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.
Seattle Kraken versus Minnesota Wild 7 p.m. Pacific time Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington TV: ROOT Sports Radio: 950 AM KJR
Tuesday was a big step in the right direction for the Kraken, who won convincingly over a struggling Montreal Canadiens team, 5-1, for the franchise’s first victory on home ice. After the game, coach Dave Hakstol indicated that he was mostly pleased with how the team played, but there was still plenty of room for improvement based on the odd-man rushes Seattle gave up and some sloppy play at times.
Speaking somewhat anecdotally, Hakstol sounded more positive after the team’s 4-2 loss to Vancouver on Saturday than he did after the team’s 5-1 win over Montreal on Tuesday. He called the team’s execution in transition “sporadic at times.”
Perhaps that’s all part of the messaging to help the group recognize that their win came against a team that did not play well and is rightfully off to a terrible start to its season. He’s indicating that the team needs to play even better than it did on Tuesday to beat stronger, hotter teams. NHL coaches love to focus on how their team played, rather than the outcome of games, because there is always a level of puck luck that is beyond the control of the players. What you can control is your effort level and playing within the structure the coach has implemented, and that’s where Hakstol sees opportunity for the Kraken.
Still, the never-a-doubt victory has to be a big confidence booster for a group that was struggling to prove it could score goals and win games.
Seattle gets one of those stronger, hotter teams on Thursday, as the 5-1-0 Minnesota Wild visit Seattle.
Goals from goal scorers
Of course it’s been awesome to watch Brandon Tanev’s meteoric rise to Seattle fan favorite, as the man teammates call “Turbo” has potted five goals in seven games. That’s two goals shy of his 32-game total from last season.
A breakout from Tanev is feeling more realistic with every passing game, but him serving as the team’s top goal scorer for an 82-game season is probably not sustainable. And if he does remain the top scorer, that likely means that guys who should lead the team are not having great seasons.
Two of Seattle’s more skilled forwards, Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde, got their first respective goals on Tuesday. Eberle was admittedly snake-bitten coming into that game against the Habs, and his play after notching an early goal looked looser and more confident than we had seen in the several contests prior.
For a team that is expected to sometimes have difficulty scoring, getting their top guys going is extremely important. Let’s see if Gourde and Eberle can build off that production on Thursday.
Appleton out, Bastian in
We were surprised to see Nathan Bastian come out of the lineup Tuesday after he was right in the middle of several near-miss chances on Saturday against Vancouver. But Ryan Donato didn’t really deserve to sit either, and… well… somebody had to do it. Healthy scratches do not always come fairly.
Now Mason Appleton has been ruled out after Sami Niku dragged him down and fell with all his weight on Appleton’s foot Tuesday. Appleton was helped off the ice and was putting no weight on his right leg as he went down the tunnel.
As a result, Bastian will slide back in. During line rushes Wednesday, he skated with Riley Sheahan and Morgan Geekie, while Donato—who scored a beautiful breakaway goal against the Habs—was with Tanev and Jared McCann.
Haydn Fleury has been swapping in and out of the lineup with Carson Soucy to start the season, but Fleury played well on Tuesday and took line rushes with Vince Dunn Wednesday. He also addressed media after Thursday’s morning skate, so it feels likely that he will be back in against the Wild.
Said Hakstol on Tuesday, “[Fleury] came in and I thought he skated really well tonight. I thought he was moving with the puck and getting up ice and most importantly on our half of the red line, he played a pretty clean hockey game. That’s a real positive. That’s what we need out of our guys on the back end. You gotta defend well, get us out of the zone, and everything from there is a bonus, and I thought he was good tonight.”
Minnesota Wild
The breaking news from Wild practice on Wednesday was that… there was no Wild practice on Wednesday. That’s because there had been a few cases of COVID among members of Minnesota’s staff, and after tests were performed on the team, players are now being impacted. The Wild announced on Thursday morning that Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick had been placed into protocol.
NEWS: The #mnwild has recalled Connor Dewar, Kyle Rau and Jon Lizotte from the @IAWild.
Additionally, Rem Pitlick and Mats Zuccarello are in the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol.
Kyle Rau, Jon Lizotte, and former Everett Silvertip Connor Dewar were being recalled from AHL Iowa. Dewar is expected to make his NHL debut just a few miles down I-5 from where he was beloved while playing in the WHL. It will certainly be a big moment for him and his billets, who will be in attendance.
The Wild have evolved dramatically over the past couple of seasons. Gone are Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and here are Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, and Joel Eriksson Ek. They’re a faster, more exciting team than in years past, and in the early stages of this campaign, they have been comeback kids on several occasions, which has helped them to their impressive start.
Budding superstar Kaprizov is the centerpiece for this team, but word around the Wild campfire is that he has gotten off to a slow start. Though he doesn’t have any goals, he does have five assists in six games. Meanwhile fellow skilled winger Fiala has a goal and two assists so far, but has been noticeable every night.
For the Kraken’s sake, Seattle fans should hope that Kaprizov and Fiala do not choose Thursday as their night to get rolling statistically.
The Wild are coming off of a 3-2 victory in Vancouver on Tuesday.
Seattle’s practice was lively and competitive. The players were in good spirits and a lot of chatter and friendly chirps could be heard, proving that winning remains undefeated when it comes to inducing good moods.
Mason Appleton was not a participant Wednesday.
The winger was injured during the second period against Montreal and did not return to the game. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Wednesday that they were still evaluating Appleton’s status but didn’t have an update. He would not guess at a time table for recovery but hinted that Appleton could miss some time.
Hakstol added that as of Wednesday morning, there was not a player on his way from AHL Charlotte but that there will be “discussions” about a call up if necessary.
Wild potentially dealing with COVID
Seattle is scheduled to play the Minnesota Wild Thursday at 7 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena. The Wild were at the arena Wednesday but as reported by The Athletic’s Michael Russo, the team may be dealing with a COVID issue.
Getting sense #mnwild dealing with expandinh COVID-19 issue. Wild cancelled practice 30 minutes before scheduled practice while at the arena they’re supposed to practice in on a testing day here in Seattle. 3 assistant coaches (not on the trip) and GM Bill Guerin have had COVID.
There was still a buzz in the arena Wednesday about the hot start of Tanev. With two goals during Tuesday’s 5-1 win against the Canadiens he leads the team with five. Last season he scored seven and has never had more than 14 in the NHL — which he did with the Winnipeg Jets in 2018-2019.
“He’s a guy that plays with pace,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “He plays hard with passion every shift and is confident when he has an opportunity. He expects to be able to find the back of the net. It’s not like he’s just out there hoping for or looking for an offensive opportunity, he’s working 200 feet. Usually when you do that, good things happen. And that’s the way he’s been generating.”
During practice, Tanev scored with a hard, low wrist shot which generated a cheer from the rest of the team.
Scary moment of the day
The team worked on its transition game Wednesday and the drills would end with forwards shooting on goal off the rush. Jordan Eberle lost an edge on one of these rushes and slid into goalie Joey Daccord wiping him out along with the net.
Eberle slid into the boards and Daccord lay face first on the ice. Both players were able to get up quickly and were not hurt in what was a close call.
Kraken fans were treated to an offensive outburst by Seattle for the first time on Tuesday, as it crushed a reeling Montreal Canadiens team 5-1 to improve to 2-4-1 on the season. It was the first win at Climate Pledge Arena for the franchise and an all-around solid effort by the Kraken from start to finish.
The result was important for a lot of reasons. The team simply needs to start racking up standings points if it aims to be competitive this season, so from that standpoint it was a step in the right direction. But the associated confidence boost of a convincing win may have lasting benefits as well, as it got a couple guys onto the scoresheet that had perhaps been gripping their sticks a little too tightly.
Before the game, Seattle held a ceremony to unveil a banner honoring the Seattle Metropolitans, who defeated the Canadiens in 1917 to become the first American-based team to win the Stanley Cup. It was a brief and thoughtfully produced celebration that featured family members of Frank Foyston, one of the stars of that Metropolitans team, as well as Kraken general manager Ron Francis and minority owner Jerry Bruckheimer.
As soon as the tactful celebration ended, the current version of Seattle’s professional hockey team got right to work.
Jordan Eberle—who admitted a few days ago that he was feeling pressure to start scoring—got the proverbial monkey off his back just 1:02 into the game. On a three-on-two rush, Eberle took a pass from Jared McCann at the top of the left circle, glided across the slot, and snapped a perfect shot over the glove of Canadiens netminder Jake Allen.
Jordan Eberle with the perfectly placed Shot of the Night. 🎯
That was Eberle’s first of the year, and you could see from the way he played all night that the pressure had been eased. He played most of the game with Jaden Schwartz and Alex Wennberg, a line that was coincidentally buzzing throughout. Eberle in particular looked as confident as he did during the preseason and could have easily scored a couple more.
After the early eruption, things calmed down for a bit, before Mike Hoffman found a bouncing puck in front of Philipp Grubauer and swatted it in for his second goal of the season, leveling the score at 1-1. On the play, Schwartz also caught Hoffman with a high stick. The play was reviewed, and it was eventually ruled that because the penalty happened after the shot, Schwartz would also serve the two-minute minor, despite the goal, and as reader Jim Long points out, since it was originally ruled a double-minor, one of the two penalties was negated by the goal, but Schwartz still had to serve two minutes. You don’t see that every day.
Fortunately for Seattle, it was able to kill off the penalty.
Soon after that penalty ended, Jamie Oleksiak joined the rush and streaked down the right side. Brandon Tanev had gone hard to the front of the net and parked himself right on top of the crease. Oleksiak centered a pass with pace that Tanev redirected over Allen’s glove, bringing the score to 2-1 at 15:08.
Kraken run away in the second, but Appleton gets injured
The second brought lots of good for Seattle on the scoreboard, but it came at a cost.
Jeremy Lauzon forced a turnover in the defensive zone, and in a blink, Jaden Schwartz had gotten the puck up to the offensive blue line, where Yanni Gourde was waiting. Gourde carried the puck into the offensive zone, faked a slapshot, then waited out Allen and calmly tucked the puck around him and into a yawning cage for a beautiful goal.
Less than two minutes later, Gourde got himself on the scoresheet again when he took a pass from Mark Giordano and quickly found Tanev, who had gotten in behind Montreal’s defense. Tanev slipped the puck through Allen’s legs for his second of the night and whopping fifth of the season. The home faithful—which seems to really be taking a shine to Tanev—showed its appreciation, as Climate Pledge Arena got very loud.
Brandon Tanev on how he feeds off of the crowd, which seems to be taking to him quite nicely. pic.twitter.com/JCG1he6ojf
That’s when the not-so-fun stuff started for the Kraken. First, McCann got rocked by a big hit in the corner behind Allen. He wasn’t able to brace for the impact, and went slowly to the bench where he hunched over for a bit, trying to grit it out. Eventually he stood up and went down the tunnel, disappearing for the remainder of the second period. The Kraken appear to have dodged a bullet there, however, as McCann did return in the third and looked ok.
Within minutes of McCann going down the tunnel, Mason Appleton got dragged down by Sami Niku as Appleton was carrying the puck into the offensive zone. As the two players were both going down to the ice, Niku fell hard on Appleton’s foot, twisting his leg in a direction it’s not supposed to go. Appleton yelled and was writhing on the ice for a bit, before being helped off by teammates with no weight on his right leg.
Coach Dave Hakstol did not have an update in his media availability following the game, but it didn’t look good when it happened.
Kraken close out their first home win in convincing fashion
Five minutes into the third period, Ryan Donato—who had been a healthy scratch for Seattle’s home opener on Saturday—put the game fully out of reach. On a good individual play, Donato intercepted an Alexander Romanov pass at Seattle’s blue line and was off to the races. In alone with Allen, he deked to his backhand and with a deft touch lifted it over the sprawling netminder’s left pad, a beautiful move from a guy known for his shootout prowess.
Goalie Philipp Grubauer made several nice saves in the game but was relatively well protected. “From my standpoint, the guys made it really easy,” he said after the game. In all, he stopped 23 of 24 shots, with his best save of the night coming early in the game, when he slid across in a full split and robbed Brendan Gallagher with the toe of his right skate. Tuesday was a good confidence builder for Grubauer, who didn’t have his best outing on Saturday.
Hakstol was pleased with the win and with the effort, but with a few more odd-man rushes against on Tuesday than on Saturday, he indicated there was still room for Seattle to improve. Still, it’s a great win for a Kraken team that badly needed it.
Seattle welcomes the Minnesota Wild to Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.
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 Montreal Canadiens 7 p.m. Pacific time Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington TV: ROOT Sports Radio: KJR AM 950
While there will still be heaps of pomp on Tuesday night, along with plenty of circumstance, the big “milestone” games have now passed for the fledgling Seattle Kraken. Over and done are opening night—on which Seattle lost in Vegas—and also home opening night, on which the Kraken also lost to the Canucks.
Now that all that stuff is in the rearview, it’s time for Seattle to find its game and start finding some wins. The team showed well on Saturday and deserved a better outcome, but victories never come easy in the NHL.
The Kraken played with a different structure through the neutral zone than we had seen in previous games, and the result was practically no odd-man rushes against, something coach Dave Hakstol badly wanted to eliminate. So that’s a good sign, as is the team tilting the ice for the majority of the second period and just missing on several quality chances during the course of the night.
And when Seattle briefly had a lead in the third period, it did not sit back and wait for Vancouver to come down and start pressuring. Instead, it controlled a lot of the period in the offensive zone, but an ill-timed penalty by Carson Soucy and a pass out of Vince Dunn’s reach ultimately doomed the Kraken.
Mark Giordano said after that game that the next step for the Kraken is figuring out how to close out games, and they may have an opportunity to do so on Tuesday with a struggling Montreal Canadiens team in town.
Lineup shuffle?
In his media availability following morning skate on Tuesday, Dave Hakstol indicated there will be a couple of “tweaks” to the lineup, but would not say what those tweaks actually are.
We love guessing at these types of things, so we’re going to go out on a limb and predict that Haydn Fleury draws back in for Carson Soucy while Ryan Donato gets in for… drumroll… Morgan Geekie.
Geekie has played a pretty significant role so far, but the reason we *think* he might come out is that he did not have a regular spot during line rushes at practice on Monday. He’s also coming off a game in which Hakstol gave him fewer than two minutes of ice time in the third period. Meanwhile, Mason Appleton and Nathan Bastian—the only other forwards we could see being removed from the lineup—were part of an impactful line with Riley Sheahan that nearly scored several times on Saturday.
Geekie was spotted having a long conversation on the ice with Hakstol on Monday, which could mean anything, but our hunch says it’s related.
Again, this is just a guess as the skate was very optional on Tuesday morning, and Hakstol was intentionally coy about his personnel.
UPDATE: Alright, we took a swing and missed. Morgan Geekie is in. Nathan Bastian is out, along with Carson Soucy, while Ryan Donato and Haydn Fleury return to the lineup.
Montreal Canadiens
Some folks are making a big deal out of the fact that the Seattle Metropolitans played against the Canadiens over 100 years ago. We’re going to avoid that narrative here, because—well, frankly, we don’t remember those games at all, and we highly doubt the players do either. We recognize that it’s kind of neat and that the Metropolitans beat the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup, but we shall focus on the task at hand.
The task at hand is a Montreal team that is coming off of a shocking trip to the Stanley Cup Final, but has gotten off to a terrible start to the 2021-22 season. The Habs finally got their first win of the season on Thursday, a 6-1 win at home over the Detroit Red Wings.
Montreal is without its all-world goaltender and former Tri-City American Carey Price, who entered the NHL/NHLPA’s player assistance program two weeks ago. Shouldering the load in net has been Jake Allen, a historically streaky goalie who can be lights out at times and leaky at others. So far, he has been pretty good, despite the terrible record, playing behind a team that hadn’t been scoring before Thursday.
Prior to that offensive outburst, the bleu, blanc, et rouge had just four goals combined in five games. That’s not going to win you many games, regardless of who you have protecting your net.
Do watch out for guys like Tyler Toffoli, who had 44 points for the Habs last season, and super-skilled youngsters Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
Sound Of Hockey is fresh off of an unforgettable opening night at Climate Pledge Arena, and John, Andy, and Darren have lots of recapping to do. From the game itself and analysis of the state of the Seattle Kraken to the game presentation and fans in Crapweasels jerseys, there’s a lot to unpack.
The discussion of Saturday night’s momentous event takes up a good chunk of the episode, but eventually the guys move on to their segbits, which travel all around the NHL and even take a look at what’s happening with some of Seattle’s prospects with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
This week represents the triumphant return of Sound Of Hockey’s Three Stars. You’ll also get another round of Pacific Pulse, a Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
Sound Of Hockey is fresh off of an unforgettable opening night at Climate Pledge Arena, and John, Andy, and Darren have lots of recapping to do. From the game itself and analysis of the state of the Seattle Kraken to the game presentation and fans in Crapweasels jerseys, there’s a lot to unpack.
The discussion of Saturday night’s momentous event takes up a good chunk of the episode, but eventually the guys move on to their segbits, which travel all around the NHL and even take a look at what’s happening with some of Seattle’s prospects with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
This week represents the triumphant return of Sound Of Hockey’s Three Stars. You’ll also get another round of Pacific Pulse, a Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
It could have been one of those nights that live on in Seattle Kraken lore forever, and in a way it still will. But what if Nathan Bastian had converted on the Mason Appleton rebound that skipped right off his stick in the second period? What if the Appleton breakaway chance that Thatcher Demko just swept off his goal line had trickled just a smidge faster? What if the pass back to Vince Dunn at the point with four minutes left in regulation hadn’t been out of his reach?
While it was certainly a momentous night that those in attendance will never forget, the outcome did leave a residue in the mouths of Seattle fans, players, and coaches. For as magical as the first game ever at Climate Pledge Arena was—and it really was magical—imagine if Seattle had won.
“It was electric in here all night,” said captain Mark Giordano after the game. “I mean the fans— that’s right up there with any [game I’ve played].”
“I don’t know if you can get more,” coach Dave Hakstol quipped when asked if he wanted to see more from the fanbase. “That was outstanding. Yeah, it was an amazing atmosphere, and you know, the bottom line is we wanted to reward the group in the stands with a win tonight. It’s a sour taste, you know walking out of the rink tonight, and that’s a part of it because [the fans] were awesome.”
Ah, what could have been.
The Kraken are evolving before our eyes
The Kraken have morphed into a very different team after a couple days of practice. Hakstol talked a lot about giving up too much off the rush during Seattle’s challenging two-week road trip that ended with a 1-3-1 record.
Yanni Gourde nearly scored just 15 seconds into the game on a breakaway that Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko turned away with his blocker. But after that rush, Seattle’s attack was measured during the first period Saturday.
The skaters on the ice would try to get control in the offensive zone, but if there was nothing there, nobody over-committed. Instead, as soon as possession was ceded, all five Kraken players were consistently racing to the neutral zone to set up a trap for Vancouver.
“We settled things down a little bit in the neutral zone in terms of the way we approached our neutral zone play,” Hakstol explained of the altered style. “You talk about having five guys in the picture going both directions, and we did a pretty good job tonight. We didn’t give up a whole lot off the rush.”
In fact, there were practically no odd-man rushes against for the Kraken all night, save for maybe a partial break on the Garland game winner, but even that was the result of a fluky play in the offensive zone.
Vancouver did own the puck and zone time for most of the opening 20 minutes and made Philipp Grubauer work a bit. But most opportunities for the Canucks came from the perimeter, right where Hakstol wants them.
The Kraken finally started to push back late in the period, especially after an impressive penalty kill that featured a big Brandon Tanev hit and a painful Joonas Donskoi shot block, as well as a power play that nearly scored several times.
The Kraken sustained pressure for the final three minutes of the period, and with just three seconds left before the horn Dunn scored the first goal ever at Climate Pledge Arena. With tired Canucks desperately trying to get the clock to zero, Dunn took a pass from Adam Larsson, delayed, and wired a perfect wristshot off the right post and in.
Climate Pledge Arena erupted with the Kraken heading to the dressing room ahead 1-0.
Kraken got the better of the play, but the Canucks got the goal in the second
In the second, the Kraken looked like a different team again. While there was still some trapping whenever they gave up control, they spent most of the stanza with the puck and in the offensive zone and had a couple of very near misses. As Hakstol said, Seattle “tilted the ice” that period.
The first Grade ‘A’ chance came when Appleton put a shot with purpose into the feet of Demko from a bad angle. Demko kicked a juicy rebound right onto the stick of a streaking Bastian, but Bastian partially fanned on what looked like a sure goal.
Later, Appleton had a clear breakaway and fired a shot into Demko’s armpit. The puck squirted through the Canuck netminder and sat right on the goal line for a moment before Demko was able to dive back and sweep the puck off the line.
The Canucks did not register a shot on goal for the first 11 minutes of the period. Then Giordano tried to bank a breakout pass off the boards to Alex Wennberg, but Garland got a stick on it and quickly found Bo Horvat in the slot. Horvat put it right through the wickets of Grubauer, a goal that the Seattle netminder probably wanted back on the first shot of the period.
With the Kraken threatening all period long, it was Vancouver that got the lone goal.
A late penalty and a bad bounce doom Kraken
Giordano atoned for the errant pass and gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead back at 5:09 of the third period, after Jared McCann found him breaking over the blue line.
Unlike other nights when Seattle has had late leads, it did not sit back. Instead, it continued to pressure offensively without sacrificing structure in the neutral and defensive zones.
Still, you could really feel the tying goal coming. Carson Soucy went to the box for the second time at 12:34 after tripping Juho Lammikko, a tough time to take a penalty. It took Vancouver just 18 seconds of power play time before Quinn Hughes put a shot into Grubauer’s pads that Horvat found and deposited for his second of the night.
With the Kraken pushing back and threatening to retake the lead, an errant pass to Dunn at the point was just out of his reach. Garland jumped past the defender and raced through the neutral zone, firing a shot from the right circle that again beat Grubauer through the five hole.
That game winner came at 15:58 of the third and sucked the air out of an otherwise raucous building.
“I liked the way we played in the third, you know taking a penalty at a tough time against a good power play hurt us,” Hakstol said. “And then the one bounce of the game went their way on the game winner.”
Kraken need to find ways to win
The loss was disappointing. It came against what will surely be a bitter rival in Seattle’s emotional home opener. It also came in a game the Kraken really should have beaten a tired group finishing a six-game road trip.
Seattle has found several different ways to lose so far, which have added up to an underwhelming 1-4-1 record. When the Kraken have the game in hand like they did on Saturday, they need to start finding ways to win.
Said Giordano, “We play that sort of game, we’ll be ok more nights than not, I think. We generated a lot more tonight, we created a lot more, and that’s the game. It could go either way. It’s a tight game and they get a couple… They made us pay when they got their chances.”
It’s time for the Kraken to start making other teams pay, or this season could quickly become an uphill battle.
The Kraken are off Sunday. They will practice Monday before welcoming the Montreal Canadiens to Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.
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.
