning of the second, a tough goal against got things rolling in the wrong direction for the Kraken.
In the end, the Lightning showed why they’re one of the NHL’s best teams, blowing out the Kraken 6-2. Here are our Three Takeaways from a painful loss.
Takeaway #1: You can’t start like that against Tampa Bay
The Kraken came out looking flat as a pancake against the Lightning, who coincidentally came out flying after cruising through their previous two games. By the 7:24 mark of the first period, the Bolts already had a 2-0 lead, and Seattle was chasing.
The Kraken hardly got the puck out of their defensive zone for the opening 10 minutes, and it was no surprise to see pucks end up in the back of Seattle’s net. Ian Cole got things started with a shot through traffic at 1:31. Six minutes later, Brayden Point drove to the slot and drew four Seattle defenders to him before making a hard cut to his right and sliding it to an open Erik Cernak. Cernak rifled it past Grubauer to make it 2-0 and put Tampa Bay in the driver’s seat.
Coach Dave Hakstol had more positive things to say about this one than we might have expected after a 6-2 thumping, but he too didn’t like the start. “It’s just the first 10 minutes, really, that was the biggest piece,” he said. “Our forecheck has to be better, we were a little bit slow on everything, and they’re gonna take advantage of that in a big way.”
As a visiting team facing an elite club like the Bolts, you have to come out and bring your best from the opening face-off. If the home team pushes hard in those first few minutes, you have to weather the storm and play near-perfect defense until things calm down in the arena.
Seattle was far from perfect in those first few minutes, and in the blink of an eye, it faced an uphill climb that got steeper as the game went on.
Takeaway #2: A bad goal derails a good PK
The Kraken entered the second period trailing 2-1. By the midway point of the frame, they looked ready to level the score and turn this game into a dogfight. After several good chances in a row for Seattle, the Bolts were hemmed in their zone. But with the forecheck humming, Brandon Tanev inadvertently tripped former Kraken Haydn Fleury 200 feet from Seattle’s net, something coaches always love to see.
With Tanev in the box, the Kraken had an outstanding penalty kill going and hadn’t allowed the Lightning to get their lethal power play set up for almost the entirety of the two minutes. With just a few seconds left before Tanev was due to be released, Corey Perry rushed into the Kraken zone and took a bad shot right into Vince Dunn. The blocked shot went back to Perry, and a seemingly harmless follow-up shot somehow beat Philipp Grubauer to the short side, a goal the Kraken netminder surely would have wanted back.
NHL Video Highlight – Corey Perry scores a power-play goal against the Seattle Kraken to make it 3-1. pic.twitter.com/KelAcMHO2S
“We had one hell of a penalty kill in terms of our effort and execution,” Hakstol said. “When that third goal went in, that took a lot out of us.”
Going into that PK, the Kraken had all the momentum. If they had closed that out, it sure seemed like it would be just a matter of time before they got another one past Andrei Vasilevskiy. Instead, a stinky goal quickly tilted the ice back in Tampa Bay’s favor, and it was all downhill from there.
Takeaway #3: That escalated quickly
The uninspiring power-play goal against was just the start of a painful stretch for Seattle in the second period.
Point followed that up by demonstrating why he’s one of the best players in the world. With speed through the neutral zone, Point took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and stickhandled through Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn, and Adam Larsson, before going against the grain to beat Grubauer on a highlight reel goal.
What a goal by Brayden Point to make it 4-1 Lightning.
That tally sent the Seattle goalie to the bench after four goals on 20 shots.
“We needed a little bit better on the second goal from Grubi, and we needed a little bit better on the third,” Hakstol said.
Tampa Bay didn’t stop there, as Ross Colton was left alone to tip a Mikhail Sergachev shot past Martin Jones. The Colton goal was Tampa Bay’s third in 3:23 and put the game out of reach at 5-1.
“That was a big momentum swing for them, and I thought probably 40 minutes of the game we worked hard,” said Jaden Schwartz. “Probably didn’t get to the inside enough in the offensive zone, but yeah that momentum swing in the second period hurt us.”
The Tampa Bay Lightning are consistently a top team in the league for a reason, and to compete with a club like that, you have to bring your absolute best. Seattle had good moments Tuesday, but it started late, had a huge letdown in the middle of the game, and did not get very good goaltending. Mistakes compound quickly against a team like that, and that’s exactly what happened in this one.
Hakstol thought the team deserved better than the score indicated after that second period, but still, it was a bad letdown that allowed the game to get out of hand.
Unfortunately, the Kraken will next face one of the other teams that ran them out of the building earlier this season, the Carolina Hurricanes. Here’s hoping Seattle gets a better start for that one and can salvage a split on this road trip.
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three goals in the second period to blow open the game on their way to a 6-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.
Seattle fell behind early and got back into the game, only to watch the Lightning skate away from them over the second half of the contest.
“We carried the play at the end of the first period,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had a great second period, we had one hell of a PK in terms of effort and execution. When that third goal goes in, that took a lot out of us… We did a lot of really good things, we deserved a little bit better in terms of where the scoreboard was.”
Nikita Kucherov had three assists for the 29th time in his career. Andre Vasilevskiy was solid in making 36 saves for the Lightning (18-9-1) who are 3-0-0 all-time against Seattle.
Jared McCann and Ryan Donato each scored a goal for Seattle (16-9-3), which is in a mini-slump having lost four out of the last five games. Philipp Grubauer allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced at 14:28 in the second period. Martin Jones came in and allowed two goals and made eight saves.
Tampa Bay struck early in the first period. After Seattle failed to clear the puck, Lightning defenseman Ian Cole flung a shot from the point that found the net to make it 1-0 at 1:31.
With the Kraken still searching for their game, the Lightning got another goal at 7:24 from Erik Cernak.
“The first ten minutes, that was the biggest piece,” Hakstol said. “Our forecheck has to be better, we were a little slow on everything and they’re going to take advantage in a big way. I felt like it should have been a 1-1 hockey game after the first period.”
Over the second half of the period, Seattle got its game going and calmed things down defensively. At 18:39, the Kraken cashed in when Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann broke out with a two-on-one, and Eberle gave it to McCann who scored his 13th with a laser-type wrist shot.
Down 2-1, the Kraken started the second well, matching the Tampa Bay attack and getting good looks. Brandon Tanev was called for tripping behind Tampa Bay’s net at 10:17, and the game took a turn for the worse.
As the ensuing power play was winding down, Corey Perry scored with a wrist shot to make it 3-1 at 12:13, and then Brayden Point made it 4-1 at 13:28 with a great individual effort through the defense. That ended Grubauer’s night, and Jones came in but didn’t fare any better.
Ross Colton got a stick on a Mikhail Sergachev shot and tipped it past Jones to make it 5-1 at 15:36. The Bolts scored three goals in 3:23 of play, and the game was completely changed.
“Our group was really tough today,” Hakstol said. “We need a little better on the second goal from Grubi, we need a little better on the third. Our group pushed back pretty well throughout… If you’re questioning the mental toughness of our group, you’re dead wrong.”
Steven Stamkos made it 6-1 at 5:29 of the third period, and Donato added a cosmetic goal to make it 6-2 at 19:55.
“I thought we worked hard,” Jaden Schwartz said. “We had some decent spurts… I thought for 40 minutes of the game we worked hard, probably didn’t get on the inside enough in the offensive zone, but that momentum swing in the second period really hurt.”
Kraken offensive woes
Seattle was seemingly scoring at will during their seven-game win streak, but the goals have dried up of late. They’ve lost four out of five and only scored six goals in the four losses. Things looked to turn when they scored four Sunday in a win at Florida, but Tuesday it was a struggle again.
The Kraken outshot Tampa Bay 38-30, but 15 of those shots came in the third period when the score was 4-1. Vasilevskiy is among the league’s best goaltenders, which may have been the issue Tuesday, but Seattle needs to find a way to score more than one or two goals per game.
Tentacle Tales
Seattle defenseman Justin Schultz was a late scratch Tuesday despite looking like he was going to play during morning skate. Gustav Olofsson played 15:20 and had three shots on goal in Schultz’s place.
Kucherov has the fifth most career three-assist games among active players. He trails Sidney Crosby (59), Nicklas Backstrom (44), Evgeni Malkin (34), and Connor McDavid (33).
Monday Musings is a collection of random thoughts and observations about the last week of activity from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other happenings around the Puget Sound hockey community.
Kraken thoughts
Keep calm and carry on
Going into Sunday’s matchup against the Florida Panthers last night, the Kraken were on a three-game skid that started with a loss to those same Panthers in Seattle just eight days earlier. Even before this drought, we talked about some warning signs we saw with the wins against San Jose and Los Angeles, so we saw the skid coming.
What struck me in this stretch was the calm around the team. Even with the three straight losses, there never was any panic from the team or the coach. Sure, there was some self-critical comments from Hakstol and some of the players on how they were playing, but a lot of it was centered around getting back to playing the hockey they know they can play.
Even the best teams go through rough patches. Colorado had two streaks of three or more losses last season. Tampa Bay had five three-plus-game losing streaks last season. One win does not mean we are out of the woods of this rough patch, but it certainly eases the mind as the team prepares for two of its toughest opponents of the season with games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes. Getting two points out of the next two games in any fashion will be a major win.
Kraken claim Tolvanen, waive Kuhlman
The Kraken claimed Eeli Tolvanen on waivers from Nashville today. Having followed the Predators in a different life, I remember the hype around Tolvanen. He is known as a shifty winger with a wicked shot. Tolvanen carries a $1.5 million cap hit for the next two years and is a relatively low-risk pick up for the club right now.
Eeli Tolvanen, claimed by SEA, is a young shot-first winger who hasn't really managed to assert himself offensively at 5v5 yet. Pretty low-event bottom sixer for now, but we'll see if the Kraken can unlock his potential. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/0bTwwdh6gQ
The cost was they needed to create some roster space and that space came in the form of Karson Kuhlman being put on waivers today. Kuhlman had been with the team all season but only played 14 of the Kraken’s 27 games and had one goal and three points to show for it. We love Kuhlman here at Sound Of Hockey, but when a relatively low-risk prospect with upside becomes available, you have to take him. There is also a good opportunity that Kuhlman clears waivers and is assigned to the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Personnel issues on defense
For those that might have missed it, Jamie Oleksiak was assessed a match penalty in the Capitals game on Friday night for an illegal check to the head. The NHL Department of Player Safety then suspended Oleksiak for three games. On Sunday night, Justin Schultz took a dirty hit from Ryan Lomberg late in the game that clearly left Schultz shaken up. He was slow to get up and went down the tunnel to the locker room and did not return for the remaining nine minutes of game play.
Good lord! Just an awful hit by Lomberg on Schultz in retaliation after Schultz had gotten tangled with him seconds earlier.
After having a remarkably consistent lineup for most of the season, the defensive corps could have some holes to fill. To be clear, there has been no official word on Schultz’s status, but I would not be surprised to seem him miss a game or two. In the meantime, the Kraken have recalled Gustav Olofsson to join them in Tampa and likely the rest of the road trip. How long Olofsson will remain with the team will largely depend on the outlook for Schultz.
Penalty kill improvements
There was a stretch of games where the team was giving up a lot of power-play goals. It was a topic of discussion in last week’s Musings. However, I am happy to report that things have turned around for the Kraken penalty kill. Over the last three games, the PK is hovering over a 90-percent kill rate.
Those three games align to Morgan Geekie’s return to the lineup since his injury in Anaheim. Geekie has the second most penalty kill time amongst forwards over the last three Kraken games. He also averaged 50 percent from the faceoff circle in those same three games, which is the highest amongst players that took more than 10 faceoffs. It is safe to say, Seattle missed Geekie.
Other Kraken musings:
In the Friday game against the Kraken, Alexander Ovechkin had a shift during the Jamie Oleksiak five-minute major that lasted 4:57 of game time.
The Kraken’s win Sunday night was the first win against an opponent that was on the second of back-to-back games. They lost the prior two times they played a team in that scenario.
It seemed like it happened forever ago, but Shane Wright scored his first NHL goal last Tuesday against the team that snubbed him at the draft. There was an extra pop from the fans after that one went in. It was nice to feel that energy for Shane.
The day after that game, and as we predicted, Shane Wright was loaned to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship happening at the end of the month.
Speaking of World Juniors, keep an eye on Finland’s roster that is expected to be released this week. I think the Kraken’s second-round draft picks from the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Jani Nyman (forward) and Niklas Kokko (goalie) have a good shot to be named to the team.
I genuinely love the post-game Davy Jones hat presentation.
Things we love to SEA:
– Matty standing up for his teammates – Matty wearing the Davy Jones hat – Matty saying "way to be a bunch of dogs" pic.twitter.com/reR4IcUekp
The Coachella Valley Firebirds are set to play their first real home game of the season this Sunday at brand new Acrisure Arena, set to open its doors this week.
The lack of home games has not hurt the Firebirds’ performance, as they are sitting in third in the AHL in points percentage with a 12-4-3 record and have points in six straight games.
With Thomas Milic away at Team Canada World Junior camp, Seattle Thunderbirds called on 16-year-old goalie prospect Spencer Michnik on Sunday where he earned the win in his WHL debut.
Speaking of the WHL, the Portland Winterhawks and Seattle Thunderbirds sit one and two in the Western Conference standings. Portland is No. 1 by points, and Seattle is No. 1 on points percentage. The Everett Silvertips are also sitting fourth in the conference and third in the division. The second half of the season in “The Dub” should be fun.
Kraken themes on the week ahead
I am switching up the outlook section of the Monday Musings. Instead of listing out the games on the schedule, I am going to list out themes to keep an eye on in the week ahead. If you have feedback either way, let me know in the comments.
Compete level
Tampa Bay and Carolina provide a benchmark opportunity to size this Kraken team up. I believe they are a playoff team, but they have only played limited games against some of the other top teams across the league. The collective record of teams they have played is 223-205-52 (.464), whereas the collective record of teams they have not played this season is 206-134-43 (.537). Two road games in December will not dictate how good this team really is, but it will be nice to see if they can compete with some of the top teams in the league.
Goaltending plan
I thought coach Dave Hakstol would have gone back to Philipp Grubauer to start against Florida after his stellar performance in defeat against the Capitals on Friday night, but Hasktol instead went back to Martin Jones. It turns out a coach with a lifetime of experience knows better than a random guy with a keyboard. Weird. It will be interesting to see who starts Tuesday against Tampa Bay. I would guess Grubauer will get the start with Jones going Tuesday, but as I just stated, I have been wrong before. Either way, I am interested to see how Hakstol manages the goaltending through this stretch of games.
Winnipeg vengeance
I am looking for redemption the Kraken when they take on the Jets at home Sunday. It feels like ages ago, but Seattle previously played Winnipeg in a heart breaker of a loss for the boys. The Jets tied the game up with six seconds left after a… well, let’s just call it what it was, a stupid penalty by Carson Soucy. The Jets would go on to win it in overtime.
At the time, I was skeptical on how good the Jets are this season, but since then they is 10-4-0 and have quietly climbed to fourth in the league based on point percentage. It is a bit early to be worried about the standings, but I always welcome the opportunity to get a point or two on another team in the conference.
Player Performance / Stick Taps
Kole Lind (SEA/Coachella Valley) – The AHL winger in the Kraken farm system had five points in two games over the weekend including his second hat trick of the season. Lind played 23 games with the Kraken last season. Patrik Laine (CBJ) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (WPG) – both players had seven points for their respective teams over the last week, and for those that do not know, they were traded for each other during the 2020-21 season. William Nylander (TOR) – The Swedish forward had seven points over the last two games including a five-point night against Calgary on Saturday. Eetu Makiniemi (SJS) – In his first start and second NHL game, the Finnish goaltender had his first career NHL win. Like a skater’s first NHL goal, a goaltender’s first win is something special. Congrats Eetu.
With his two points Sunday, Matty Beniers has 14 points over his last 10 games, but he is not the only Kraken that has been hot lately. Here is a view of the top point getters in that stretch.
We have said it before and will probably say it again, the Kraken’s strength is their depth, and that continues to prove out through the season. Everyone has been pitching in during this stretch of games where the Kraken are 7-3-0.
You don’t see that everyday
From the PWHPA all-star game over the weekend
A goalie change on THE FLY complete with a blocker first bump, "Get in there!" pic.twitter.com/2ymUB5WGCN
We’ve talked on a number of occasions throughout this season about the Seattle Kraken minimizing the damage when things don’t go their way. It’s our belief that this is the key—on both a micro and macro scale—for sustainable success for this team.
In terms of individual games, that means only giving up one goal at a time and pushing back right away after opposing teams score. In terms of the season, that means not letting poor play for a couple of nights turn into long losing streaks.
Just when it felt like Seattle might be descending into a long, miserable stretch of losses, the Kraken played a complete 60-minute game Sunday to knock off the Florida Panthers. Five different players scored, including Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, Jordan Eberle, Daniel Sprong, and Yanni Gourde, and Martin Jones was solid in net.
The needed victory halted the team’s losing streak at three games and gave the group hope that it could still have a successful road trip through the southeastern United States.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an impressive 5-2 Kraken win over the Panthers.
Takeaway #1: What more can we say about Matty Beniers?
We would stop writing about Matty Beniers all the time if he stopped finding new ways to impress us. But he raised eyebrows yet again Sunday by firing a heat-seeking missile past Sergei Bobrovsky a minute into the game and later sticking up for Justin Schultz after a filthy hit by Ryan Lomberg in the third period.
Beniers’ goal, which gave the Kraken an early 1-0 lead, was a thing of beauty. After Carter Verhaeghe fumbled the puck in Florida’s zone, Jared McCann jumped on it and threw a backhand pass to the top of the slot. Beniers was there and leaned into a one-timer that was past Bobrovsky in a flash.
Then, seven minutes into the third period, and with the Kraken holding a tenuous 2-1 lead, Beniers grabbed a loose puck at the offensive blue line and snapped it toward the net. Jordan Eberle got his stick on it and redirected it past Bobrovsky to give the Kraken a two-goal lead. Seattle pulled away from there.
Beniers’ goal and assist were central to the Kraken victory, but racking up points is nothing new for the NHL’s leading rookie scorer. What was new Sunday was Beniers jumping in to stick up for Schultz after the dangerous Lombard hit.
Good lord! Just an awful hit by Lomberg on Schultz in retaliation after Schultz had gotten tangled with him seconds earlier.
Just one game after Jamie Oleksiak was assessed a match penalty and then a three-game suspension for head contact with Washington’s Alexander Alexeyev, Schultz—Oleksiak’s usual defense partner—got his stick up on Lombard during a race for the puck. In retaliation, Lombard slammed Schultz into the end boards from behind.
After the egregious hit, the closest player to Lombard was Beniers, the 20-year-old skilled forward not known for his physical play. Beniers didn’t hesitate, though, and went right after Lombard.
“A hit like that, it’s just kind of what you do,” Beniers said.
Well, sure, it’s what you do if you’re a veteran NHL player. But if you’re Matty Beniers, an act like that earns you even more respect from teammates, coaches, and fans.
Lombard was given a five-minute major and game misconduct, and he will almost surely be hearing from the league. Schultz left the game and did not return, though the incident happened midway through the third period. So, there was little opportunity for the Kraken’s offensive defenseman to come back.
Takeaway #2: Is Kraken goaltending back?
It’s no coincidence that as Seattle’s recent hot streak ended, its goaltending started to slip. Pucks were going in that weren’t going in in weeks prior, and Jones and Philipp Grubauer traded off delivering up-and-down performances.
Grubauer had an excellent game Friday and nearly stole a win for the Kraken against the Capitals. That night, he stopped 34 of 36 shots but was done in by a goal off Oleksiak’s foot and a power-play tally by old friend, Marcus Johansson.
Jones followed that up Sunday with an impressive outing of his own, kicking out 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
“First half of the game, he had some key saves,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “And he had a couple saves that maybe didn’t look like— they may not have appeared as difficult as they were, right through traffic and things like that. He was a real key in this one.”
After four starts in a row in which Jones wasn’t at his best, he was back to being the composed netminder we came to expect during Grubauer’s extended injury absence. Jones never seemed phased against the Panthers, and on the rare occasion that things broke down for Seattle, he calmly dropped to his butterfly and kicked away almost every puck that was fired his way.
“He was phenomenal,” said Yanni Gourde. “Great game by him. He’s super calm in net, and he’s played very good hockey.”
Takeaway #3: A complete team effort
There was concern amongst the Sound Of Hockey braintrust that things could be going sideways for the Kraken, especially after bad habits had crept in in the latter stages of the team’s hot streak. Defensive lapses were back, and the team was playing way too loose for several games in a row.
But the Kraken did a good job of assuaging any such fears Sunday by playing a complete end-to-end game and earning every bit of that 5-2 victory.
“That’s something we’ve been struggling with,” Beniers said. “I think it was— before the game, you know, playing a full 60 minutes, that was a recognition before the game. It was just something we kind of harped on, and we were able to put it in action tonight.”
In the last few outings, we had seen a few of those lapses that were so common in the team’s inaugural season but hadn’t happened often for the current group.
After the Panthers got on the board in the second period, the Kraken didn’t slump and give up another quick one. Instead, they pushed right back and regained the lead thanks to an Andre Burakovsky sizzler into the upper corner of Florida’s net.
After Burakovsky’s snipe, Seattle’s game was on the rails, and the team never looked back.
“I thought we were really, really good tonight,” said Jones. “That felt like how we were playing on that seven-game winning streak. That was a really strong effort from us, top to bottom.”
Hakstol was also pleased with the team’s performance. “We were pretty consistent throughout the hockey game,” he said. “Specialty teams were solid and contributed to the win, goaltending was good, and that’s what it takes to get a good road win.”
The Kraken got the goaltending they needed from Philipp Grubauer Friday but struggled to score during a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. They have suddenly lost three straight after a franchise best seven-game win streak.
Grubauer was on his game allowing two goals on 36 shots including 12 saves in the first period and 13 in the second.
“He was really good,” Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson said. “He was awesome. We’ve got to score more than one goal.”
Seattle lost the game in the second period when the Capitals (13-12-4) scored twice and had the Kraken on their heels. Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was lost for the game after being assessed a five-minute checking to the head call that carried a match penalty with it.
The Kraken did a good job killing the first part of the ensuing major power play, but former Kraken Marcus Johansson scored after his shot hit Grubauer’s shoulder and fluttered over him and in. That broke a 1-1 tie and came at 13:15 of the second period.
“They beat us on the one entry that got wide and beat us to the net,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of the power-play goal. “Beyond that, the PK did a pretty good job.”
Washington was one for four on the power play for the night.
Anthony Mantha tied the game at 1-1 when a scramble happened in front of Grubauer at 5:20 of the second, and Mantha poked the puck off Oleksiak and in.
“The biggest problem was in the second period,” Hakstol said. “We couldn’t find our legs, we couldn’t find any momentum during that period.”
Larsson scored a goal for the Kraken (15-8-3), who lost their second game in regulation on the road. Alex Ovechkin picked up career goal 796 and is now five away from tying Gordie Howe’s career mark of 801, which is the second most in NHL history.
Charlie Lindgren made 25 saves for Washington.
Larsson opened the game’s scoring and gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 17:51 of the first. Morgan Geekie won a faceoff in the Washington zone, and Larsson took a wrist shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and in for Larsson’s first goal in 21 games.
Just prior to the faceoff, Larsson and Dunn switched sides, which helped Larsson create a shooting lane.
“I think it’s more about what line you line up with and what threat the forwards have. It worked out,” Larsson said.
Lars Eller scored an empty-net goal at 18:54 of the third to make it 3-1, followed by Ovechkin who hit the empty net at 19:56 to round out the scoring at 4-1.
Second period woes
Not only did the Kraken give up two goals in the second, but they were outshot 15-6. The Capitals also had a 24-10 advantage in shots attempted at five on five and 77.68 percent of the shot quality.
That disparity played out throughout the game. The Kraken recovered somewhat in the third period, but Washington ended with 54.95 percent of the shot attempts and 78.96 percent of the shot quality.
Those numbers point out how huge Grubauer was as this game should probably have been out of hand earlier than it was.
Tentacle Tales
The Kraken fall to 8-2-1 on the road this season.
Seattle had won six straight road games before Friday’s game.
The upcoming Kraken schedule is tough, and they will next be in action Sunday at Florida. “We just go back to work,” Hakstol said. “Tough stretches, they’re part of this. You have stretches where you play well and things go your way, and you have tough stretches on the schedule where you’ve got to step up and go play good hockey. Our group is strong in the dressing room, and we remain confident.”
Seattle was without forward Jaden Schwartz who was scratched due to an upper body issue and is day to day.
It’s been an eventful week for the Seattle Kraken and the NHL as a whole, and the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here to bring you up to speed on everything that has transpired. Shane Wright returned from the AHL to score his first NHL goal, but then it was quickly announced that he would be loaned to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship. John, Andy, and Darren fill you in on what all this means while reliving the latest Kraken games.
Next, the guys shift their focus to Down on the Farm and share the Pacific-Northwest-relevant notes from some of the WJC rosters being released.
Joey Daccord made history for Seattle’s American Hockey League affiliate by recording the first shutout for Coachella Valley on Dec. 2. It took just 16 games for this bit of history to be made for the Firebirds, which debuted this season as Seattle’s top farm team.
The North Andover, Mass., native is the next man up on the Kraken’s goaltender depth chart and has played well as of late. After a slow start to the year, Daccord boasts a .925 save percentage in his last seven games played — his season percentage sits at .915.
Daccord was third in the AHL last year with a .925 save percentage for Charlotte, which Seattle shared with Florida as its top affiliate in 2021-22.
One of the looming questions surrounding Daccord is whether or not he’ll bloom into an NHL goalie or remain a more than capable AHL starter. Although Daccord is 26 and hasn’t broken into the NHL full-time, the door isn’t shut for him.
There are several examples of goaltenders, more recently with players like St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Seattle’s Chris Driedger, that needed several years of seasoning in the minors before getting a real shot.
However, currently blocked by Martin Jones and Philipp Grubauer, Daccord needs either an injury or a change of heart on the Kraken’s goaltending tandem to receive his chance — at least this year.
For now, we’ll track Daccord’s progress in the AHL and see if he puts any pressure on the Kraken front office.
Shane Wright scores in first game back, World Juniors next
Wright, fresh off a conditioning stint with Coachella Valley, scored in his first game back with the Seattle Kraken, a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Scoring a goal against the Canadiens, who famously snubbed Wright by not taking him No. 1 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, had to have felt great.
HE DID IT! SHANE WRIGHT WITH HIS FIRST NHL GOAL!! #SeaKraken
Up next for Wright: The World Junior Championship. Many people expected that step in Wright’s development plan, and the Kraken officially announced Thursday that he’s set to report to Moncton.
We’ll see what lies ahead once Wright returns from international duty, but this is a great call by Seattle. It gives Wright another opportunity to shine on a big stage, and it allows the Kraken to delay their decision on whether to burn the first year of his entry-level contract this season. Remember, they can still theoretically return him to the OHL without using that first contract year, up until he has played nine NHL games. Wright has played eight so far, so the decision will have to come soon after he gets back from the WJC.
Team Canada camp starts now, and the tournament runs Dec. 26 through Jan. 5.
Jagger Firkus, Ty Nelson left off Canada’s WJC roster, but plenty of other local flavor
Unfortunately, Wright will be the only Kraken prospect at the World Juniors for Team Canada.
Kraken prospects Jagger Firkus and Ty Nelson won’t play for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship, which starts Dec. 26 and will be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick. Both skated with Team Canada’s junior team this summer but weren’t ultimately picked for its selection camp.
The roster does feature five players and one coach with ties to the Puget Sound area’s two WHL teams: Seattle’s Kevin Korchinski (defenseman, Blackhawks prospect), Nolan Allan (defenseman, Blackhawks), Reid Schaefer (forward, Oilers), and Thomas Milic (goalie); and Everett’s Olen Zellweger (defenseman, Ducks) and Dennis Williams (head coach).
Team Finland will also be a team to keep an eye on. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic projects Kraken forward prospect Jani Nyman and goalie Niklas Kokko.
We won’t quote what Wheeler said about Kokko because it’s behind a paywall, but if you’re a subscriber we recommend taking a peak.
Spotlight: David Goyette
David Goyette, the last of the Kraken’s four second-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft, is fresh off his best statistical game of the season, notching a five-point night that included a pair of goals for the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday.
The 18-year-old center boasts 34 points (17 goals) in 24 games in the Ontario Hockey League this season.
The @Sudbury_Wolves put up a crooked number on Sunday, and @SeattleKraken prospect David Goyette got in on the production with a five-point afternoon, including his 16th and 17th goals of the season 🎥 pic.twitter.com/3H868Ag2WL
What an odd game that was. With Shane Wright scoring his first NHL goal and just generally buzzing throughout the first period, it seemed for a while like we were headed for a storybook type of night for the Kraken against the Canadiens. But somehow, despite dominating possession for much of the night, Seattle came up short against Montreal, outshooting the Habs 33-16 but losing 4-2.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a disappointing Kraken defeat to the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: Shane Wright gets his first NHL goal
It really felt like the story of the game was writing (Wrighting?) itself. A lot had been made of Wright’s return to the Kraken’s NHL lineup, especially being that it came against No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky and the team that snubbed Wright at the NHL Entry Draft.
Early returns were excellent, as Wright easily could have had a hat trick in the first period. His first NHL goal was sandwiched between two other robberies by Jake Allen, and there were several other moments throughout the night where he looked like he was inches away from deflecting or poking pucks into the Montreal net.
Wright’s goal came at 15:30 of the first, after Yanni Gourde made a hard play on the forecheck to dig the puck out to Oliver Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand made a short pass to Wright in the slot, and Wright wired it past Jake Allen. It was one of those memorable Climate Pledge Arena moments, where the crowd got extra loud for not only the goal, but also the ensuing announcement.
Here's a better look at Shane Wright's first NHL goal. Great shot, great celly, and Gourde fishes it out of the net for him. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/zg2lDjiPAr
“I think, obviously, it’s gonna be something I remember for the rest of my life,” said Wright. “I think getting your first NHL goal is a pretty cool accomplishment, cool milestone, definitely something pretty special for me.”
“It’s awesome,” added Jared McCann. “He’s a great kid. Obviously him going out in the minors there, he battled, he worked his bag off, and I mean, it was good to see.”
The goal tied it at 1-1, and with the way Wright’s line with Gourde and Bjorkstrand was humming, it seemed like there would be more points coming for the rookie.
Alas, the Habs were opportunistic offensively, and Allen played well enough to thwart a Kraken comeback attempt, turning away 31 of 33 shots on goal.
It wasn’t just about the goal for Wright, though. He looked very different from the player we saw before he was loaned to Coachella Valley. In those first few games he played earlier in the season, it always seemed like he was playing to not make a mistake. After potting four goals in five games in the AHL, he came in Tuesday with swagger and appeared to be playing without thinking too much. Against the Canadiens, he looked like things were starting to click.
It has been a slightly tougher road for him than he expected, but what’s been most impressive about Wright is his maturity for his age and attitude through the early struggles in his NHL career. “I think that anytime you come to the NHL, you picture yourself playing right away,” he said. “You picture yourself scoring lots and getting points, and at the end of the day, that’s not the reality of the NHL and stepping in as an 18-year-old. You have to work yourself up, you have to make sure you earn everything you get.”
On the other side, Slafkovsky had the second assist on Josh Anderson’s second-period goal but was otherwise quiet.
Kraken fans surely would have loved for Wright’s first goal to come with a Seattle win, but seeing him play the way he played Tuesday was very encouraging.
Takeaway #2: Bad defensive lapses cost the Kraken
It was an especially weird night between the pipes for Martin Jones, who faced just 16 shots in total with seven of those shots coming in the final 11 minutes of the game. In the second period, he faced four measly offerings, and three of those ended up in the back of the net.
Lifelong goalie speaking here, those are incredibly difficult nights for a netminder. You need to feel the puck to get into a rhythm, and after giving up a soft goal and stopping just three other shots in the opening frame, the only work Jones got in the second was on grade-A opportunities for the Habs. It’s hard to defend four goals on 16 shots, but there is some context to consider, being that Seattle hung Jones out to dry three times in that costly middle frame.
That brings us to the main point of this Takeaway, which is that the Kraken generally played well in terms of possessing the puck and generating chances, but lapses cost them the game.
Andre Burakovsky committed a heinous turnover to Nick Suzuki that led to Cole Caufield’s goal. It then took just seven seconds and some poor play along the wall to give Montreal its next great chance, on which Anderson scored.
Josh Anderson follows that up with another quick one. 3-1 Canadiens now.
“We had a turnover at the end of a shift, and we made a mistake on a face-off,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re different plays, but those bump-up shifts are very important. You gotta make sure that you seal those off and push back the other way, and we’ve been outstanding in that area, but we didn’t get it done tonight.”
The icing on the cake came after a bad line change with the teams playing four-on-four, and noted Kraken killer Rem Pitlick put the Canadiens up 4-1.
A huge part of Seattle’s success this season has been minimizing the damage caused by turnovers and breakdowns, but those were the plays that doomed the Kraken this game.
Takeaway #3: PK better, but scoring drying up
It’s interesting how a team can appear to fix one problem, only to have a new issue suddenly pop up. Recently, the penalty kill has been a huge concern for the Kraken, who have struggled mightily with the manpower disadvantage. On Tuesday, the PK was successful, killing off all four of Montreal’s opportunities.
“There’s nothing special to it,” Hakstol said. “We were a little bit better in just our cohesion with our pressure all over the rink, and that’s a nice step forward. That’s a real positive for that group.” Hakstol also mentioned they added a couple forwards to the personnel rotation, with hopes of making sure guys were fresher on the kill.
Speaking anecdotally, it felt Tuesday like the “plus one” player in the “wedge plus one” formation, the guy who chases the puck around the top of the zone, was more aggressive than we’ve seen recently. Visually, there just seemed to be way more pressure on the points and on the half wall than in recent games.
Meanwhile, Seattle has stopped scoring. After potting nine goals against the Kings a week ago, Seattle has scored three goals, one goal, and now two goals in the subsequent three games. We were concerned that Seattle’s incredible shooting percentage could be an indicator that the team’s success wasn’t sustainable. Let’s hope these last few games have just been blips for a team that was rolling so well offensively through the month of November.
