On the latest episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, the guys consider an important rhetorical question, wondering which of the three hosts–John, Andy, or Darren–you, the listener dislikes. Once they’re done waxing poetic, they jump into Kraken talk, recapping Seattle’s last three games and discussing this current five-game win streak.
That talk leads to an interesting Hype-o-thetical about the Trade Deadline and how the Kraken might approach that.
Once they’re done with Kraken talk, the guys to a WHL Update, then dive into segments.
Segments this week feature Goalie Gear Corner, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
While most of the nation was anxiously watching and awaiting the results of the US mid-term elections Tuesday, the Seattle Kraken were busy knocking off the Nashville Predators, extending their franchise record win streak to five games.
Seattle got off to a hot start in the first period and chased Nashville’s starting goalie, before sagging in the second. To their credit, though, the Kraken minimized the damage in the frame and regrouped before the third to seal another convincing win.
“Good teams find a way to win, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Morgan Geekie.
Seems simple enough, but we’re still going to dig into Tuesday’s victory and try to understand what’s happening with the streaking Kraken. Here are our Three Takeaways from a 5-1 Kraken win over the Predators.
Takeaway #1: The boys came out BUZZING
Seattle picked up right where it left off from its perfect road trip and wasted no time getting on the board against Nashville. After Andre Burakovsky caught an Oliver Bjorkstrand pass in the neutral zone, he looped back toward the Kraken end and found a streaking Jordan Eberle at the red line. Eberle dangled around Ryan McDonagh to gain the zone, then shot over the stick of former Kraken Jeremy Lauzon and past Juuse Saros.
#SeaKraken get an early one! Eberle dangles around McDonagh, then beats Saros with a blast.
The goal came just 38 seconds into the first period, and just like that, the boys were once again off and rolling.
“We started the game well,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “We were opportunistic on some turnovers that we created. In reality, we picked up where we left off at home.”
Added Geekie, “We haven’t really used our crowd to our advantage [this season], and I think tonight, we made it a point to do that, obviously with the start we had.” Seattle hadn’t been as dominant at home as it had been on the road—the team is now 3-3-1 at home versus 5-1-1 away—but the Climate Pledge Arena crowd was raucous Tuesday and had plenty to cheer about throughout the night.
By the 16:25 mark of the first period, Eberle had already scored two goals and hit a post, and he was only part of the offensive picture in the opening 20 minutes. His second goal was Seattle’s fourth of the night and sent 2021-22 Vezina Trophy finalist Saros to the bench, replaced by Kevin Lankinen.
Also scoring in the early going was Will Borgen, who sniped a shot over Saros’s shoulder to make it 2-0 at 7:29, and Burakovsky, who took an Alex Wennberg pass and toyed with Saros to extend the lead to three at 15:16.
🚨 Burakovsky just toying with Saros for his THIRD POINT of the night!
By the time the first horn sounded, Burakovksy had a goal and two assists, Eberle had two goals, and Geekie, Bjorkstrand, Wennberg, and Borgen each had a point. It was the first time the Kraken have ever scored four goals in a period.
Takeaway #2: Martin Jones is locked in
Seattle sagged pretty dramatically in the second period, but Martin Jones stayed hot and bailed his mates out on several occasions. He stopped 10 of the 11 Predators shots he faced in the period and 24 of 25 on the night, improving to 6-3-1 on the season with a 2.61 goals against average and .901 save percentage.
“Solid. He’s been a rock for us,” Morgan Geekie said of Jones. “Obviously, he’s a new dad and stuff, so he’s playing for a little extra out there. But, he’s been awesome for us, and I can’t say enough good things.”
Geekie may be onto something there. Since Jones’s first child was born, he has won four consecutive starts with a .966 save percentage and a 1.00 goals against average. Those are eye-popping numbers and a welcome sight for a team that struggled so mightily in the crease last season.
Martin Jones stopped 24 shots for the Kraken against the Predators on Tuesday. (Photo/Brian Liesse)
There are simply no wasted movements for Jones these days, and that comes from him reading the play exceptionally well. He’s in position to make saves in advance of shots, and once he’s set in the right spot, it’s just a matter of dropping to the butterfly and closing down as much of the net as he can. Plus, he’s tracking the puck. When opposing teams avoid shooting into his pads or chest, Jones is easily steering pucks into the corner with his blocker or catching them for a whistle.
“He’s a calm goaltender in there,” Hakstol said. “Tonight he made a couple saves where his movements were pretty quiet, but there were a lot of good saves. Pucks that are coming form the outside through traffic, he was in good spots on, and because of that he also was able to be in good spots for some of the in-tight battles.”
Takeaway #3: That’s five!
Not to toot our own horn, but we accurately predicted on Episode 211 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that the Kraken were on the verge of getting on a run. Fast forward a week and a half, and they look like world beaters.
The reason we thought Seattle was going in the right direction was because even when it was losing games—like against Vancouver and Chicago—it was the better team. But turnovers, bad bounces, and five-minute lapses were costing the Kraken. We thought if they could stop letting mistakes compound on each other, they would start getting the results consistently, and that is exactly what has happened.
Tuesday was an odd game in that the Kraken jumped to a 4-0 lead before the end of the first, and Nashville predictably came out looking pissed in the second, while Seattle had predictably eased off.
“When you get up that early, it’s tough to stay on the gas like that, and I think we faded in the second period,” Geekie said.
“You don’t want to be lackadaisical, but a lot of times that’s what happens,” said Eberle. “The second period obviously wasn’t great.”
But even when Seattle’s game dropped off in the second, it minimized the damage to just one goal against and still cruised into the third period with a comfortable three-goal lead. That’s the difference between this five-game streak and those Vancouver and Chicago games; even when the Kraken give up a rare goal, they don’t let that build into any kind of real momentum for the opposition.
So how do they keep this streak rolling?
“I think the biggest thing for us right now is to not get too high here,” said Eberle. “I know we’ve won five in a row, but we have a big homestand with some really good teams that we’re about to play.”
—
Jamie Oleksiak left the game early with an injury. Hakstol did not have an update on Oleksiak’s status after the game. The Kraken will have a team day off Wednesday before returning to practice Thursday. They will welcome the Minnesota Wild to Climate Pledge Arena on Friday.
We bring you another round of Monday Musings, where we share a random collection of thoughts and observations about the last week from the hockey world with an emphasis on the Kraken and other Puget Sound teams. Enjoy.
Kraken thoughts
What a week for the Kraken?!?! Three regulation road game victories against some quality opponents. Each victory seemed to build on the previous one, and suddenly, the Kraken see themselves in second place in the Pacific Division and riding a franchise record four-game win streak. The Kraken now have 16 points in the standings over 13 games. Last season, they did not capture their 16th point until their 21st game of the season.
The boys will now play a six-game homestand that will take us right through Thanksgiving. They are currently 2-3-1 at Climate Pledge Arena versus 5-1-1 on the road. Let us hope they can get some CPA mojo and turn that home record around.
I’ve said this many times before, but this team is very different than last year’s team. The ability for this group to bounce back after something goes wrong has been remarkable. In Tuesday’s game against Calgary, the Kraken rallied from two goals down in the third after giving up two quick ones to the Flames. In the game against Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jake Guentzel scored an equalizer for the Penguins, but the Kraken bounced back with a Tanev goal with roughly three and a half minutes left. Those kinds of responses were few and far between last season.
One thing that has helped with the resilience is this team is scoring at a much higher rate than last year. The Kraken are averaging 3.46 goals per game compared to 2.63 last year. Goal scoring in the NHL is challenging, but last year it seemed as if the team would need to work so hard for every goal. Right now, it just seems like anyone out there can score. 19 of the 20 skaters that have drawn into the lineup have scored a goal.
The Shane Wright situation
The only skater to not score a goal is Shane Wright. Wright has the fewest minutes played among the 20 players with just under 57 minutes over his seven games. The challenge with getting Wright more minutes is the players that are drawing into the lineup are better NHL players than he is right now, being that he’s still just 18 years old. Morgan Geekie, Ryan Donato, and Daniel Sprong give the Kraken a better chance to win hockey games.
The other “problem” that is preventing Wright from drawing in more consistently is that the Kraken have been relatively healthy. Seattle has not had to dip into the Coachella Valley Firebirds for any skaters to date. Last year’s team had several injuries and COVID absences in the first part of the season. Colin Blackwell, Yanni Gourde, Calle Jarnkrok, and Jared McCann all missed several games in the first part of last season.
McCann being sidelined on Thursday and Saturday gave Wright the opportunity to not just play but play on the third line with Gourde and Tanev.
I have mentioned this several times on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, but assuming no injuries between now and early December, I imagine the Kraken will loan Wright to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship. This will give him the opportunity to play a couple weeks of logging high minutes of elite-level hockey. At the end of the tournament, he can then return to Seattle for rest of the season.
Other Kraken musings:
The Kraken’s depth is their strength. The Kraken lead the league in unique goal scorers with 19 players scoring at least one goal, but they are also tied for the league lead for unique players with at least two goals. There are 12 players with at least two goals, tied with the Kings and the Bruins.
One of the players with two goals or more is Morgan Geekie. After a challenging start to the season, Geekie finds himself firmly grasping the fourth-line center position, and he will head into Tuesday’s game on a four-game point streak, a career high.
The Kraken will still have a roster decision to make once Joonas Donskoi comes back from injured reserve. From what I have heard, he is not expected back any time soon.
I was asked several times this week “Who has been the best player on the team this season?” I don’t think there is a best player on the team. I feel McCann, Jaden Schwartz, and Matty Beniers could all have a case at one time this season, but people are contributing all over the place and that’s been the key to the success this year.
Andre Burakovsky is tied with Schwartz for the team lead in points, but despite the points, he has another level that we will see soon enough. He is an elite goal scorer, and his current shooting percentage is only 8.3 percent, which is a career low.
After no points in his first six games, Gourde has seven points in his last six games including factoring in all three goals Saturday night against the Penguins.
Coachella notes
The Coachella Valley Firebirds residency in Seattle is officially over, as they fly south to establish their presence in the Valley. It was fun to see them around KCI, and that should create a consistent culture between the two teams. The games I have seen live or on AHL.tv were all entertaining, and I will be looking forward to making a trip down to see them in their barn.
The Firebirds capped off their residency with a split of two games against the Abbotsford Canucks over the weekend. Saturday night’s Firebirds win featured a hat trick by former Kelowna Rocket, Kole Lind. Lind now leads the team with six goals in eight games.
Second in goal scoring for the Firebirds is Jesper Froden. Froden was named the AHL Player of the Month in October.
Yanni Gourde – Yanni had five points over the last three games and was a huge reason the Kraken went 3-0 over the last week. One of the most critical points was his short-handed goal that tied the game up against the Flames on Tuesday night.
Erik Karlsson – He had eight points over the Sharks’ last three games including his first career hat trick on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
Martin Jones – He had two of the three Kraken wins over this past week including his first shutout with Seattle against the Minnesota Wild. Jones has a .967 save percentage in his last three games and has given Kraken fans a sense of optimism for the goaltending this season.
On the docket
Nashville Predators – Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Climate Pledge Arena
Heading into the season, I thought the Predators were one of the teams the Kraken would need to challenge for a playoff spot. This team is tough to figure out; they are rolling into Seattle with a bit of a hot streak, having beaten the Flames and Canucks, but prior to those games they lost two lopsided contests to the Oilers and Capitals.
Predators current record: 5-6-1
Players to watch:
Tanner Jeannot – hits everything in site and can put the puck in the net. He is the type of player you hate if he is playing against you but love if he is on your team. Regardless, he is entertaining.
Filip Forsberg – easily the best chimney sweeper in the league with an outstanding shot. His snipe last year at CPA is etched into my memory.
Minnesota Wild – Friday, Nov. 11, at Climate Pledge Arena
After an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to the Kraken last Thursday, the Wild will be looking to return the favor at CPA. It is hard to get a read on how good the Wild are this year, as they have been rather inconsistent through their first 11 games. Most of the media had them pegged as a playoff team, but with the emergence of Winnipeg, there could be some doubt.
Wild current record: 5-5-1
Players to watch:
Matt Boldy – I mentioned him last week, but I am going to double down and mention him again. The 21-year-old winger was kept off the score sheet against the Kraken but still created some chances and clearly has a bright future in the NHL.
Connor Dewar – he played four years with the Everett Silvertips and is now in his first full season with the Wild after splitting last season between the NHL and AHL. He is relegated to the fourth line, but it is always fun seeing former local WHLers playing in the NHL.
Winnipeg Jets – Sunday, Nov. 13, at Climate Pledge Arena
The Jets have gotten off to a sneaky good start to the season and will find themselves in a playoff spot if they can keep this up. If they cool off a bit, the Jets and Kraken could be fighting for a Wild Card position in March.
Jets current record: 7-3-1
Players to watch:
Connor Hellebuyck – despite being one of the best US goalies in the NHL right now, Hellebuyck still flies under the radar. He already has two shutouts and has a save percentage of .936. The Jets will be playing the night before, so it is possible we see David Rittich between the pipes on Sunday.
Cole Perfetti – This 21-year-old first-round draft pick from 2020 is entering his first full season in the NHL. He is currently centering the second line with Pierre-Luc Dobois and Blake Wheeler and has seven points over 11 games.
The Seattle Kraken knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time in a week Saturday, sweeping the season series and sweeping a difficult three-game road trip. Backed by another awesome performance by netminder Martin Jones, the Kraken came away with a confident 3-2 win.
Jordan Eberle had said after morning skate on Saturday that another win against the Penguins could be a turning point for the franchise in terms of developing a winning culture. Is that what this is? Are the Kraken winners now?
Here are our Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken win over the Penguins.
Takeaway #1: Seattle is rolling, sweeps road trip
Thinking back to last season, on the rare occasion the Kraken would get wins, it almost always looked like they were giving everything they had to get to the final horn. Players would sell out to block shots, and as contests came down to the wire, you always felt like Seattle was on the brink of collapse.
When the Kraken have won this season, that has not been the case. They are playing with a certain swagger, where they seem to believe that even when they’re being outshot and out-chanced—as they were on Saturday—a positive result will come, so long as they stick to their structure. Desperation never seems to really set in, because this year’s Kraken rarely are desperate.
“There were pieces here that weren’t all that pretty,” coach Dave Hakstol said of Saturday’s game. “But there was never a point in the hockey game where you felt like our group was rattled or coming apart in any way, shape, or form. Guys are calm, guys are looking what they can do next shift.”
Get ahead? Great. Seattle will shut the opposition down. Fall behind? Fine. Seattle will find clutch goals to tie and eventually lead. That’s what this team is right now.
“We’re playing as a team, and it’s really fun to play that way,” Yanni Gourde said. “All four lines, all [six defensemen], [Martin Jones] has been unbelievable in net, so it’s been really team wins since the beginning of the year.”
While the first win of this three-game road trip, a 5-4 result over the Calgary Flames, required some serious tenacity, most of Seattle’s seven victories this season have felt like calm, confident wins that were well deserved. Though Seattle was outshot 37-28 in Pittsburgh, it never looked under duress, even in stretches when the Penguins were pushing.
“That’s the mindset and the goal we had setting out to this road trip,” Brandon Tanev said. “In the three games we played, we beat three good teams, and that’s the idea we wanted to do.”
The Kraken have won four games in a row for the first time in franchise history, and they just swept a tough three-game road trip that spanned three time zones and the entire North American continent. With the latest victory, Seattle improved to 7-4-2 and took sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division from the Edmonton Oilers.
Takeaway #2: Brandon Tanev and Yanni Gourde come up big
You know a team is playing with confidence when every night it seems like it’s winning in different ways with different guys stepping up and contributing. On Saturday, it was Gourde and former Penguin Tanev who made the difference.
With 12:12 left to play and the game tied 1-1, Tanev redirected an errant Morgan Geekie pass with his shinguard, right onto the tape of Gourde at the top of the crease. Gourde wasted no time in swatting the puck by an unprepared Tristan Jarry to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead.
Then, after Matty Beniers had inadvertently deflected a Jake Guentzel pass into Seattle’s net to make it 2-2, Gourde returned the favor to Tanev, who showed his finishing abilities to give Seattle the win.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) November 6, 2022
“Personally, that’s great for me, but I think it’s more important that the team got all six points on this road trip,” Tanev said. Turbo finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Gourde had a goal and two assists.
Morgan Geekie got elevated to play with Tanev and Gourde late in the game and assisted on both of their goals, bringing him to seven points in his last seven games.
Takeaway #3: The Kraken have good goaltending
A big piece of the swagger we mentioned in Takeaway #1 comes from the team’s confidence in its goaltending. Hakstol’s defensive systems revolve around keeping shots to the outside and allowing the netminder to make the saves he’s supposed to make. Martin Jones has done that and then some in the last three games.
Jones has returned to the form we saw from him in his earlier San Jose Sharks days, when he arrived and immediately demanded the starter role. After stopping 22 shots to earn a shutout in Minnesota on Thursday, Jones was razor sharp against the Penguins Saturday and stopped 35 of 37 shots. He has a .968 save percentage and 1.00 goals against average in his last three games.
Tanev called the goaltenders on this road trip—Jones and Joey Daccord—the “backbone” for the team. “We fed off them and we got some timely goals, and I think as a group we played and understood what we needed to do,” he said.
“Our goaltending has been really good throughout this road trip,” Hakstol added. “It started with Joey in Calgary, and Jonesy picked up right where he left off from his home performance a week ago. You have to have that in order to have success on the road, especially in a game like this. His performance is critical for us.”
What’s remarkable about Jones is how unremarkable he makes most saves look. Even on Pittsburgh’s best chances Saturday, Jones was always in position, wasting no movement, and simply closing off any holes from Penguins shooters.
Jonesy shows off his excellent rebound control in tonight's @WaFdBank Save of the Game!
By redirecting the puck into the corners, he's allowing his teammates a prime opportunity to retrieve the puck and re-gain control. pic.twitter.com/t62x3I3MV3
Not only that, his rebound control was impeccable.
On nights when Jones hasn’t been at his best—the Oct. 27 game against Vancouver comes to mind—Jones has still looked calm and in position, but he hasn’t tracked the puck as well. Both Thursday and Saturday, you could tell he was dialed in by how pucks were hitting off of him and bouncing out of dangerous areas.
Jones hasn’t allowed many second chances lately, as he has been kicking pucks into corners or swallowing them up for face-offs.
Having Seattle’s No. 2 goalie playing the way Jones is playing right now is encouraging. Whenever Philipp Grubauer returns from his injury, if he too can pick up where he left off, Seattle’s goaltending will finally be where we hoped it would be a year ago.
The Seattle Kraken grew their win streak to a franchise-best four straight games Saturday night with a 3-2 win against the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. Of the four wins in the streak, Saturday’s was the most dramatic.
Facing a Pittsburgh team that lost its previous six games (0-5-1), the Kraken absorbed an early onslaught, got timely scoring, and 36 Martin Jones saves to pick up two more standings points.
“The goaltending has been really good throughout this road trip,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “It started with Joey [Daccord] in Calgary, Jonesy picked right up where he left off from his home performance a week ago. So, you have to have to have that for a chance to have success on the road, especially in a game like this. You know, [Jones’s] performance is critical for us.”
It was a former Penguin who struck the ultimate blow for the Kraken. Tied at 2-2 late in the third period, Brandon Tanev was parked in the slot when Yanni Gourde got the puck to him at 16:21 for Tanev’s second goal of the season.
“Obviously, that’s great for me, but I think it’s more important that the team got all six points on this road trip,” Tanev said. “That’s the mindset and the goal we had setting out to this road trip, and the three games we played, we beat three good teams.”
Gourde had a goal and two assists, and Morgan Geekie had two assists for the Kraken (7-4-2) who swept all three games of the trip.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and picked up his 900th career assist while Jake Guentzel had a goal with an assist for the Penguins (4-6-2), who lost to Seattle for the second time in a week. Tristan Jarry made 25 saves in defeat.
The Penguins opened the scoring when Guentzel found Crosby in the high slot at 5:24 of the second period.
Vince Dunn tied the game 1-1 at 7:48 after a Gourde faceoff win. Dunn took two strides and leaned into a slapper that beat Jarry through traffic for his second goal of the year.
Gourde would give the Kraken a lead when Geekie backhanded a pass that hit Tanev’s shin and bounced to Gourde in front of the net.
“You create your own luck,” Gourde said. “Most of the time it doesn’t work, but tonight it worked. We defended pretty well, Jonesy had an incredible night, there were big blocks in front of him as well, [Carson] Soucy played a great game tonight.”
Penguins came out hard
Desperate for a win, the Penguins were flying in the first period. They earned two power-play chances and flung 13 shots at Jones but none got past him. After the initial push, the Kraken did create their own chances and had righted the ship.
“We bent but we didn’t break and that’s the biggest thing. We spent a lot of time in our in our D-zone tonight,” Hakstol said. “But we expected them to come hard and they did. We had to survive a couple extended shifts in our zone. We weren’t able to close as quick and as well as we would like. Give them a lot of credit as well, they made it hard on us.”
After struggling earlier in the season, the Kraken penalty kill was perfect again, not allowing a Penguins goal in three power-play attempts.
“We’re playing fast on the penalty kill,” Gourde said. “We’re trying to kill plays fast and we’re bearing down on the clears. That’s a big part. When those clears don’t go out you give them extra life.”
Tentacle Tales
Kraken forward Jared McCann was out again due to a lower-body injury.
Geekie extended his point streak to four straight games (three goals, two assists).
Seattle has beaten Pittsburgh three times, joining the San Jose Sharks and the Buffalo Sabres as the only other teams the Kraken have defeated thrice in franchise history.
Shane Wright played his seventh game of the season and had 8:42 of ice time. What kept him from having more? His first NHL penalty, a holding call, in the first period.
Seattle returns home on Tuesday when they host the Nashville Predators at Climate Pledge Arena.
Scoring thrice in the second period, the Seattle Kraken won their third straight game for only the second time in franchise history with a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday.
“We’re having fun; it’s way more fun to win,” Kraken center Morgan Geekie said. “We’re having a good time, we’re playing solid hockey at both ends of the rink.”
It was about as complete a game as the Kraken have played this season, and it was punctuated by Martin Jones making 22 saves for his first Seattle shutout, plus another good night from Seattle’s fourth line which had a goal from Geekie and two assists from Daniel Sprong.
“We checked well all game,” Jones said. “In the D-zone we took away the middle of the ice. Then we were able to get some exits and get on the forecheck.”
Alex Wennberg scored twice for the Kraken (6-4-2) who move to 4-1-1 on the road this season.
“It was straight up 60 minutes of hockey,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We just wanted to come play a real good road game in a tough building. It’s a building where momentum can get rolling.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for the Wild (5-5-1) who had won their previous two games.
After a low-event first period, the Kraken exploded in the second.
Geekie tipped in a Sprong shot at 5:02 of the second to open the scoring and give the Kraken a 1-0 lead. It was Geekie’s fourth goal in his last five games and third straight game with a goal.
“I just stick to my game for the most part,” Geekie said of his hot streak. “I have a couple of good linemates, which helps. I think we have a lot of chemistry, and I just try to be in the right place at the right time and create offense.”
Jamie Oleksiak scored his third at 11:34 on a back-and-forth passing play with Yanni Gourde. Oleksiak had one goal in 71 games last season.
A little controversy gave Seattle a 3-0 lead at 14:47 during a Kraken power play. Sprong’s shot deflected off a Minnesota stick and up into the air. Wennberg appeared to head butt it past Fleury. That is not allowed, and initially the goal was disallowed. But replay showed that Wennberg did not contact the puck with his head, and it instead bounced off his back; that is allowed. The play was reviewed, and Wennberg was credited with the goal.
“I saw the puck right away, so I had plenty of time [to think],” Wennberg said. “The first thought was to try to hit it sideways because [Shane Wright] was there, but you’re not allowed to score with your head. So, I feel like I ducked last second. It’s hard to say that’s what I wanted to do, but I’ll keep it that way.”
Wennberg scored in a more conventional manner at 10:35 of the third period when he tipped a shot from Will Borgen in for his second of the night to make it 4-0.
Playing his first game since leaving the team briefly in Calgary to take care of a personal issue Jones, showed no ill effect of missing time.
His best period was the second period. While his teammates were scoring three times, Jones had to make 12 saves. With the lead in the third, he was sharp and didn’t allow a momentum-changing goal.
“He picked up right where he left off from the Pittsburgh game,” Hakstol said. “He obviosuly had a couple days in between, but he did a really good job of being mentally and physically ready to go… Jonesy had a couple saves from in tight [in the second]… I thought in the third period we closed it out really well.”
Jones had great help from the guys in front of him, who mostly kept the Wild to the outside and limited dangerous shots against. It was the first shutout for Jones as a Kraken and his 26th career blanking. Jones had previously shut out the Wild three times in his career.
Overall, he’s stopped 55 of his last 56 shots faced, going back to a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh this past Saturday.
Tentacle Tales
Jared McCann did not play Thursday, and Hakstol said the forward was out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Shane Wright played in McCann’s place, centering a line with Yanni Gourde and Brandon Tanev. He established a career high with 13:45 of ice time, including 1:55 on the Kraken’s power play. “I thought Wrighter and his line played a solid game,” Hakstol said. “Five-on-five, they were reliable in a 200-foot sense. I thought Shane’s confidence grew throughout the game.”
With Jones’s return to the lineup, the Kraken sent goalie Christopher Gibson back to the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Seattle enjoyed its second straight game with a blank sheet on the penalty kill, killing off both of the Wild attempts. The Kraken were 1-for-2 with their own power play.
It’s a new episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, and the vibes for the Seattle Kraken are quite high right now (hopefully those vibes persist for a while). John, Andy, and Darren talk first about Darren’s Halloween costume, which was quite funny, then dive right into a breakdown of all of Seattle’s most recent games, including a stunning 5-4 comeback win over the Calgary Flames.
Down on the Farm, the Coachella Valley Firebirds have finished their Seattle “residency,” and Jesper Froden has been named the AHL’s Player of the Month.
Next, Andy leads an interesting WHL Update that covers the Thunderbirds, Silvertips, and a unique record for the Red Deer Rebels.
The show then shifts to segbits, which this week features You Don’t See That Every Day, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
It’s a new episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, and the vibes for the Seattle Kraken are quite high right now (hopefully those vibes persist for a while). John, Andy, and Darren talk first about Darren’s Halloween costume, which was quite funny, then dive right into a breakdown of all of Seattle’s most recent games, including a stunning 5-4 comeback win over the Calgary Flames.
Down on the Farm, the Coachella Valley Firebirds have finished their Seattle “residency,” and Jesper Froden has been named the AHL’s Player of the Month.
Next, Andy leads an interesting WHL Update that covers the Thunderbirds, Silvertips, and a unique record for the Red Deer Rebels.
The show then shifts to segbits, which this week features You Don’t See That Every Day, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
They gave up two goals in 17 seconds early in the third period in a tie game, and it looked like a frustrating loss was in order for the Seattle Kraken. But not this night. Not this season. Instead of folding the cards, the Kraken stormed back to score the next three goals and beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.
The heroes were aplenty, starting with goalie Joey Daccord, who was making a last-minute start and kicked out 36 shots. It was his second NHL win, first for the Kraken, and came in his first start of the season.
“Hockey’s a crazy game, it was a nuts game,” Daccord said. “You give up two quick in the third and its 4-2 you think ‘that’s probably it.’ Just an amazing effort out of our team and I think it shows the character we have in this room to battle back like that. Our PK was awesome all night, blocking shots and making my life easy… a huge character win for us and I’m just happy to be part of it.”
Yanni Gourde scored his first of the year, a short-handed goal, to tie the game, and Matty Beniers scored his fifth to win the game for the Kraken (5-4-2) who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
It was looking bleak
After surviving a second period where they were outshot 20-8, the Kraken left tied 2-2, but the Flames (5-3-0) struck early in the third.
“We were able to right the ship a little bit in the second, the last eight minutes,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “To start the third, we give up a quick face-off goal and then a little miscue coming out of the zone up the wall. Those are the kinds of plays that will get you beat… we showed really good resiliency to find a way back in the game.”
Calgary took a 4-2 lead in a matter of 16 seconds on goals from Tyler Toffoli and Trevor Lewis starting at 1:51 of the period. It was a script that played out numerous times a season ago. Seattle would give up goals to fall behind and lacked any firepower to come back.
The comeback started at 8:31 when the Kraken were on the power play, and Daniel Sprong scored after Alex Wennberg found him down low with a cross-crease pass. It cut the lead to 4-3 and was Sprong’s second of the season.
Gourde tied it up while killing a penalty at 11:26. He stripped the puck in the neutral zone, picked it up, and snapped a quick shot that Flames goalie Dan Vladar, who made 21 saves, couldn’t stop.
“I don’t read anything,” Gourde said when asked what he saw on the play. “ I close my eyes, honestly. I saw low blocker, that’s usually my shot, I just took it and it worked.”
The game was tied at 4-4. Exactly two minutes later, Jordan Eberle led a jailbreak Seattle rush and found Beniers across the ice and buried it, top shelf for what would be his first NHL game-winning goal.
“I was fired up” Beniers said about seeing Eberle with the puck. “I was smiling skating down the ice because he’s dangerous with the puck no matter what he’s going to do. He ended up making a perfect play, gave me the open net on the back side.”
How it got there
Carson Soucy opened the scoring at 14:58 of the first period when he jumped into the zone and swept a wrister from the face-off circle for his first goal of the year.
The Flames started the second period pushing the pace and tied the game, 1-1, when defenseman Nikita Zadorov crashed the net and Toffoli fed him with a cross-ice pass for a tap-in goal at 6:28 of the period.
Nazem Kadri gave the Flames the lead moments later at 8:14 when he attacked the net and was initially stopped by Daccord. However, the puck rebounded right back to Kadri who flung it over Daccord for his fifth goal of the season. Seattle challenged the play for goalie interference. The replay did show that Kadri’s skate brushed Daccord’s pads when he skated through the crease, but it was deemed not to have interfered with Daccord’s ability to make the save. The goal made it 2-1.
Morgan Geekie continued to stay hot and scored for the second game in a row to tie it 2-2 at 13:10. The puck was stolen by Jamie Oleksiak at neutral ice, which developed a mini two-on-one rush. He slid the puck to Geekie for the score.
Seattle special teams were mostly good
Coming into Tuesday’s contest, the Kraken penalty kill was a mess. They were third worst in the league, but against the Flames, Seattle killed off all four power plays they faced and were one for four themselves. Gourde’s short-handed goal was a boost as well.
“The PK was good all night. They were moving together, we did a better job holding the line, maybe than we’ve done all year,” Hakstol said. “On the power play, we weren’t sharp tonight. Weren’t getting in the zone clean… but the bottom line with the power play is that if you stick with it and get one at a critical time, you’ve done a great job, and we did that.”
Soucy and Gourde scored for the first time this year meaning the Kraken have had 19 different players score a goal this season. That’s the most in the NHL. Seattle is getting widespread scoring, but with Soucy’s goal, every defenseman who has played a game for the Kraken this season has scored. That’s also the best in the league so far.
Tentacle Tales
Beniers’ goal gives him a five-game point streak which ties his career best. It is the most by a rookie in the NHL this season.
Tuesday’s win was the second in franchise history for the Kraken where they came back from a third-period multi-goal deficit. The first was March 19 when Seattle came back to score four goals in the third period against the Detroit Red Wings to win 4-2.
36 saves are a career high for Daccord.
Daccord was starting for Martin Jones who left the team to deal with a personal matter. Christopher Gibson was called up earlier in the day from AHL Coachella Valley to back up.
The Kraken’s road trip continues Thursday when they play the Minnesota Wild and ends Saturday in Pittsburgh with a rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
