Episode 161 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here. Lots to break down for the guys this week, both from the Kraken perspective and from the hockey world in general. First, they dig in a bit on Seattle’s first homestand and what they liked and didn’t like from the team, as well as the experience of attending the games. They also share some updates on what’s coming from the Kraken for the rest of the week.
They then move on to the story that gripped the whole hockey world this past week, which was the Kyle Beach and Chicago Blackhawks situation. Interestingly, John, Andy, and Darren did not go into the show with the intention of talking about it that much, being that it has been discussed so broadly over the last week. But once they got talking about it, it was hard to stop.
We then get an update of what’s happening down on the farm, a Serious Business, Goalie Gear Corner, and Bad Boys. We also hear a Get Off My Lawn from Darren, who is irked that other larger outlets seem to have no issue stealing content.
The show closes with Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
Episode 161 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast is here. Lots to break down for the guys this week, both from the Kraken perspective and from the hockey world in general. First, they dig in a bit on Seattle’s first homestand and what they liked and didn’t like from the team, as well as the experience of attending the games. They also share some updates on what’s coming from the Kraken for the rest of the week.
They then move on to the story that gripped the whole hockey world this past week, which was the Kyle Beach and Chicago Blackhawks situation. Interestingly, John, Andy, and Darren did not go into the show with the intention of talking about it that much, being that it has been discussed so broadly over the last week. But once they got talking about it, it was hard to stop.
We then get an update of what’s happening down on the farm, a Serious Business, Goalie Gear Corner, and Bad Boys. We also hear a Get Off My Lawn from Darren, who is irked that other larger outlets seem to have no issue stealing content.
The show closes with Weekly One-Timers and Tweets of the Week.
Playing on the fourth line is not the most glamorous role on a hockey team, but it’s an important one.
If you have three guys who can win some shifts, get the puck into the other team’s zone, and create some energy, you’ll have a stronger attack. That’s the role that Seattle Kraken center Riley Sheahan is playing and he’s doing it well.
“I think when you’re in that role you just try to find chemistry with the guys you’re playing with and be effective on the penalty kill, and do all the little things right,” Sheahan said after Seattle’s practice Wednesday. “I’m having fun with it. We got a great group and I think our record doesn’t show the way we’ve been playing. We’ve been pretty happy with the way we’re playing, just got to fix up a few things and then generate some wins.”
Sheahan signed a one-year contract with the Kraken in September to be a depth forward. The 29-year-old has played over 570 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Buffalo Sabres.
With Seattle he’s averaging just over 11 minutes of ice time a game, is a part of the penalty kill, and has good puck possession numbers. He’s scored a goal but that’s not the role he’s in with the Kraken.
“Usually, you’re starting in the D-zone or neutral zone and try to set the team up for some O-zone draws or some O-zone play,” he said. “Just grind and kind of create some havoc for the other team and get them on their heels and produce when we can. Then just do the little things right and try not to give up too much and just play a strong game.”
Sheahan has played mostly with Nathian Bastian on one of his wings. Coach Dave Hakstol has cycled other wingers through the fourth line such as Ryan Donato and recently Max McCormick.
When Sheahan and Bastian are on the ice together they’ve generated 53 percent of the unblocked shot attempts and don’t allow a lot of quality shots with an expected goals for (xGF%) percentage of 55.
“He’s a great guy,” Sheahan said about Bastian. “He’s easy to talk to and we can communicate, which always helps. Obviously, he’s a big body and he’s got a lot of skill. I think when we’re on our game, we can really be big up there, generate some O-zone shifts and hold onto it. And I just enjoy playing with him.”
Seattle plays Buffalo Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena but Sheahan isn’t looking at the game as a ‘revenge’ game. He only spent one season with the Sabres and says he made a lot of good friends on the team.
“It’ll be good to see those guys and have a couple laughs,” he said.
Kraken practice notes
— Jared McCann was not at practice Wednesday and remains in Covid protocol.
— Injured forward Colin Blackwell skated prior to practice again but Hakstol said there is no update on his return target.
— Chris Driedger was back in net at practice after coming off of injured reserve the day prior while Joey Daccord was returned to Charlotte of the American Hockey League. As to how long he’ll have to wait to get a start in net Driedger said, “I haven’t been told. I’m sure they’re talking about it, but I’m not privy to those conversations. I stop the puck when they tell me to.”
The Kraken were playing a preseason game against the Calgary Flames in Kent, Wash., and Chris Driedger was in net for Seattle. Partway through the third period, he made a butterfly save and got a whistle. We watched him do a little twirl to the corner and return to his crease. There, he banged his stick on the posts a couple times, then reached over his right shoulder with that stick and touched the back bar of the net.
Many goalies skate to the corner and bang their posts, but that over-the-shoulder move is unique. We couldn’t help wondering why he was doing that, and how that routine started for Driedger. So we asked. And we learned a lot more about his psyche along the way.
Goaltending is a fickle beast
The goaltending position in hockey is a fickle beast. You can come into a game feeling on top of the world, thinking you’re ready to stop everything thrown at you, and within minutes of the opening face-off, you can fall so deep into the abyss of your own thoughts that you don’t believe you’ll ever stop another shot.
This is why some goalies who are talented and physically gifted do not make it to high levels. You can have the lightning-quick reflexes and ballet-like flexibility that is required of professional goalies. But if you don’t have the mental fortitude to quickly shake off a bad goal or a bad night, you will not come close to reaching those levels.
It’s that mental fortitude that separates the good from the great.
We recently chatted with Kraken netminder Joey Daccord on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, and he was forthcoming with what happens in his mind before and during games. You can hear this topic discussed at length starting around the 27-minute mark of the episode below.
Daccord and Driedger have spent the last few summers training together in the Boston area, where Daccord’s dad, Brian—a goaltending guru who also works for the Arizona Coyotes—owns and operates the “Stop It Goaltending” school.
If you notice any similarities between what Driedger and Daccord do to keep themselves in the moment, it is not a coincidence. This is something they discuss at length as part of their offseason training because the mind is just as important to a netminder as the body.`
Inside the mind of Chris Driedger
Driedger does not aim to stay focused on what is happening in the game. Instead, he tries to keep his mind completely clear throughout. No thoughts, no distractions.
But he also knows that keeping the brain from wandering over the course of a long hockey game is easier said than done, so he employs several tactics to allow him to get back to “flowing,” as he calls it. We’ve all seen goalies skate to the corners during stoppages in play, and while it looks to the casual fan like they might just be bored, Driedger says there’s a mental benefit to doing that.
Kraken goalie Chris Driedger tries to stop Jack Rathbone of the Vancouver Canucks (Photo/Brian Liesse)
“It’s just a routine that you don’t have to think about and gives you a mental break. You don’t have to focus at all. You get a little cool air in your face, which feels phenomenal because obviously you’re pretty hot in your gear.”
When Driedger returns from his jaunt, he goes through his post-hitting routine, which is so common amongst his goalie brethren. But he adds that unique flourish by touching the back bar of the net with the toe of his stick blade. So where does that come from?
Local fans may recognize that move from the repertoire of a former Seattle Thunderbird.
“I think I actually copied another goalie from Winnipeg when I was probably 12 years old,” Driedger explains. “Calvin Pickard is from Winnipeg, and I think I saw him doing it, and he was the man growing up. I’m two years younger than him, and he was playing AAA or whatever… That was his routine, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool, let me try it.’”
Routines, not superstitions
Driedger uses a comparable mantra to Daccord when it comes to his pre-game preparation.
Daccord tries to think of the things he does as “routines,” rather than “superstitions.” As he mentioned on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, when you have superstitions and something happens on gameday that doesn’t allow you to complete one of your regular steps, that can have a huge impact on your performance because it throws you off mentally. That’s why Daccord thinks of them as routines, because not doing something on a given night or doing something slightly out of order really means nothing in the scheme of things.
Driedger has a good explanation for why this shift in thinking is important. “If you don’t do a routine, it’s not like a night ruiner. One game in Florida two seasons ago, we had Luongo’s retirement ceremony. The communication was kind of weird, so we got to the rink, and they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, by the way, you guys need to be dressed [and ready for] warm-ups in 30 minutes.’”
Chris Driedger makes a save on a teammate at Kraken practice (Photo/Brian Liesse)
An event like that could push a goalie over the edge. They’ll typically get to the arena hours in advance and have plenty of time to go through their rituals, get dressed at a leisurely pace, and prepare their minds for battle. That night, Driedger did not have that luxury, but it still wasn’t enough to destroy his mental state for the game.
“If you have superstitions, rather than routines, and you don’t do them, you let it [get to you]. ‘Oh, no, I didn’t juggle before the game, are my hands going to be good?’ That’s a negative thought and it’s not going to help you.”
Of course, Driedger tries to complete all his regular routines before each game, but sometimes things are out of his control. Knowing that and knowing that the world will not end if he skips a step or two helps him be ready even on nights when things go haywire.
The slippery slope of the slump and how to avoid it
Slumps for a goalie can come from nowhere. One bad goal leads to a bad game, and a bad game can lead to a bad week. Then suddenly you’re viewed as “struggling,” and nothing you do seems to work to get yourself back on track.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a slippery slope when you start over-thinking,” Driedger says. “At its core, it just comes down to your confidence in yourself. And if you let in a goal, whether it’s a good goal or a bad goal… obviously bad goals are harder to cope with mentally. I tell myself when I let in a bad goal, ‘That’s a bad goal, but I don’t let those in very often.’”
For Driedger, knowing that bad goals are a rare event helps him shake them off quickly. But even he acknowledges that it’s easy to let doubt creep in when pucks get through that he knows he should have stopped.
“If you go the other way and you say, ‘Oh, shoot, that’s a bad goal, maybe I’m not ready for this,’ or ‘Maybe this isn’t my night, maybe I’m not feeling good.’ That’s negative self-talk that just snowballs throughout the night, and then all of a sudden—we talked about having a clear mind—your mind’s not clear if you’re doubting yourself.”
Bad goals go in sometimes, even when a goalie is playing with confidence. But if he can put it out of mind quickly and move on, knowing it doesn’t happen often, Driedger believes he can nip it in the bud before it grows into a real problem his mind.
Training the mind
Much like the body, the goaltender’s mind needs many years of training to prepare it for the top echelons of hockey. There are different methods to get the mind into tip-top shape, and with every goalie being different, not every method works for every individual.
For Driedger, he credits a sports psychologist that he visited when he was playing in the WHL for the Calgary Hitmen for putting him on the right track. He first reached out to the psychologist because he had started the season poorly and wanted to improve the mental side of his game. Scheduling challenges allowed months to go by, and by the time he finally met the psychologist, things had turned around on their own.
At that point, Driedger had started playing outstanding hockey, so he wondered if he needed to have the meeting at all. He decided to go through with the appointment, but it did not have the intended effect.
“I started using [the psychologist], and now I’m thinking [during the game] about these mental strategies that he was telling me. And my game drops because I’m thinking about them rather than just flowing with it,” Driedger recalls. “But long term, it was invaluable to work with this guy. He was incredible, but just in the short term—it takes a little bit of time to make the processes feel natural, and then you go through some growing pains.”
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story for Driedger. It’s a never-ending process to strengthen his mind as he continues to strive to be the best goalie he can be. “That’s got to be eight or nine or 10 years ago now. So it’s good to get those things out of the way early, and you can kind of do more refinement as you get older and further along into your career.”
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 script for the Seattle Kraken Monday looked awfully familiar as they fell 5-2 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Seattle (3-6-1) outshot and out chanced an offensively talented Oilers team but could not get enough goals to come out with two points on the road. It’s the same script as the night before in a frustrating loss to the New York Rangers.
“We had good chances tonight,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We had good chances off the rush and off of some good offensive opportunities…that’s the way it’s gone for us the last couple of nights so we’ve got to push and find ways to change that.”
Edmonton (7-1-0) were led by a two-goal, two-assist performance from Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers were able to get a lead early and add on after the Kraken had cut the lead to 3-2 in the second period.
Jaden Schwartz scored his first for the Kraken, Carson Soucy scored as well, and Joey Daccord made 18 saves.
It’s becoming a broken record, but the Kraken deserved a better fate Monday night.
They held the Oilers to eight shots on goal at 5-on-5, they forced 30 scoring chances to 19 against, and had 56% of the quality shot attempts. If you didn’t look at the score, you’d think Seattle walked away with an easy win.
That’s not how it ended up though.
Things started rough as Draisaitl had a puck ricochet off his skate in front of the net and in at 2:12 in the first period. After Schwartz tied it, Draisaitl would score again on a power play when he tapped in his seventh of the year on a down low 2-on-1.
The Oilers power play is tops in the league and entered the game clicking at 47.8%. Monday it went 1-for-3.
“It’s a tough power play to handle, they have a lot of different looks,” Hakstol said. “We got a save or two from Joey on the PK and I thought the PK after that first goal against worked hard and did a good job to fend off their opportunities.”
Edmonton built a 3-1 lead in the second before Soucy cut the lead at 18:40 to set up a third period where Seattle trailed by just one. The Oilers would add on though, getting an early third period goal from Kyle Turris and an insurance mini breakaway goal from former Spokane Chief Kailer Yamamoto.
More chances, more chances, more chances for the Kraken
Seattle’s lack of goal scoring this season is not for a lack of chances.
They’re 11th in the league in 5-on-5 unblocked shot attempts, getting 52 percent of them, they’re getting more quality shots than their opponents, and they have been creating 53 percent of the scoring chances through the first 10 games.
But they are only averaging 2.5 goals per game.
They have had some bad puck luck and Monday there was a hit post and a chance from Jamie Oleksiak that slid across the crease, inches from the goal line that somehow stayed out.
“We look at the positives,” Oleksiak said. “It’s been a few games where we’re right in there and if we get the goal at the right time, we have a different record… we’ve just got to bear down.”
The lack of consistent scoring is a concern but the shots and chances the team is creating is the positive. Goals have to start coming at some point, right?
“It’s frustrating. The last game was right there for us and so was today,” Schwartz said. “They were opportunistic to start and we had a lot of chances and good looks and we’ve just got to find a way to put them in the net… our power play has to start executing better for us to get us on the board and get us momentum.”
Kraken power play continues to struggle
After a four-game homestand where the Kraken went 0-for-14 with the man advantage, Monday it didn’t fare any better.
Seattle was 0-for-3 on the night with six shots. Scoring would help but the Kraken would hope to at least gain some momentum from the man advantage, and it hasn’t been happening enough.
Despite a penalty kill that came into Monday as the league’s third best, Seattle is losing the special teams battle.
Kraken game notes
– Jared McCann missed his second straight game Monday and remains in the Covid-19 protocol. Max McCormick was in the lineup again and played 9:03 with two shots.
– Schwartz and Brandon Tanev led the Kraken with four shots apiece.
– Seattle’s next two games are winnable as they host the Buffalo Sabres at Climate Pledge Arena Thursday before traveling to Arizona Saturday to play the winless Coyotes.
Seattle Kraken at Edmonton Oilers 6:30 p.m. Pacific time Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada TV: ROOT Sports Radio: KJR AM 950
Sunday’s game against the Rangers was always going to be a tough test for the Seattle Kraken, but things ratchet up another notch Monday against the Edmonton Oilers for a number of reasons. Not only do the Kraken take on one of the best offensive clubs in the NHL, which features two of the league’s best offensive players, but they’re doing it on the second night of a back-to-back set with travel. Winning on the road in this scenario is no easy task against any opponent, let alone against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Coach Dave Hakstol made the decision on Sunday to stick with starting netminder Philipp Grubauer for the first game of the set, rather than saving him for when the team would be tired and facing an even more dangerous offense. So Joey Daccord gets the nod tonight, and with Chris Driedger looking closer and closer to a return, this could be Daccord’s last start before he gets returned to AHL Charlotte.
Daccord’s first start came in a pinch the last time the Kraken were on the second of back-to-backs. After Driedger was surprisingly placed on injured reserve after coming on in relief in Philadelphia on Oct. 18, Daccord got the call-up and the nod against New Jersey on Oct. 19. He played well that night, especially under the chaotic circumstances. Daccord stopped 29 of 32 shots and made some very timely saves against the Devils, but the Kraken ultimately came up short.
Last-second lineup changes becoming the norm
Just before Sunday’s game, Kraken PR broke the news that Jared McCann and assistant coach Paul McFarland had been placed into COVID protocol. To deal with McCann’s absence, Max McCormick—recalled after Mason Appleton was officially placed on IR over the weekend—was slotted onto the fourth line and Ryan Donato was elevated.
That alteration seemed to have the lowest possible disruption to what the team had practiced with the day prior, as Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg, and Joonas Donskoi stayed together, as did Brandon Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and Calle Jarnkrok.
On Monday morning, Hakstol was asked in his media availability if there would be any other changes coming to the lineup, and he said, “We’ve got some decisions to make at gametime and as we go through the afternoon.” Does he mean shuffling the lines again, or does he mean players coming in or out?
The team has shown a few times now that it prefers to hold on announcing significant changes to Seattle’s active roster until as close to gametime as possible. Examples are the clearing of four key players from COVID protocol prior to the Vegas game, Yanni Gourde returning from injury for the New Jersey game, and now McCann missing Sunday’s game against the Rangers.
Perhaps we’re reading into it too deeply, but we’re curious what those decisions are that Hakstol and his staff need to make, especially with a player and a coach in COVID protocol as of Sunday.
With that in mind, we aren’t even going to take a stab at the projected lineup for now, but we will add it after warmups, so feel free to circle back here at gametime.
Update: The only change to the lineup is Carson Soucy drawing back in for Haydn Fleury. Hakstol loves to keep us guessing.
Edmonton Oilers bring a potent offense
Hakstol was also asked Monday what makes McDavid so good. “Well, how much time do we have?” he quipped. “He’s a very special player. There’s not much that I can say that can bring to light anything new on Connor McDavid. He’s an absolutely dynamic player, and one of the things that stands out for me is his competitive nature. It seems every year that I’ve been able to see him there’s a new piece to his game, something new that he’s tried to round out and improve upon.”
Hakstol’s point is that McDavid—who has already proven that he is in a league of his own—continues to push to get even better, and it somehow continues to work. Last season, McDavid put up 105 points, an impressive total for an 82-game season. But last year was not an 82-game season, it was a 56-game season.
Though the current season is young, McDavid is on an even hotter pace so far with seven goals and nine assists (7-9=16) through just seven games played.
The Oilers also added a key piece in the offseason in Zach Hyman who has been impressive, scoring six goals in seven games. The former Maple Leaf is expected to skate on a potent top line with McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi, while Draisaitl will go with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Spokane’s Kailer Yamamoto.
Where the Oilers have always been vulnerable is on the blue line and in net. The roster took a hit from this standpoint when Adam Larsson was selected and signed by the Kraken during the Expansion Draft, and there was plenty of interest from the Edmonton media about the defenseman’s return, showing that he was valued in that market.
Despite this, former NHL Seattle advisor and now Oilers coach Dave Tippett has his team playing well at both ends of the ice, and the result is an impressive 6-1-0 record.
The Kraken lost Sunday due to a couple of lapses in transition. They will need to really batten down the hatches in the neutral zone to avoid a track meet with this explosive Edmonton Oilers team.
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.
As Seattle netminder Philipp Grubauer said after Sunday’s 3-1 Kraken loss to the New York Rangers, sometimes you win games you’re supposed to lose, and sometimes you lose games you’re supposed to win. On Sunday, the Kraken should have won, but instead got Shesterkinned.
Ranger goalie Igor Shesterkin followed up a dazzling 31-save shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday with another outstanding performance against the Kraken, stopping 31 of 32 this time and carrying his team to victory.
It’s a disappointing loss for the Kraken, no doubt, as they finish their first homestand with a 2-2-0 record, bringing them to 3-5-1 overall. This team is still learning and building, and coach Dave Hakstol was rightfully pleased with the effort. But not getting at least a point out of a game like this has to hurt.
A familiar game script
The Kraken started the first period against the Rangers in similar fashion to how they have started several other games this season… by conceding an early goal.
Chris Kreider—who has had a hot start to the season—streaked into the Kraken zone on a two-on-one with Mika Zibanejad. He looked off Zibanejad and snapped an absolute missile over Grubauer’s glove and right under the crossbar. It was one of those that hit the back bar and came out so quickly that not everyone in the arena was sure it had gone in. Indeed it had, and just like that, the Kraken trailed 1-0 3:38 into the first period on Kreider’s seventh of the season.
As we’ve also seen in prior games, Seattle began pushing back after allowing that goal, but Shesterkin stood tall to turn away several good chances, especially by Morgan Geekie and Jaden Schwartz.
Kreider had a bid for his second of the night and fourth in two games midway through the period when a pass hopped off of Vince Dunn’s stick at the offensive blue line. Kreider jumped on it and raced through the neutral zone, but Grubauer came up big and steered the shot away with his blocker to keep the Kraken within one.
Do the Kraken love second periods or what?
Once again, Seattle came out flying in the second and owned the puck for the bulk of the period. When the horn sounded, they had an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal during those 20 minutes of play.
Midway through the second, Shesterkin was continuing his dastardly ways and was especially unkind to Schwartz, who continues to look for his first goal as a Kraken. Shesterkin stole a sure goal from Schwartz by sliding from left to right in a full split. He lost his stick on that play, but with his team scrambling, he still managed to stop two shots by Mark Giordano and one by Ryan Donato to get a needed whistle.
Six minutes later, Jordan Eberle broke through. He took a simple drop pass from Schwartz at the right face-off dot. In one motion, he spun onto his backhand and lifted a shot over Shesterkin’s glove, clearly catching the netminder off guard with the deceptive shot.
Eberle’s second of the season knotted things at 1-1 at 13:46, and though Seattle continued to push, that score would remain through the end of the second period.
A disappointing finish
Compared to a completely dominant second for Seattle, the third was a bit more open for interpretation as to who had the better of the play.
With eight minutes left, Haydn Fleury forced a turnover at the Ranger blue line, and suddenly Brandon Tanev was in alone with Shesterkin. He deked and tried to tuck the puck around the outstretched pad of the Ranger netminder, but couldn’t get it to go. The Rangers countered, and off the rush, Artemi Panarin pulled up at the top of the left circle. He then found a trailing Adam Fox as he came over the blue line, and Fox made no mistake.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why Fox won the Norris Trophy last season and why Panarin continues to be one of the more dangerous forwards in the NHL.
With Grubauer pulled for an extra skater in the closing minutes, the Kraken did get one last good push to try to level the score a second time. A shot from the point got deflected by Yanni Gourde, and he found the rebound and with one hand on his stick poked it past Shesterkin. It just bounced off the base of the post, and again, the Rangers countered and Barclay Goodrow ended up with an empty-net goal at the other end to seal it.
Things don’t get easier on Monday
Hakstol has talked a lot about improving the team’s play in transition. Seeing New York score its goals off the rush Sunday was a bit surprising, especially after we had watched Seattle clog up the neutral zone to perfection at times on this homestand. Seattle’s coach gave credit to the Rangers after the game, though, saying that’s one of the things they do especially well, and his group knew that coming in.
As Seattle goes right back to work against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton on Monday, it will need to do a better job of cutting down those odd-man opportunities, or it could be a painful night.
By the way, at Hakstol’s media availability on Sunday night, we asked him what the Kraken need to do to beat Edmonton, which has a lot of starpower. At the end of a relatively long presser, Hakstol looked at us and said, “Well, first off, we need to wrap this up so we can get out of here.” That got a good chuckle in the room.
Point taken, Dave.
Jared McCann and Paul McFarland in COVID protocol
Kraken forward Jared McCann was a late scratch from Sunday’s game, as the team announced that he and assistant coach Paul McFarland had been placed in COVID protocol. Last time Seattle had players in protocol, they ended up being cleared in time for the season opener in Vegas, but Hakstol did not want to speculate on what might happen with McCann.
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 versus New York Rangers 6 p.m. Pacific time Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington TV: ROOT Sports, NHL Network Radio: 950 AM KJR
The Seattle Kraken go from one spooky test Thursday to an even spookier one Sunday and Monday, as they enter back-to-back games with travel against the New York Rangers and the Edmonton Oilers. They did pass the last test with flying colors, defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1. Seattle also gets to enjoy Sunday’s contest at the friendly confines of Climate Pledge Arena before hustling off to Edmonton, but New York is riding high, so Seattle will again need its ‘A’ game.
On the back-to-backs, coach Dave Hakstol says, “Stay in the moment. Right now we’ve got a game against the Rangers. We’ll turn the page later tonight and worry about game No. 2. Right now the focus is purely on the job at hand, and that’s the New York Rangers here at home tonight. That’s our approach.”
Since the win against Minnesota, Mason Appleton has officially been placed on injured reserve, and Max McCormick was recalled to take his spot. Hakstol said Appleton is out “indefinitely.” We wouldn’t expect McCormick to get into the lineup, especially with the Kraken coming off of two-straight wins, but he is present and accounted for should something else happen.
As for other injuries, it seems Chris Driedger is getting closer to a return, but he did sit out one of the small-area drills Saturday. We still think he’s out for at least a few more days, and Hakstol confirmed Grubauer will start against the Rangers. We’re guessing this means Joey Daccord likely gets one more start against Edmonton Monday before being returned to Charlotte.
Marcus Johansson and Colin Blackwell both skated on Saturday and Sunday, but Blackwell does not appear close to returning and has not yet fully participated. Johansson looks a little closer but is still listed on IR.
Kraken coming together
The vibe at practice on Saturday was notably looser from the players than in training camp, when it felt like everyone was trying to feel things out. Winning can do that, of course, but it does seem like the camaraderie is improving amongst the group. Chemistry has improved on the ice as well, as has the team’s play within Hakstol’s structure.
From listening to Hakstol talk, he continues to indicate that there’s room for improvement, but he’s pleased with the progress the team is making.
New York Rangers
It truly is impressive how quickly the Rangers have re-stocked their roster with a mix of veteran superstars and young up-and-comers. Of course, Artemi Panarin remains the lynchpin, but add in the likes of No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafreniere and reigning Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox, and this is suddenly a very good team again. Fox is such a stud, and his exceptional skill and vision were on full display Thursday.
The Blueshirts as a team have gotten off to a hot start as well, currently sitting at 5-2-1, and won 4-0 at home on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. In that game, Chris Kreider scored two goals—both off re-directions in front of the net—and extended his team lead for goals to six.
Netminder Igor Shesterkin was unbeatable Thursday, stopping all 31 of the shots he faced. He’s now 4-1-1 with a 1.81 goals against average and .944 save percentage, and we assume he’ll go again on Sunday, being that coaches don’t like switching goalies after a shutout.
Says Hakstol, “We know how good of a team they are, we know the depth that they have and the ability they have at all positions from goal through their D-core—the ability that they have there—and it spreads throughout their forward group. So our focus is on our preparation and what we need to do to be successful.”
That line includes the reigning Calder Trophy winner Kirill Kaprizov who had an assist in the first period but would be rendered unproductive the rest of the way thanks to Seattle’s efforts. After the game Kraken coach Dave Hakstol praised the work that Yanni Gourde and his line did in pinning the Kaprizov line in the Minnesota end, forcing them to play defense, for most of their shifts.
Gourde and company were good, but it takes five guys to effectively shut down a top player. Out with the Gourde line for the Kaprizov matchup were defensemen Adam Larsson and Jeremy Lauzon. The two are quickly developing into what could become the Kraken shutdown pair.
On the evening, Kaprizov ended up only creating one high-danger chance – which came when he stole the puck in the neutral zone from Gourde and walked in alone on a breakaway that was stopped by Philipp Grubauer – while he was on the ice. The Kraken, meanwhile, had four high-danger chances for against Kaprizov and his mates.
During Saturday’s practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex, the two were paired up again.
“As a pair, they’ve worked really well together,” Hakstol said. “They’ve been difficult to play against and they’ve got a little sandpaper to their game. They’ve got some good chemistry and they’re just a pair that communicates very well. They seem to be on the same page on the ice and they’ve been pretty diligent in defending hard and getting us out of our zone.”
They have a small sample size of playing together but the early results are positive. On the season the two have been on the ice for one five-on-five goal against and are coming off a strong game against a talented scoring line.
Hakstol stopped short of calling the duo a ‘shutdown’ line, saying it was too early to solidify a tag like that but don’t be surprised if Larsson and Lauzon log heavy minutes in the next two games – the New York Rangers Sunday and the Edmonton Oilers Monday – in which the Kraken will face offensively talented teams.
Chris Driedger and Colin Blackwell on the ice for Kraken practice
Blackwell, who has yet to play with Seattle as he recovers from an undisclosed lower-body injury was on the ice early Saturday. He did not participate in the practice session but skated on the alternate rink while the main group worked out.
Hakstol said there’s still no timetable for a possible return and classified Blackwell as out ‘indefinitely.’
Goalie Chris Driedger was a participant in practice and took some reps in net.
“I’m not ready to put a timeline on it,” Hakstol said about Driedger. “We’ll probably get to the point where we’re day-to-day with him, but he’s still got some work to do.”
Driedger was injured during an Oct. 18 game at Philadelphia.
Hakstol comments on Chicago Blackhawks situation
The talk of the hockey world has been the report that was released last week dealing with the Chicago Blackhawks’ mishandling of a sexual abuse incident involving a player and one of their video coaches. The fallout has been the resignations of general manager Stan Bowman and Florida coach Joel Quenneville.
Former Everett Silvertip Kyle Beach came out the following day to reveal he was the ‘John Doe’ in the report and detailed his horrific experiences during a TSN interview.
Hakstol was asked his thoughts on Saturday.
“In the case with Kyle it’s obvious and apparent that the organization in Chicago did not handle it well,” he said. “At the end of the day, they failed a young man working to come into this league. That’s my initial takeaway and reaction to it. And we all have a responsibility, whether or not it’s in our sport or in any walk of life, we have a responsibility to make sure that things like that are not acceptable and have no place.”
Mason Appleton out and Max McCormick back from Charlotte
Appleton was hurt during the second period of Tuesday’s game against Montreal, and Hakstol said that the forward is out indefinitely. Max McCormick has been called up from AHL Charlotte and was on the ice Saturday after a long day of traffic.
“I flew from Providence to Newark, and then went through Newark to Seattle,” McCormick said about his day of travel. “And when I got in Seattle some people saw the sticks and the hockey bags and were asking me ‘Are you playing for the Kraken?’ and ‘I’m gonna be at the game on Sunday,’ that type of thing, but for the most part, you get through there pretty easily.”
He said that he kills time on the plane by listening to podcasts or watching the latest episode of ‘Succession’ on HBO.
What podcasts are a NHL/AHL player listening to these days?
“My favorite podcast is ‘Meateater,’ he said. “Big ‘Meateater’ fan.”
There was an eerie sense of, “Oh, we’ve seen this one before,” in Thursday night’s game between the Minnesota Wild and the Seattle Kraken. It had hints of the Kraken home opener against the Canucks, when Seattle dominated the second period, but Vancouver somehow got the only goal on a stinker through Philipp Grubauer’s legs. Then an ill-timed penalty in the third allowed the Canucks to tie that game a second time, and it was downhill from there.
There were a few distinct differences on Thursday, though, that showed the Kraken are learning from their mistakes and allowed them to emerge victorious against a good Minnesota Wild club.
The Kraken again dominated the second period Thursday, and again Grubauer faced only a handful of shots during those 20 minutes. Seattle did find one goal this time, and when the big chance came for Minnesota to tie it, Grubauer made a game-breaking save. Then when the ill-timed penalty was again taken halfway through the third, the Kraken netminder again came up huge, making a sequence of mind-boggling saves and getting some puck luck along the way to keep Seattle in front.
It was an impressive 4-1 win by the Kraken, who improved to 3-4-1 and fourth place in the Pacific Division.
A sloppy start and a turning point
Things got off to a shaky start for the Kraken. Minnesota had them hemmed in for much of the first 10 minutes, and the Wild drew first blood. Budding superstar Kirill Kaprizov gloved a puck down behind the goal line, dropped it to himself, and found Ryan Hartman in the slot. Hartman banged it home to give his team a 1-0 lead at 6:27.
Just seconds later, the Wild appeared to score again when a puck caromed off the skate of Marcus Foligno and into the back of the net. The officials immediately called no goal on the ice, but then reviewed to see if there was a distinct kicking motion. Haunting visions of opening night in Vegas surely came racing back for Kraken fans, but this time video confirmed that it was kicked. The goal was negated and Seattle dodged a huge bullet.
“The kicked-in goal is a real turning point, but it’s only a turning point if you take advantage of it,” coach Dave Hakstol said after the game. And Seattle did take advantage of it.
After that, Seattle started to find its sea legs, connected on some passes through the neutral zone, and quickly turned the tides of the game.
Haydn Fleury—a healthy scratch for the home opener on Saturday—scored his first of the season. From the corner, Jaden Schwartz threw the puck through the crease, hoping to find a deflection. Instead, it slid all the way across the ice surface, bounced off the side boards, and came out to Fleury in the high slot. Fleury dusted it off and snapped it through traffic. The puck changed directions on the way to the net and eluded Cam Talbot, bringing the Kraken level at 1-1.
The first period closed with Marcus Foligno taking a four-minute double-minor for high sticking Joonas Donskoi. The Wild killed it off to start the second, but the power play, which gave heaps of zone time to the Kraken, set the tone for the period.
Seattle absolutely owned the puck during that 20 minutes, outshooting Minnesota 17-4.
Talbot was standing tall for the Wild, but Fleury broke through again at 7:33 for his second of the game. He took a sharp-angle shot that Talbot stopped with his shoulder, but the rebound dropped right onto Fleury’s stick, who was in full stride behind the net. Before Talbot could blink, Fleury had looped around and stuffed it into the open cage on the far side, giving the Kraken defenseman the first multi-goal game of his career.
With under 30 seconds left on the clock, Kirill Kaprizov stole the puck from Yanni Gourde at center ice. He raced in on a breakaway and deked to his forehand, but Philipp Grubauer shut the door for just his fourth save of the entire period. Had Kaprizov scored there, it would have unraveled a near-perfect period by Seattle.
Gourde took full responsibility after the game for the turnover, and heaped praise upon his netminder for bailing him out.
Bend but don’t break
The Wild threw everything at the Kraken in the third, as the comeback kids from Minnesota sought another victim of their late-game dramatics. The best opportunities came after Fleury interfered with Kevin Fiala at the 10:01 mark.
During that penalty kill, Grubauer showed why Seattle signed him to a six-year, $35.4 million free agent contract in the offseason, making a whole host of point-blank saves. He also got a bit lucky, when Joel Eriksson Ek had him dead to rights, but somehow pushed the puck through the crease, off the far post, and out the other side.
On the sequence of saves by Grubauer, Fleury said, “I was in the penalty box, so I was really thanking him for that. That was huge. I think that’s why he makes the big bucks.”
Two empty-net goals, one by Brandon Tanev and one that Mark Giordano remarkably banked off the boards from the defensive zone, sealed it for the Kraken.
Three Takeaways
Kraken are progressing
It’s still early in the season, but this was a big-time victory against a good club that has played well in the early stages. Hakstol seems pleased with the progress the team is making, and rightfully so. It’s fascinating to watch the Kraken learn from their mistakes from night to night, and comparing the Canucks game on Saturday with the Wild game on Thursday is a great way to see that happening in almost real time.
The odd-man rushes that plagued the team early on have been mostly curtailed, and when things have broken down—like they did at the end of the second on Thursday—Grubauer has been a saving grace the last couple games.
Meanwhile, the score-by-committee approach seems to be working suddenly. It’s been well documented that Seattle does not have a star scorer that will put up 30 or 40 goals, so it has to get production from its lower lines and its defense. Well, Tanev leads the team in goals and added to his total against the Wild, and Fleury scored two on Thursday. So… it’s working.
Can’t help rooting for Fleury
It’s hard not to root for Fleury. At the home opener, where teams traditionally announce the entire roster, he had to come to the bench in street clothes and give a wave to the fans, despite being a healthy scratch that night. He got back in on Tuesday against Montreal and played well, earning himself another game Thursday. Against the Wild, he took full advantage of his opportunity and earned first star honors for his two huge goals, including the eventual game winner.
The Kraken are proving to be a second-period team, and they showed it against the Wild in what Grubauer called one of the best periods he’s ever seen. They don’t always get off to hot starts, but they’ve tilted the ice in the second frame on multiple occasions now.
Explains Fleury, “Hak really stresses valuing the puck in the second period, trapping the other team in their zone with the long change. Our forwards did a really good job of that in the second. They really wore their D out down low in the offensive zone, and we were able to have a couple of quick-up plays where they weren’t able to change. And then their forwards and their D are out there for two minutes.”
It’s good to know that there’s a shift in the game script coming when Seattle is slow out of the gates, but the starts are the next problem that needs fixing. That will continue to be an emphasis for Hakstol and his staff moving forward.
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.
