There are memorable games, and there are forgettable games. Wednesday’s 4-1 Kraken loss to the Anaheim Ducks is one that you would file under “forgettable.” Seattle came out flat as a pancake, and an outstanding Anaheim team took advantage with two first-period goals. It was 3-0 before the Kraken got on the board, and the pushback was—as we’ve seen a few times over the past couple weeks—way too little and way too late.
Here are our Three Takeaways from a uninspiring Kraken loss to the Ducks.
Takeaway #1: Philipp Grubauer leaves with injury
Our Twitter mentions were once again ablaze with fans who weren’t loving Philipp Grubauer’s play through two periods on Wednesday. The first goal was certainly not on him, as Jared McCann got taken out on the backcheck and crashed into his netminder just before the shot. But Grubauer also gave up a short-handed goal to Derek Grant in the opening frame that he would have wanted back.
Though this goal was off a two-on-one rush, Grant shot from reasonably far out with no screen or deflection, yet it went right through the wickets. As a goalie, this is the kind of shot you absolutely hate letting in. We’ve seen goals like this—unscreened, from distance, right through the goalie—on too many occasions. When these go in, it tends to deflate a team, and the Kraken already looked to have minimal air in their tires.
If you’ve been following along both here and on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, you know we’ve been big defenders of Grubauer through the first two months of this inaugural season. We still firmly believe that he will get to a level that we all expected coming in, and he has shown flashes of this, but finding consistency has taken longer than any of us would have liked.
The big story on the Grubauer front, though, was his exit after two periods due to injury. Midway through the frame, Sam Carrick went hard to the net, and Jaden Schwartz laid a big hit on him right in the crease. Carrick bounced off Schwartz and crashed into Grubauer, who was slow to get up. Oddly, Schwartz and Carrick both got penalties on the play, though we aren’t convinced either player deserved a call. Also odd, there was no physical response from Seattle after their starting goalie got run by Carrick.
Grubauer gutted it out for the rest of the period, but he was seen talking to the medical staff during a TV timeout and looked to be in some discomfort. He exited after the second period and was replaced by Chris Driedger.
Coach Dave Hakstol did not have much of an update after the game, but confirmed it was injury that led to Grubauer’s departure, and also implied that it was a lower body injury without directly stating that.
Takeaway #2: Kraken were flat from the jump
There’s not much to say here, so we’ll keep it short. But the Kraken did not look like they had much jump in their legs on Wednesday against the Ducks. Sure, Seattle did play the night before in San Jose, but the fatigue associated with back-to-backs usually comes toward the end of the second game, not the beginning.
“We have to be sharper, that’s the bottom line,” captain Mark Giordano said. “Back-to-backs shouldn’t matter in this league. Everyone’s in good shape. We just weren’t sharp enough with the puck and with our reads.”
Takeaway #3: The Ducks are good
Remember the winning formula we talked about for Seattle on our last Three Takeaways? Well, the Ducks deployed that formula to perfection against the Kraken on Wednesday, and cruised to an easy win.
Give Anaheim credit. That’s a good team that came in rested and looked every bit like a club that has picked up points in eight of its last nine games. With so much youth on the roster, there’s been some expectation that the Ducks would eventually hit bumps in the road. But so far they have shown that they deserve everything they’ve gotten to this point and belong in first place in the Pacific Division.
The Kraken are going to have a hard time with this Ducks team for many years to come.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Who doesn’t love a fun, old-fashioned game of “Who blinks first?” That’s what Tuesday’s 3-1 Kraken win over the San Jose Sharks amounted to, as both teams’ goalies were playing great through two periods. It was Seattle who broke through first, and sure enough, it was Seattle that skated away with the important win over a divisional foe.
The Kraken entered the road contest with just one victory in six tries against Pacific Division teams, and as the losses have mounted this season, those within the division have been extra damaging for Seattle’s postseason hopes. Of course, there’s a massive mountain to climb if the Kraken are going to get back in the race, but taking down the Sharks on Tuesday was a good step and another good building block after a thrilling comeback ended in an overtime loss on Saturday.
Here are our Three Takeaways from an exciting 3-1 Kraken win over the Sharks.
Takeaway #1: Hockey games go by fast if there are no whistles
The first period was one of the fastest periods of professional hockey we’ve ever witnessed. Here’s how that happened. Chris Driedger made a tough save on a deflected Erik Karlsson shot and got a whistle 46 seconds into the game. Then he gloved a Lane Pederson shot at 2:51 for the second whistle. But the next stoppage didn’t come until 14:58 of the period, so a whopping 12:07 of game time elapsed between whistles.
In all, the clock stopped just six times in the first period, making for exciting hockey as the game flowed beautifully. When the dust settled on the chaotic first frame, the score was 0-0 after a good start by the Seattle netminder and perhaps an even better one by James Reimer at the other end.
Takeaway #2: Grand Larssony
The obvious play of the game came in the second period.
Driedger had just made a nice toe save, but the rebound went right to Matt Nieto on the doorstep. He collected the loose puck and pushed it around Driedger, who was down and out, for what looked like a sure goal. But out of nowhere, Adam Larsson’s stick came down at exactly the right time, and the Swedish blueliner committed…
“I mean, that’s the save the year,” Driedger said. “It’s always nice when one gets past you and your D bail you out. I think when everyone’s playing well, I can hopefully bail the guys out on a couple plays, and they bail me out a couple times.”
Driedger did rescue his mates a few times as well. Coming into this one, we were interested to see how he would perform after playing two of his best games of the year in a row against Florida and Buffalo, then going on injured reserve for the second time this season. But he picked up right where he left off and looked calm and confident.
You could tell Driedger was really tracking the puck well. When screened, goalies are trained to look around players in front of them to keep eyes on the puck. It might open up some net on the side opposite the goalie’s lean, but that’s the tradeoff to be able to see the puck.
With Seattle killing a Vince Dunn penalty in the second period, Driedger was looking around a screen to his right. When the shot came from the point, it went to the left of the body that was standing in his way. When that happens, the goalie is guaranteed to lose sight of the puck, because the path of the shot passes behind the opposing player. Driedger calmly gloved the puck down on the left side of the player, as if he saw it the whole way.
It was perhaps not the flashiest of saves or the most memorable, but saves like those show a goalie is dialed in.
There was one butt-clench moment by Driedger in the closing minutes, when Seattle’s lead had just been cut down to one. From behind the net, he tried to clear the puck himself by lifting it out of the zone, and we thought he might even be going for the empty net at the other end. He didn’t get it high enough, though, and Tomas Hertl jumped and gloved it down. Driedger dived back to his net and this time bailed himself out after the gaffe.
Asked if he was trying to score, Driedger said with a chuckle, “I mean, I think I was missing by about 10 yards. I was just trying to clear the puck. I thought I got quite a bit under it… Looking back maybe a little bit too dangerous of a play by me.”
Takeaway #3: Kraken find the winning formula against Sharks
We talked about this quite a bit over the last few weeks. We’ve determined that the winning formula for the Seattle Kraken is reliable goaltending, good defensive structure through the neutral and defensive zones, and opportunistic scoring. Seattle checked all three boxes on Tuesday, and lo and behold, got the needed win.
Yes, Driedger looked good, and yes, Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak swept pucks off the goal line to help him out. But the group as a whole kept the Sharks at tentacle’s length for most of the night.
“I can’t recall any real odd-man rushes,” Driedger said. “I thought we just locked it down really, really well. We only had one penalty kill so it was just an all-around great team effort.”
So between Driedger and solid team defense, that’s two of the three ingredients. The third ingredient came courtesy of Seattle’s third and fourth lines. The all-former-Shark line of Ryan Donato, Alexander True, and Joonas Donskoi got Seattle on the board first with a grinding effort to push the puck the length of the ice as a unit. Then Morgan Geekie made a beautiful pass off the rush—he’s made a few of those this season—to Brandon Tanev for a late insurance marker that would become needed in the end.
It was a complete team effort for the Kraken against the Sharks, the kind that we have seen on nights when Seattle has been successful this year. Now, the Kraken quickly turn their attention to the high-flying Anaheim Ducks for their second of back-to-back games on Wednesday.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
The Kraken were in San Jose Tuesday night for the first time, and it turned out they had just the right-sized boat, defeating the Sharks 3-1.
Chris Driedger was the star, turning away 33 San Jose shots for Seattle (10-15-3) and nearly earning the first shutout in Kraken history. Ryan Donato and Brandon Tanev scored goals while Calle Jarnkrok finished with an empty-net score in the win.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Kraken.
Not to be outdone, Sharks goalie James Reimer matched Driedger through the first two periods before allowing a pair of scores in the third period. He made 27 saves for San Jose (15-13-1).
It was the Kraken’s second win against a Pacific Division opponent, and they improve their record to 2-5-0 within the division.
“I thought the consistency of our game tonight was excellent,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We started from the drop of the puck and we played a really solid 60-minute hockey game.”
How it played out in San Jose
Seattle scored first, at 6:23 of the third period when Donato deflected a puck that hit off a Sharks skate and past Reimer for his sixth of the season. It came at the end of a good shift from the ‘Shark’ line made up of former Sharks players Donato, Joonas Donskoi, and Alex True.
“It wasn’t a highlight reel goal,” Hakstol said. “But you know that threesome found a way to get up the ice. It was a 200-foot play and they ended up on top of the blue paint and I’m not sure exactly how the puck went in the net, but I don’t think Ryan shot it from any more than a foot or a foot and a half above the goal line.”
“it’s nice to do it against an old team and that kind of stuff,” Donato said. “But, sometimes they go out just as easily where you feel like you’re that close and it’ll find a way to stay out. So, I think it was a blessing that somehow it bounced off a couple of things and went in the net, and I’m happy.”
With a slim lead the Kraken didn’t sit back and let the Sharks come to them.
The shots were 14-12 for San Jose in the third, but Seattle matched with 10 scoring chances, four of which were of the high danger variety.
“We have been doing this sitting back for a couple of games and it doesn’t work,” Adam Larsson said. “There’s players in this league that are too good. You’ve got to go after them, you’ve got to push. We did that today and it was effective.”
Tanev would give the Kraken insurance at 14:18 of the third with a goal to make it 2-0. The play was set up by Morgan Geekie who drove the puck deep, drew in San Jose defenders, and flung a backhand pass to Tanev who was left alone in the slot. The goal was Tanev’s ninth of the season.
With their net empty San Jose would cut the lead to 2-1 with a 6-on-5 goal at 17:53 when a rebound landed on Logan Couture’s stick with an empty net to shoot at.
The Kraken would respond, however, as Alex Wennberg brought the puck up the ice and found Mason Appleton, who got it to Jarnkrok. Jarnkrok scored in the empty net at 19:54 to make the score 3-1 and end any doubt.
Driedger led the way for the Kraken
Driedger was making his fifth start of the season and first start since coming off the injured reserve list Saturday. The second period was his best with 12 saves, including two on a Sharks power play.
He didn’t do it by himself. First it was Jamie Oleksiak who cleared a loose puck off the goal line. Then moments later, Matt Nieto looked like he was going to score an easy goal but Driedger dove back and slowed it down with his stick for Adam Larsson to stop it cold on the goal line and allow for a cover.
“I just felt confident, and I thought we just locked it down,” Driedger added. “I can’t recall any real odd man rushes… I thought we just locked it down really, really well. We only had one penalty kill so it was just an all-around great team effort, and nights like that are going to be nights where it’s gonna be a little easier to stop the puck.”
Driedger did have one moment of trepidation late in the game with Seattle up 2-1.
The San Jose net was empty and Driedger had the puck on his stick with a chance to clear, or even possibly score. His shot, whether it was a clear or a shot, was batted down by Tomas Hertl and nearly put back in the net for the equalizing score if not for one of Driedger’s hustling back and sprawling to keep it out.
“I think I was missing by about 10 yards,” he said with a chuckle. “So I was just trying to clear the puck, and I thought I got quite a bit under it, and I don’t know who it was that knocked it down there. But looking back maybe a little bit too dangerous of a play by me. I mean, maybe a rim would have sufficed in that situation, but I got it and I just ripped it up quick and thought I had it over top of those guys.”
The Kraken will try to make it two in a row against the Pacific Division when they head down the coast to play the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
Tentacle tales
+ Alexander True was playing against his former team, but he was also playing against a former Seattle teammate. San Jose winger Lane Pederson played with True for the 2014-15 Seattle Thunderbirds.
+ Joonas Donskoi recorded his 200th career point and became the 10th active Finnish-born skater to reach the milestone.
+ Prior to the game Tuesday, the Kraken recalled Max McCormick from Charlotte of the American Hockey League. McCormick was a scratch on Tuesday.
Seattle Kraken (9-15-3) at San Jose Sharks (15-12-1) 7:30 p.m. Pacific time SAP Center, San Jose, California TV: ROOT Sports Radio: AM 950 KJR
Things have gone haywire around the NHL these past couple days, as dozens of players across the league have landed in COVID protocol and several games have been postponed. The Kraken locker room has been infiltrated by the virus on four separate occasions this season, but so far (we’re knocking on wood and will not accept responsibility for jinxing the Kraken if more positive cases and/or postponements roll in soon) the team has done well to avoid any major outbreaks.
As the Kraken prep to take on the Sharks Tuesday, Yanni Gourde, Riley Sheahan, and Colin Blackwell remain in protocol, as does assistant coach Jay Leach. We were concerned that those cases could lead to more, but that has not proven to be true as of yet. We also wondered if the Kraken—with all of this going on—might consider bringing up an extra forward, being that their forward corps was suddenly depleted. They answered that question by recalling Max McCormick from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers for his second stint with the Kraken, though we don’t expect him to play against the Sharks.
Having anybody in COVID protocol is less than ideal, but at least the Kraken will have a lineup of (mostly) NHL players ready to go for Tuesday’s game against the Sharks, and that’s better than the situations for a lot of teams currently.
“It’s scary,” Ryan Donato said of the COVID situation. “It is, but at the end of the day, we’ve been dealing with it for so long now that I think guys are used to it. It’s tough, when it happens to you, it’s obviously a little different. When you have friends and teammates that get it, it’s a little bit more nerve wracking because it could have been just as easily you or your family member.”
As of the writing of this story, nothing has really changed for the Kraken, other than media availability being held via Zoom. “There’s no new protocols at this time that are being introduced to the team,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s just continued vigilance and trying to be as careful and as intelligent as we can in all situations, whether it’s at the rink, at home, or—as you know—on the road traveling. We’re doing everything we can to stay smart in that regard.”
The NHL/NHLPA have moved up their meeting of medical staffs to tonight, as a wave of positive tests caused at least two games to be postponed. Will be interesting to see what tweaks to the protocols — if any — might emerge.
NHL and NHLPA doctors are meeting with the league on Tuesday evening, so the possibility for new protocols is very real. Still, it sounds like the show will go on Tuesday in San Jose and Wednesday in Anaheim (again, we accept no jinx-related responsibility if any games end up getting postponed).
Chris Driedger in for first of back-to-back games for Kraken
The Kraken will turn to Chris Driedger to tend goal against the Sharks, which will mark his first appearance since his second visit to injured reserve started two weeks ago. Driedger had played well and earned wins in consecutive starts against Florida and Buffalo, but said he felt another “tweak” in the last couple minutes of the game against the Sabres.
Those two outings were promising, as he had just started to show how he could theoretically fit in as a reliable 1B goalie. Let’s hope he can pick up right where he left off for the Kraken as he returns against the Sharks on Tuesday.
With Driedger playing in San Jose, the plan is for Philipp Grubauer to get the nod in Anaheim on Wednesday.
“Shark” line expected to stick together
With Alexander True recalled by the Kraken prior to Saturday’s overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Hakstol formed a line of all former Sharks, as True skated between Donato and Joonas Donskoi. That trio is expected to stick together to start Tuesday’s game against San Jose.
Meanwhile, Jared McCann will again center the top line between Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Eberle (the Triple-J Line). That trio was successful through training camp and the early part of the season, but hadn’t spent significant time together since McCann landed on the COVID protocol list at the beginning of November. Reunited on Saturday, McCann did get Seattle’s first goal, assisted by Eberle, and Schwartz scored a goal off his backside, though that came on the power play and was assisted by Donskoi.
By the way, Donskoi confirmed on Tuesday that he did think he had scored his first goal of the season on that play. He added that his inability to find the back of the net has not had much of a mental impact on him, though, as he knows he’s getting chances and contributing offensively with assists.
San Jose Sharks
San Jose turned heads at the beginning of the season, getting off to a red-hot 4-0-0 start. With a young roster and a terrible COVID outbreak of its own in the early stages, the team came back down to earth and has since had some ups and downs. The Sharks did have a stretch recently in which they won five games out of six, but they are a beatable opponent for the Kraken, who are desperate to start racking up some points against divisional foes.
Erik Karlsson has looked rejuvenated this season and has 10 points in his last 10 games. In all, the smooth veteran defenseman has 18 points in 22 games. Meanwhile, another resurgence has been happening in San Jose’s goalcrease, where James Reimer has surprisingly had a great season. The 33-year-old journeyman is 9-4-1 with a 1.98 goals against average and .937 save percentage. He gets the nod for San Jose on Tuesday.
Up front, Timo Meier and Logan Couture have done the heavy lifting offensively, posting 28 and 24 points respectively.
Projected lineup
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
When Kraken general manager Ron Francis announced that Matty Beniers would be the team’s first-ever selection in the NHL Entry Draft, Seattle fans rejoiced. The spanking new franchise had selected a future cornerstone for the organization, a young man with skill, tenacity, and an innate ability to lead his teammates.
Among seasoned hockey fans, Beniers became a household name in the leadup to the 2021 draft and was well deserving of his No. 2 overall selection. Not only was he a central figure on an outstanding University of Michigan team, he also played a key role for Team USA at the 2021 World Junior Championship, where the Americans won gold for just the fifth time in the 44-year history of the tournament.
Aside from third-string goalie Logan Stein, Beniers was the only player on the American roster that still had draft eligibility during last year’s tournament and was the youngest player on the roster. He scored a goal and two assists in seven games and averaged 17:05 of ice time as the team’s second-line center.
In May, Beniers took a step up to the IIHF World Championship, where he played with bona fide NHL players and notched a goal and an assist in six games, helping USA to a bronze medal. He was again the youngest and only draft eligible player on that roster.
Now, in his final year of eligibility, he’s back at Team USA’s World Junior Championship training camp with eyes on a massive role for the 2022 tournament.
“I’m excited,” Beniers said Monday on a Zoom call with members of the media. “I think after last tournament— it was awesome winning gold, but you know, I think I expected a little more out of myself to contribute, and I wasn’t able to do that in the point standings. I think this year it’s the same expectation that I’m going to be kind of that guy… Hopefully I can do that for the team.”
Beniers and the Americans accomplished something truly remarkable in 2021, taking down Team Canada to bring home gold. Although much of the roster has turned over, he’s hoping the players that were part of last year’s win can build off of the experience.
“I think we did something very special last year and it was really great, awesome,” he said. “But the next thing is here, and we’re kind of starting to turn the page and not forgetting about it. But remembering what worked and what didn’t work and try to implement that into the team this year, try to do the same thing, and try to do it even better.”
Teammates follow the lead of Matty Beniers
Though captains have not been named yet, Beniers will almost certainly factor into the leadership group for Team USA as one of six players currently in camp who participated in the tournament last year. He already serves as alternate captain at Michigan in just his sophomore season, and his teammates on Team USA confirm that they look to him to pave the way.
Another player returning from last year’s gold-medal winning group is University of North Dakota defenseman Jake Sanderson, who was selected No. 5 overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. When Sanderson was asked Monday who he viewed as the leaders on the team, he didn’t hesitate in placing Beniers at the top of his list. “He’s not the most vocal guy, but when he is, guys listen. Just how he goes about his day, he’s a leader by example just by how hard he works, and he does all the right things.”
The Wolverines team on which Beniers plays his college hockey is special. There are seven first-round draft picks on the roster—an NCAA record—including four of the top five selections in 2021. The No. 4 overall pick was Luke Hughes, who is expected to make his first appearance at the WJC with Team USA later this month. We asked Hughes about Beniers on Monday, and he said, “He’s been a great resource for me and he’s a really good leader on our team at Michigan. I think he’s going to be a really good leader here too.”
Kraken keeping an eye on Beniers’ development
After Beniers was picked by the Kraken, there was some debate as to whether he would join Seattle right away or go back to Michigan for a second season. It wasn’t a surprise, though, to see Beniers and his cohort of collegiate superstars return to Ann Arbor.
Last season was wonky on a lot of levels, from having no fans in the stands at famed Yost Arena to the Wolverines getting disqualified from the NCAA Tournament at the last second due to positive COVID tests. After posting a point per game in 2020-21, Beniers is continuing to play well at the college level as a sophomore, notching 11 goals and 11 assists in 20 games. He is tied for the lead on his star-studded team in goals and is just one point off the team lead for scoring.
He is continuing to develop as a player, and Seattle is continuing to keep tabs from afar. Beniers says Troy Bodie, director of hockey and business operations for the Kraken’s future Palm Springs AHL affiliate, has been checking in with him regularly. “He’s kind of their development guy,” he says of Bodie. “He’s been to games and just mentions little things I can work on, but nothing too crazy.”
It’s a delicate balance for NHL teams to allow their drafted players to go through the process with their current teams and avoid interfering too much. “I think they understand we’ve got great coaches at Michigan where I’m playing, and [those coaches are] there every night, they’re there to help, and they kind of trust those guys that they’re going to help developing me and get me better. Once they kind of pass the torch, I’ll start to get more insight from the Kraken and what they think.”
So what does Beniers need to do to prepare himself for the jump to the NHL? “I think it’s just continue to get bigger, stronger, faster. The NHL, it’s a really fast-paced game. Everyone’s bigger and stronger and they’re all fighting to keep their job… I think that’s the biggest focus right now, and it’s always tough during the season to do that.”
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
The Seattle Kraken will be tested this week with two sets of back-to-back games including two against division rivals that have a “make or break” feel about them. The next two games come Tuesday and Wednesday in Seattle’s first road trip to California. The Kraken then return to the Puget Sound area to take on two of the better Canadian teams on Saturday and Sunday. Here is the rundown and who to keep an eye on in each matchup.
Tuesday, Dec. 14, Seattle Kraken at San Jose Sharks
TV: ROOT Sports
This will be the first-ever game between the Kraken and Sharks with an important two points on the line. San Jose has been a surprise team in the Pacific Division this season but still finds itself in the middle of the standings. If the Sharks expect to make the playoffs, every point matters when chasing the Ducks, Flames, Oilers, and Golden Knights.
Meanwhile, the Kraken still find themselves in the bottom of the Pacific. It is already a long shot, but if this team expects any chance at the postseason, it will need to put a string of wins together soon, particularly against teams ahead of it in the Pacific Division standings.
Who to watch on San Jose
Tomas Hertl is a big-bodied centerman that has knack for big goals. He has goals in four straight games and is on pace for a career season high.
Jasper Weatherby is a Pacific Northwest native and has played extremely well in his first year as a professional hockey player. He has been bouncing between the 3rd and 4th lines, but it is clear he has the coach’s trust to play him in critical situations. Weatherby’s journey both on and off the ice is fascinating and makes him a player worth rooting for, even if he is wearing opposing colors.
The skinny
It is not fair to put the success of the Seattle Kraken’s season on one game in December, but this might be as close to a must-win game as we can get at this stage. The boys from the Puget Sound must start digging themselves out of the rather large hole they find themselves in right now.
Wednesday, Dec. 15, Seattle Kraken at Anaheim Ducks
TV: TNT
Anaheim is another surprise team in the Pacific, currently sitting second in the division. The Ducks are riding a wave of excitement created by a younger generation of players and are currently challenging Calgary for the top spot. Troy Terry, 24, and Trevor Zegras, 20, are leading the team in points. The Ducks are also getting significant contributions from Isac Lundestrom, 22, and Jamie Drysdale, 19.
The Kraken’s first matchup against the Ducks did not go well. Anaheim handed the Kraken a 7-4 loss at Climate Pledge Arena on a night that felt like Seattle never had a chance.
Who to watch on Anaheim
The expectations for Trevor Zegras have been high since he was drafted ninth overall in 2019. He has lived up to those expectations with an impressive freshman season at Boston University in the 2019-20 season and an MVP performance that helped USA clinch a gold medal at last year’s World Junior Championship. He has also caught fire at the NHL level, showing creativity with his mind-boggling assist on the leading candidate for goal of the year.
Jamie Drysdale is another top-10 draft pick by the Anaheim Ducks. He is projected to be an elite defenseman in the NHL and is already starting to showcase his skill in his second NHL season. Drysdale might not be a household name now, but he will be in a few years.
The skinny
Yes, winning in Anaheim would be ideal, but even getting an overtime point should be considered a victory for Seattle. We know they are capable of skating with anyone, but the Kraken have lacked consistency, and a positive performance against one of the top teams in the division would be a confidence booster.
Saturday, Dec. 18, Edmonton Oilers at Seattle Kraken
ROOT Sports, CBC
The Kraken played their best game of the season the last time the Oilers visited Climate Pledge Arena in a 4-3 nail-biting victory. Edmonton has lost four in a row since visiting Seattle and will have revenge in mind on its final game in Seattle for the 2021-22 regular season.
Who to watch on Edmonton
Edmonton has two of the best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Those two are rather obvious players to watch, but we want to call out Zach Hyman as another player to watch. Hyman is a hard-working forward that has been thriving on the Oilers since signing with them in the offseason.
Derek Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto are not household names, but in Washington State, they should be. Both were born and raised in Spokane and played for the Spokane Chiefs. Ryan might not get many minutes, but he does the little things that coaches appreciate from a fourth-line center. His journey to the NHL is an incredible one, and he shared it with us on the Sound Of Hockey podcast last year.
Sunday, Dec. 19, Toronto Maple Leafs at Seattle Kraken
This will be the Maple Leafs’ first and only trip to the Pacific Northwest this season. The Leafs have been inconsistent but should still be considered as one of the top teams in the league. They started this season with a 2-4-1 run that had a fan base screaming to tear it all down and rebuild, only to follow that up by winning 10 out of the next 11 games.
Player to watch on Toronto
Michael Bunting is a 26-year-old rookie who is putting together a great season since signing with the Maple Leafs in the offseason. He is taking advantage of playing on the top line with Auston Matthews and has 19 points over 29 games.
The skinny
Luckily for the Kraken, Mitch Marner will be on injured reserve for this game, and the Kraken should be seeing the Leafs’ back-up goalie with Toronto on the second night of a back-to-back. Beating the Maple Leafs would be another huge feather in the cap for the Kraken, who have taken down several elite teams.
It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Kraken fans this season, and this week could be part of the ride. At this point, fans should be looking for consistency in the team’s compete level. Given the skill of the opponents they are about to face, grabbing four out of eight points this week should be considered success and something to build on heading into the end of the calendar year.
Sports arenas are often loud, but rarely do attendees feel the need to check if their ears are bleeding from the din of the crowd. Soon after the Kraken tied Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Climate Pledge Arena hit a decibel level that we don’t believe had previously been achieved. Of course there have been some loud moments—the closing seconds of the win over Edmonton and Vince Dunn scoring the first-ever home Kraken goal come to mind—but this was otherworldly.
On Saturday, soon after Dunn buried Seattle’s third goal of the final period to erase a three-goal deficit, the game operations department dug into its little bag of tricks. Text appeared on the video boards, with the beginning of the Top Gun theme playing underneath. The board read, “There comes a time when winning and losing comes down to the fans. That time is now.”
Then, just as the electric guitar riff kicked into its chorus, a new message appeared, “Kraken Nation, just how loud can you get?” The crowd accepted the challenge and rose to a deafening volume.
That was not the first time the Top Gun bit had been used to stir the crowd, but it hadn’t had that kind of impact on its previous deployments.
Perhaps the reaction was an indication of pent-up energy after two dull home losses in a row. Or perhaps it was an indication that Kraken fans—despite the team’s struggles at times—are completely enamored by their home NHL franchise and wanted to show that affection yet again.
Here are our three takeaways from Saturday’s thrilling 5-4 overtime Kraken loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Takeaway #1: Wheels came off the wagon in the second period
The second period has been a period of strength for the Kraken for most of the season. If they’re trailing after the first (pretty standard) or tied but struggling to find traction, they typically tilt the ice in their favor when the second frame begins.
After a good first period in which they dominated possession in the early going but failed to score, Seattle did also get a decent start to the second period on Saturday. But then two consecutive Columbus power plays—one off a questionable call on Alex True for poking at Elvis Merzlikins and getting physically abused for doing so—got things going for the Blue Jackets.
The Kraken actually killed both penalties in impressive fashion, but Seattle playing down a man for four minutes gave the Blue Jackets momentum.
Oliver Bjorkstrand broke through first with a snipe past Philipp Grubauer, and then it was like the floodgates were open for Columbus.
When the dust settled on the second period, the Kraken trailed 4-1 after Jack Roslovic scored second for the Blue Jackets and Max Domi then got two in a row.
It appeared that the game was over as the teams headed to the dressing room.
Takeaway #2: Wheels went back on the wagon in the third period
…But then, the game wasn’t over!
You gotta hand it to the boys. As a team, they have their deficiencies, but they are a resilient bunch. After a miserable power play outing against the Jets on Thursday, they got their first and only man advantage of the game Saturday at 2:28 of the third period when Gabriel Carlsson held Alex Wennberg. After failing to register a shot in four power play attempts against Winnipeg, they quickly converted in just one attempt against Columbus.
“That was the spark that we needed in the third period, and the group talked about it earlier [Saturday] in their power play meeting,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “We’d been on a good run for probably close to a month where we’d been on top of it and really efficient. The last couple games we haven’t been at our level, you know, a level that we expect out of ourselves. The guys took it upon themselves to make sure they were ready to impact the game tonight, and that was a great way for them to do it.”
The funny thing about the power-play goal was that Joonas Donskoi—who still has not scored a goal all season—took the shot and appeared to believe he would get credit. He even went through the fly-by line at the bench first, a spot typically reserved for the goal scorer. But replay showed the puck had glanced off of Jaden Schwartz’s pants. Poor Donskoi. He’ll score one day.
Regardless of who scored it, it was a big goal that got the ball rolling for the Kraken.
Just 22 seconds later, the Kraken brought themselves within one when Brandon Tanev found a streaking Morgan Geekie through a seam. Geekie picked his spot on Merzlikins and fired, and suddenly Seattle was right back in the game with 16 minutes left.
Geekie’s goal marks the sixth time this season that #SeaKraken have scored two goals within two minutes of game time (we call these response goals) pic.twitter.com/iX37Eb80jP
Things went back and forth for the next 11 minutes, but you could feel the tying goal coming. The building came alive in the third period in a way that we didn’t hear in the previous two games, and when Vince Dunn scored at 15:54, Climate Pledge Arena erupted.
After such a demoralizing second period, the third created some moments that will live on in our minds for quite a while. What a comeback by the boys.
Takeaway #3: Bean… pots… the overtime winner for Blue Jackets against Kraken
Three games have gone beyond regulation time for Seattle so far. One ended in a Kraken shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings, and now the other two have been overtime losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Three-on-three is not something the Kraken practice very often, and as we saw when it was first instituted in the NHL, it can take some time for teams to get really good at it. So it’s not surprising to see Seattle coming up short in these situations. Still, it’s disappointing to have such an incredible comeback end in bittersweet fashion.
Interestingly, it was former Tri-City American Jake Bean who got the game winner this time. Many expected Bean to be Seattle’s pick in the Expansion Draft from the Carolina Hurricanes, but general manager Ron Francis passed on Bean. He instead selected Geekie, who coincidentally also scored Saturday and also played in the WHL for the Tri-City Americans.
Soon after the Kraken Expansion Draft, the Hurricanes traded Bean to the Blue Jackets for a second-round draft pick, and Bean then signed a three-year deal with Columbus.
After the game, Bean was asked about not getting selected by Seattle. “To be honest, it was a pretty tough day for me and my family when I didn’t get taken,” he said. “But once I got to Columbus, it’s been all Columbus, and I haven’t really thought about it since.”
Fascinating. We’re happy for Bean but also disappointed that he found the game winner Saturday.
On the goal, Marcus Johansson was tracking Domi down into the corner. He seemed to forget where he was on the ice for a moment, and backed himself right into Grubauer’s line of sight. Bean used the unnecessary screen to his advantage and fired a missile inside the far post. That was all she wrote for the Kraken after a memorable comeback against the Blue Jackets.
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Seattle Kraken (9-15-2) versus Columbus Blue Jackets (13-11-1) 7 p.m. Pacific time Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington TV: ROOT Sports Radio: AM 950 KJR
Emails that start with the phrase, “Out of an abundance of caution,” typically bring bad news. The Kraken sent one of those messages around 9AM on Saturday, indicating that media availability would be held via Zoom for both morning skate and for post-game following the team’s matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The last time availability was held remotely was when the team was prepping to head to Vegas for its first game ever and five players had been placed in COVID protocol. So we figured some sort of COVID-related news was coming, even before morning skate on Saturday.
Thankfully, the news wasn’t quite as dramatic this time around, though Yanni Gourde—a key piece of this Seattle team—plus Riley Sheahan and assistant coach Jay Leach have joined Colin Blackwell in protocol. Former Seattle Thunderbird Alexander True was recalled from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers and is expected to be in the lineup against the Blue Jackets for his Kraken debut.
Ironically, it was True who got recalled the first time Seattle went through this in October. He even did a press conference prior to the game against the Golden Knights, in which he talked about how excited he was to be playing. But then four of the five players in protocol were miraculously cleared in time for that game, and True ended up getting scratched. It seems unlikely that a late clearance from protocol will happen this time.
Chris Driedger returning from injured reserve
Our spidey senses were also tingling over the fact that Joey Daccord was not at morning skate on Saturday. Unlike the players that had entered COVID protocol, Daccord’s name remained on the official Kraken roster on the NHL Media website, while Chris Driedger was still noted as being on injured reserve. Still, there was clearly something happening on the goalie front as well.
Sure enough, coach Dave Hakstol later confirmed that Driedger has been activated and will serve as backup to Philipp Grubauer on Saturday, while Daccord is heading back to Charlotte.
Driedger had just started to show his abilities with back-to-back wins over Florida and Buffalo before landing on IR, so his return to the goalcrease in the near future will be a welcome one.
Can Kraken keep from falling into another rut?
The last two Kraken games have been cause for concern about what might happen over the next couple weeks for this team. Typically so resilient, Seattle didn’t show much pushback against either the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-1 drubbing on Monday or the Winnipeg Jets in a 3-0 loss on Thursday.
Sure, there were stretches in both games when Seattle had the better of the play, but without the opportunistic scoring we were seeing during the team’s recent 5-1-1 surge, you never had the feeling in either of those contests that the Kraken were going to come out on top.
According to Alex Wennberg, the sentiment amongst the team remains positive despite the last two disappointing performances.
“The vibe is good,” he said Saturday. “Obviously sometimes you play those games where we really aren’t happy with the result or the way we’re playing. I mean, this league, it’s— obviously you look at the game and see what you can do better, but there’s a new game coming up, there’s a new opponent.”
So, can the Kraken close out this homestand with a victory over the Blue Jackets and get back to surging, or will they go back into a losing streak?
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets are a beatable team for the Kraken, but earning a win will mean getting back to the defensive structure and timely scoring that they had been displaying for a bit. When these teams played each other back in October in Columbus, Grubauer had an outstanding game but didn’t get the offensive support he deserved. As a result, the Kraken fell 2-1 to the Blue Jackets that night in overtime.
That familiarity with opponents is still a luxury the Kraken haven’t gotten too many times. “It’s nice to have some firsthand knowledge of how a team plays and how their personnel are being used,” said Hakstol. “Columbus has been a very consistent team right from day one. They forecheck very well, they skate very well, and when you look at how active their D corps can be, they can create a lot in the offensive zone with some of their motion.”
Though the game Columbus brings is consistent, the CBJ’s have had a bad run of results lately, earning just one win in their last seven games. They lost their last game 2-1 in a shootout at home against the Ducks on Thursday and dropped all four games on their last road trip, which started this skid.
When the Kraken lost to the Blue Jackets in October, it was Patrik Laine who scored the game winner in overtime. The enigmatic sharpshooter is now on injured reserve, though, and will miss Saturday’s game.
Elvis Merzlikins is expected to start in goal for the Blue Jackets. He’s had a few tough outings of late but performed well against Anaheim on Thursday, stopping 25 of 26 shots, and on the season has a 2.80 goals against average and .917 save percentage.
Gavin Bayreuther, selected from Columbus in Seattle’s July Expansion Draft, will be in the lineup for Columbus in place of injured defenseman Adam Boqvist. Bayreuther was chosen by the Kraken but did not sign and instead opted to return to the Blue Jackets.
Projected lineup
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at Sound Of Hockey and the host, producer, and editor of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is an inconsistent beer league goalie who believes that five players have to make a mistake before the puck gets to him. Follow him on Twitter @DarrenFunBrown or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
It was the worst of times, it was the best of times… and then it started becoming the worst of times again. The Kraken broke out of a miserable six-game losing streak and followed it with an impressive 5-1-1 stretch in which they beat several elite teams from across the league. But since beating Edmonton at home on Dec. 3, the Kraken have lost two games at Climate Pledge Arena against the Penguins and the Winnipeg Jets by a combined score of 9-1.
There are two ways to look at Thursday’s 3-0 loss to Winnipeg. One way—probably the less realistic of the options—is that it was a step in the right direction after Pittsburgh spanked Seattle 6-1 on Monday. The other way is that the Kraken still didn’t look like they were anywhere close against the Jets.
In comparing Thursday’s loss to Monday’s loss, coach Dave Hakstol said, “This was a different world than that, and we already talked about that. That performance is left behind. We had a bad night [Monday], and we know that. Tonight, we were competitive.”
So, Hakstol is taking the more optimistic approach, but we’re choosing the more pessimistic route to describing this one. Because although Seattle was within spitting distance on the scoreboard for two thirds of the game, it just never had that feel like the Kraken were destined to come out on top. That’s probably because Connor Hellebuyck was rarely under duress en route to pitching the first shutout in the history of Climate Pledge Arena, a sign that there just wasn’t enough happening offensively for the Kraken on this night.
Here are our three pessimistic takeaways from Thursday’s 3-0 Kraken loss to the Jets.
Takeaway #1: Slow starts are officially back
One day the Kraken will be a fast-starting team, we swear. But so far, that has not been the case for this fledgling Seattle club, which—stop us if you’ve heard this one before—once again fell behind fewer than six minutes into the game against Winnipeg.
Carson Soucy tried to make a little backwards pass to Ryan Donato to escape the corner behind Philipp Grubauer. With a good stick, Paul Stastny picked it off, found Dominic Toninato in the slot, and the 27-year-old grinder fired a perfect shot just inside the post for his third goal of the season.
Bing, bang, boom, the Kraken found themselves chasing yet again.
“I didn’t think we had a great start to be honest,” captain Mark Giordano said after his first game since returning from COVID protocol. “I thought we were a little tentative out there, sitting and watching a bit, but as the period went on we definitely got going, generated more.
“When you’re playing that team, and I’ve played them a lot in my career, it’s the same story every time. You’ve got to win battles on the wall.”
The Jets are certainly not the first team to open the scoring against the Kraken. Seattle has conceded the first tally to opponents 17 times in 26 games. This latest example stings a bit more on the heels of giving up three goals in the first six minutes against the Penguins on Monday.
We’ve said it ad nauseam, but you simply can’t be chasing every night in the NHL and expect to win games. The Kraken looked like they had resolved this problem during their hot streak, but it reared its ugly head against the Penguins and Jets.
Takeaway #2: Are power play struggles also back?
There was a period of time when one of the narratives we were hearing every night was about the Kraken struggling on the power play. Starting against the Golden Knights on Nov. 9, when the Seattle man advantage collectively got off the schneid, the group appeared to have figured out this piece of its game and quickly ascended from 32nd in the league to 23rd in this category.
But the power play units took a step back on Thursday, registering zero shots on goal on their first three full opportunities. It wasn’t until their fifth and final power play of the night that the Kraken got two shots through to the Jets net, both of which were calmly corralled by Hellebuyck, who looked a bit too comfortable throughout.
Adding a bit of salt in that wound, Winnipeg has the second-worst penalty kill in the NHL and even after a perfect night has held opposing power play units off the scoreboard just 62.5 percent of the time. Perhaps the Jets were desperate to improve in that area?
“Number one, they did a hell of a job,” said Hakstol of Winnipeg’s penalty killers. “I thought they were on it, and their PK— their pressure was very good. So usually that comes back to puck retrievals, finding a quick outlet, and then puck speed. That’s my guess at what we’ll find when we take a look at it [on Friday].”
Let’s hope this truly is more about Winnipeg having a great game in this area than it is about Seattle losing its power play mojo.
Takeaway #3: Three bad defensive plays doom Kraken against Jets
During the Kraken’s recent positive run, we determined that their winning formula is sturdy goaltending, good structure in the neutral and defensive zones, and opportunistic scoring. Only one of those three boxes was ticked on Thursday, with Grubauer having a good—not outstanding, but good—game against Winnipeg.
He allowed three goals, but all three came off of high-danger chances that were the direct results of bad defensive plays in front of him. Frankly, he held the Kraken in through two periods, giving them more than enough time to get level with the Jets, and made several stellar saves in the process. But his mates did not reward Grubauer for responding well after a miserable night Monday.
We already talked about the Soucy turnover to Stastny, which led to the Toninato goal in the opening minutes.
The second goal was completely bogus, after Jaden Schwartz was clipped by a Blake Wheeler high stick and also tripped in the neutral zone seconds before Winnipeg scored. Still the defense on the ensuing two-on-three rush after the non-call was horrendous.
Vince Dunn, playing the left side, for some reason crossed over to the right and chased the puck carrier, Mark Scheifele. Adam Larsson almost looked surprised to be swapping with his partner, and was slow to react. Calle Jarnkrok, meanwhile, did nothing as the closest backchecker to Kyle Connor, coasting into the defensive zone and just watching the goal happen.
If that goal felt familiar, it’s because the Chicago Blackhawks scored an almost carbon-copy goal on Nov. 17, when Dunn again chased the wrong guy and left Patrick Kane alone.
We called it out after the Chicago game, but we might as well remind you that Dunn has spent a lot of this season playing the right side, despite being a left-shot defenseman. It makes a lot of sense for him to be back on his strong side with right-shot Larsson, but we wonder if the switching for the relatively young defenseman has had any adverse effects on him.
And hey, let’s not forget the third goal, when Mason Appleton turned it over in front of the Kraken bench to Scheifele, who sent Connor in for his second of the game and 17th of the season.
It was another uninspiring game by the Kraken on Thursday against the Jets, their second such effort in a row. They canceled Friday’s practice and will go back to work against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
