The 30-year old, 6-foot-3, 203-pound Burkovsky was originally selected by Washington in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft and will make $5.5 million for the next two seasons. He had 37 points (10 goals, 27 assists) in 79 games with Seattle in 2024–25.

The native of Klagenfurt, Austria, has appeared in 696 career regular season NHL games, over 11 seasons with the Capitals, Colorado Avalanche and Kraken. Over his career, he has won the Stanley Cup twice with Washington (2018) and Colorado (2022) in eight trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In international play, Burakovsky has helped lead Sweden to silver medals at the 2012 World U18 Championship and the 2014 World Junior Championship.

The Chicago Blackhawks acquired Andre Burakovsky from the Seattle Kraken for Joseph Veleno

The post BREAKING: Blackhawks acquire Andre Burakovsky from Seattle appeared first on The Rink.

Fans have been waiting for this moment since the team took Beniers second overall in the draft last summer. Shortly after he was selected, the now 19-year-old center decided to head back to the University of Michigan with several of his highly selected teammates to pursue the 2022 NCAA National Championship. After a 43-point (20 goals, 23 assists) season, his Michigan team lost in the Frozen Four to the Denver Pioneers.

Beniers is a smart, 6-foot-2, 175-pound two-way pivot that could be a top-line setup man for several years to come, which is something the Kraken have lacked all season. Combined with this year’s eventual lottery draft pick, the Kraken have the opportunity to draft another special player to join Beniers.

The entry-level contract is a typical three-year deal, but terms were not immediately disclosed. With only 10 games remaining in the season, Beniers is expected to make his NHL debut sometime this week.

The post Kraken ink Matthew Beniers to entry-level deal appeared first on The Rink.

To add a little excitement for the evening, the Blackhawks had a ceremonial one-day contract signing so that Marian Hossa could “officially” retire as a member of the Blackhawks. From the Blackhawks’ perspective, it was nice to see that familiar face once again. Following the pre-game ceremony, the Blackhawks also announced that Hossa’s number will be retired next season.

Marian Hossa’s first ballot Hall of Fame legacy is worth more than one night of recognition. It’s a legacy worthy of eternity. pic.twitter.com/JCnQh5SRxW

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 8, 2022

There was a game to be played, though (allegedly).

The Blackhawks had some jump in their step following the opening face-off, but that soon ended. After going up early in shots 2–0, the home team ended up surrendering 16 straight to the Kraken. Heading into the first intermission, the score remained 0–0 thanks to some heroics by Chicago goaltender Kevin Lankinen. The final first period tally was 17–3.

Before most of the fans were able to make it back into their seats, Kraken center Alexander Wennberg faked Jake McCabe out of his skates then went around Lankinen to give the Kraken the only goal they would end up needing for a 1–0 lead. This was Wennberg’s 10th goal of the season.

The rest of the second period (and essentially the game) was the Philipp Grubauer show. Chicago came out and peppered the Seattle netminder with 15 shots, but none reached the back of the net. When the second period horn went off, the Blackhawks had almost erased the 14-shot deficit from the first period, but the Kraken still led by a much slimmer margin, 21–18.

The third period was a much more even one. The Blackhawks sent 11 more shots Grubauer’s way, but never got that elusive first goal, while the Kraken got a late goal from Jordan Eberle, who sent a wrist shot through three Blackhawks defenders and past Lankinen to double the gap to 2–0. The goal came with only 1:39 left in regulation, and immediately send the Chicago crowd heading for the exits.

Anchor points

It cannot be overstated that the Blackhawks were not only booed following a very bad 5-on-3 power play, but were booed as they left the ice. They are a bad team, but they have enough talent to not be whitewashed at home against an equally bad team. They were 0–4 on the power play against a team that has the 27th-ranked penalty kill. The Blackhawks should have feasted on that.

Blackhawks rookie Alex Vlasic suited up and played (allegedly), but I cannot recall one play he made on the ice. Highly touted rookie Lukas Reichel was slightly more noticeable for Chicago, but barely.

  On the other hand, Grubauer needed a big game and the team needed one to rally around their big-salary starter. Lately, Chris Driedger has been outplaying Grubauer by a significant amount. As much as I like Driedger, they cannot go into the offseason with a goalie controversy in which one of the players has played himself off the market.

Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn went down and into the end boards awkwardly in the second period. It originally looked like he would be out long term, but luckily, he returned to play in the third period.

The way the Kraken started the game, it should be no surprise that they led in most advanced possession stats.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 54%–46%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 53%–47%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 62%–38%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 60%–40%
Face-off percentage 56%–44%

The Kraken are off today and return to home ice to face the Calgary Flames on Saturday. The puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PDT.

The Blackhawks host the Dallas Stars on Sunday evening. The puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT.

The post RECAP: Kraken sink Blackhawks after Hossa retirement celebration appeared first on The Rink.

Blackhawks Rinkcast host Andy Campbell is joined by The Rink co-founder Jeff Osborn from The Rink Seattle and Rink staffers Ray Napientek, Andrew Bard, Sean Fitzgerald, and Eric Andrews to talk about the Blackhawks and Kraken 2022 trade deadline deals.

• • (0:00) Blackhawks unload Brandon Hagel, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Ryan Carpenter.
  • (44:00)Kraken unload Calle Jarnkrok, Mark Giordano, Colin Blackwell, Jeremy Lauzon, Marcus Johansson, and Mason Appleton.
  • (1:03:00)And some listener/viewer questions.
  • Sean brushes his teeth and takes us for a drive.

Watch the entire replay of the Facebook live right here:

Watch the entire replay of the YouTube right here:

Watch the entire replay of the Twitter right here:

Blackhawks/Kraken Rinkcast – S5 Ep18/S1 Ep10 – Trade Deadline Extravaganza Part II https://t.co/HdJXRrlyu0

— Chicago Blackhawks Rinkcast (@TheRinkcast) March 22, 2022

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The post Blackhawks/Kraken Rinkcast – S5Ep18/S1Ep10 – Trade Deadline Wrap-up appeared first on The Rink.

Rask was immediately assigned to Charlotte to join the Kraken’s AHL affiliate. On the outside, this looks like a depth deal, but it is mainly a salary cap deal to give the Wild some cap breathing room.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired forward Victor Rask from Minnesota in exchange for future considerations. Minnesota will retain 50 percent of Rask’s contract, and he will report to @CheckersHockey (AHL).

Read more → https://t.co/pW2UCKhvbz pic.twitter.com/ZpXOtoc2Bx

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 21, 2022

Rask just turned 29 on March 1 and has appeared in almost 500 NHL games between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Wild. The Swedish-born forward has put up 215 points (85 goals, 130 assists) in his eight-year NHL career. He is in the last year of a six-year contract with a $4 million cap hit.

In another small transaction, the Kraken claimed defenseman Derrick Pouliot off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights to fill some lineup spots left open by trade deadline deals. Pouliot signed a one-year deal with the Golden Knights on March 17, and was put on waivers to be sent to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, after playing two games with the Golden Knights.

He has appeared in over 200 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and Golden Knights and has 49 career points (eight goals, 41 assists).

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

The post BREAKING: Kraken wrap first trade deadline acquiring Victor Rask, claiming Derrick Pouliot appeared first on The Rink.

Francis sent forward Marcus Johansson back to the Washington Capitals. Johansson was drafted by the Capitals in the first round (24th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He was signed by the Kraken in August.

In return, the Kraken acquired Daniel Sprong, a 2022 fourth-round draft pick, and a 2023 sixth-round draft pick.

The Kraken have now acquired 10 future draft picks for six roster players within the last week. Stay tuned for any more deals before noon PDT today.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired Daniel Sprong, a 2022 fourth-round draft pick and a 2023 sixth-round draft pick from Washington in exchange for forward Marcus Johansson.

Read more → https://t.co/pW2UCKhvbz pic.twitter.com/FyN3Io0Xt9

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 21, 2022

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

The post BREAKING: Kraken send Marcus Johansson to Washington Capitals appeared first on The Rink.

The first move was 24-year-old defenseman Jeremy Lauzon getting sent to the Nashville Predators for a 2022 second-round draft pick. Lauzon was acquired in last summer’s expansion draft from the Boston Bruins. He appeared in 53 games this year for the Kraken, where he put up six points (one goal, five assists) and racked up 67 penalty minutes with his hard-nosed play.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired a 2022 second-round draft pick from Nashville in exchange for defenseman Jeremy Lauzon.

Read more → https://t.co/BteUmXsDLx pic.twitter.com/wrTipSsl7x

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 21, 2022

The second deal of the evening was 26-year-old forward Mason Appleton getting sent to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2023 fourth-round draft pick. Appleton returns to the team that drafted him in 2015. He appeared in 49 games for the Kraken and put up 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in a mostly bottom-six role after being the Kraken’s expansion draft selection from the Jets.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired a 2023 fourth-round draft pick in exchange for forward Mason Appleton.

Read more → https://t.co/pW2UCKhvbz pic.twitter.com/KFPmC9WQbI

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 21, 2022

The Kraken have now acquired eight future draft picks for five roster players within the last week. Seattle may be done dealing, but do not rule out another lower-level deal before the deadline strikes zero at noon PDT today.

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

The post BREAKING: Kraken unload Lauzon and Appleton to Predators and Jets appeared first on The Rink.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired a 2nd round draft pick in 2022 and 2023 and a 3rd round pick in 2024 from Toronto in exchange for defenseman Mark Giordano and forward Colin Blackwell.

Read more → https://t.co/VqQAmljIpp pic.twitter.com/eVnRzB8pgI

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 20, 2022

Giordano was acquired from the Calgary Flames and Blackwell was acquired from the New York Rangers in the expansion draft. In what has been a rough season for the Kraken, the 38-year-old defenseman and former Norris Trophy winner put up 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) while playing quarterback on their power play and anchoring their first defensive pair. Giordano was rewarded for playing in his 1,000th NHL game on Wednesday.

Blackwell, who had a late start to his regular season beginning the year on the injured list, is set to turn 29 on March 28. When he finally made his debut, he quickly became a fan favorite, putting up 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 38 games.

The Kraken have acquired six future draft picks for three roster players within the last week. They are most definitely not done with deals before the deadline clock strikes zero at 12 p.m. PDT on Monday.

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

The post BREAKING: Kraken trade Giordano and Blackwell to Maple Leafs appeared first on The Rink.

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

Trade Analysis/Break Down:

• The Calgary Flames acquired Calle Jarnkrok from the Seattle Kraken for 2022 2nd Round Pick, 2023 3rd Round Pick, 2024 7th Round Pick
• The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Brandon Hagel, 2022 4th Round Pick and 2024 4th Round Pick from the Chicago Blackhawks for 2023 1st Round Pick, 2024 1st Round Pick, Boris Katchouk, and Taylor Raddysh
• The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell from the Seattle Kraken for 2022 second round pick, 2023 second round pick, and 2024 third round pick
• The Nashville Predators acquired Jeremy Lauzon from the Seattle Kraken for 2022 second round pick
• The Winnipeg Jets acquired Mason Appleton from the Seattle Kraken for a 2023 fourth round pick
• The Minnesota Wild acquired Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional first or second round pick
• The Washington Capitals acquired Marcus Johansson from the Seattle Kraken for Daniel Sprong and draft picks
• The Calgary Flames acquired Ryan Carpenter from the Chicago Blackhawks for 2024 Fifth Round Pick
• The Seattle Kraken acquired Victor Rask from the Minnesota Wild for future considerations

Also, be sure to follow the entire The-Rink staff on Twitter for up to the minute updates, as well:

The Rink Official

Chicago Divison
The Rinkcast
Andy Campbell
Ray Napientek
Eric Andrews
Sean Fitzgerald
Andrew Bard
Matt Csakai
Tommy Gibbons

Seattle Divison
Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast
Jeff Osborn

The post The Rink’s 2022 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker appeared first on The Rink.

The Rink co-founder Jeff Osborn from The Rink Seattle is joined by Rink staffers Andrew Bard, Sean Fitzgerald, and Eric Andrews to talk about the Blackhawks’ and Kraken’s plight for this 2022 trade deadline.

• Kraken get the deadline rolling by trading Calle Jarnkrok to the Calgary Flames.
• Blackhawks rumored to be trading Dominik Kubalik to the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, or Winnipeg Jets.
• Mark Giordano destinations and his effect on those teams.
• Marc-Andre Fleury trade talk heats up.
• What else might we see from the Kraken and Blackhawks by Monday afternoon?
• Brandon Hagel trade possibilities and why it makes sense.

Watch the entire replay of the Facebook live right here:

Watch the entire replay of the YouTube right here:

Watch the entire replay of the Twitter right here:

#Blackhawks/#SeaKraken Rinkcast – Trade Deadline Extravaganza https://t.co/YWl3K8oZEz

— Chicago Blackhawks Rinkcast (@TheRinkcast) March 17, 2022

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The post Blackhawks/Kraken Rinkcast – S5Ep17/S1Ep9 – Trade Deadline Extravaganza appeared first on The Rink.

If this is any indication of the haul that General Manager Ron Francis can get from this roster of mostly depth players, things are looking up in the Emerald City.

TRADE: The #SeaKraken have acquired a 2022 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), a 2023 3rd round pick and a 2024 7th round pick from the @NHLFlames in exchange for forward Calle Jarnkrok.

Follow all of our Trade Deadline coverage → https://t.co/BteUmXsDLx pic.twitter.com/C6KDjbiSMj

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 17, 2022

Jarnkrok was selected from the Nashville Predators in the expansion draft last summer. He played in 49 games with the Kraken and put up 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists). He comes with 63 games of NHL playoff experience and 15 playoff points (three goals, 12 assists).

Seattle will try to amass as many draft pick as they can to bolster a thin system. Look for some familiar names like Mark Giordano to be moved in the next five days and follow us at The Rink as we break down each move.

Date	The-Rink Division	Outgoing Player/Pick	Opposite Team	Player/Pick Received
3/16/2022		Calle Jarnkrok		'22 2nd round pick (acquired from FLA), '23 3rd round pick, and a '24 7th round pick
3/18/2022		Brandon Hagel, '22 4th round pick, '24 4th round pick		Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, ‘23 1st round pick, ‘24 1st round pick
3/20/2022		Mark Giordano (50% salary retained), Colin Blackwell		'22 2nd round pick, '23 2nd round pick, and, '24 3rd round pick
3/20/2022		Jeremy Lauzon		'22 2nd round pick
3/20/2022		Mason Appleton		'23 4th round pick
3/21/2022		Marcus Johansson (50% salary retained)		Daniel Sprong, '22 4th round pick, and '23 6th round pick
3/21/2022		Marc-Andre Fleury (50% salary retained)		Conditional '22 2nd (potential 1st) round pick
3/21/2022		Ryan Carpenter		'24 5th round pick
3/21/2022		Future Considerations		Victor Rask

The post TRADE: Kraken send Jarnkrok to Calgary Flames appeared first on The Rink.

Welcome back Norm! pic.twitter.com/GmIt0vwuVW

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 9, 2022

Maciver served as Chicago’s assistant general manager for eight seasons in addition to holding roles including Director of Player Personnel and Director of Player Development during his 14-year tenure with the Hawks from 2006 to 2020.

Maciver departed from the Blackhawks to accept the Director of Player Personnel role with the expansion Seattle Kraken, which he began on Jan. 5, 2021.

Maciver will report directly to Davidson, and Davidson is excited to have Maciver back in the fold in Chicago.

“I think it is important in this new hockey operations department to balance really strong knowledge in hockey with new and innovative thinking,” Davidson said in a press release. “Norm brings that institutional knowledge and is one of the best talent evaluators in the business—pushing the boundaries on new methods and techniques that we need here at the Blackhawks. Norm has been a big help to me throughout my career personally, but he also isn’t afraid to share his opinion and that is something that I respect most about him. He’s a great first step in building this out.”

According to Davidson, Maciver will oversee the entire Blackhawks scouting operation, which includes having scouts in six countries, 12 states and six Canadian provinces for a total of 10 professional scouts and 13 amateur scouts.

“Kyle and I have a great relationship and I believe in his vision for the team and the future of our hockey operations department,” Maciver said in the release. “I’m thankful to the Blackhawks for this opportunity and I’m anxious to get back to work in a place that has become home. In addition, I would like to thank Ron Francis and the Seattle organization for allowing me to be a part of the Kraken inaugural season.”

Prior to his front office experience, Maciver enjoyed a successful 12-year NHL playing career that saw him play in a total of 501 games before spending five years as a coach, starting as an assistant coach with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL for three years and then two seasons as an assistant coach for the Boston Bruins.

The post Blackhawks hire Norm Maciver as Associate General Manager appeared first on The Rink.

McCann was taken by the Kraken in the expansion draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom he had been traded to just three days previously, and quickly won fans’ hearts with his hard-nosed play and knack for finding the net.

In 51 games this season, the 25-year-old center has 33 points (21 goals, 12 assists). His 21 goals is a new career-high, and he is on track to beat his career-high of 35 points well before the season ends.

https://twitter.com/SeattleKraken/status/1501228431421362176

Bookending the McCann extension were games this weekend against the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes, then last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. These were the first three games of an East Coast road trip, which wraps up Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.

Saturday at Washington

The Capitals hosted the Kraken for captain Mark Giordano’s 1,000th game on Saturday, but those were all the celebrations for Seattle. Alex Ovechkin scored his 764th goal, which left him just two shy of Jaromir Jagr for third overall on the all-time goal scoring list, a mark which he has since tied.

Washington took a 2–0 lead in the first period on goals by Tom Wilson and Dmitry Orlov, just 34 seconds apart. Seattle battled back on goals from Joonas Donskoi late in the first and Colin Blackwell just 58 seconds into the second period.

Blackwell never gives up & finds the back of the net! pic.twitter.com/Y0NFZIGJ5B

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 6, 2022

Washington got unanswered power play goals from Conor Sheary and Ovechkin before Sheary added a late empty-net goal to button up a 5–2 win. Goaltender Chris Driedger saved 20 of 24 shots for the Kraken.

Sunday at Carolina

The Kraken made the short trip from Washington D.C. to Raleigh, North Carolina, to face the Hurricanes on Sunday evening. Seattle jumped out to 1–0 and 2–1 leads in the second period before succumbing to the Canes on a power play goal by Teuvo Teravainen and a third-period game-winning goal from Martin Necas.

Pick up the phone! It’s answer time, baby!

Boi Boi with a *swede* response goal! pic.twitter.com/cI2u2TRavN

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 7, 2022

Seattle’s goals were from Alexander Wennberg and Calle Jarnkrok but, once again, the Kraken were unable to hold onto a lead. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 of 33 shots and probably deserved a better fate.

Tuesday at Toronto

Continuing their road trip, the Kraken hopped the border to face the Maple Leafs last night. Star center Auston Matthews scored his 41st, 42nd and 43rd goals of the season to power the Leafs to a 6–4 win.

Matthews opened the scoring with his first goal just 3:18 into the game and completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal in the waning moments of the game. Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares also had goals for the Maple Leafs, while Blackwell, Jaden Schwartz, Carson Soucy and Wennberg all scored for the Kraken.

BLACKWELL IS ON FIRE!!

drop some 's if you agree pic.twitter.com/IlSciJuMA0

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 9, 2022

Three of Toronto’s six goals were on the power play with the Kraken taking six costly penalties that sealed their fate. Grubauer saved 26 of 31 shots on net.

  The Kraken take a short trip to face the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PST.

The post Kraken extend Jared McCann, drop games to Capitals, Hurricanes and Maple Leafs appeared first on The Rink.

Head Coach Dave Hakstol gave Chris Driedger the rare start in goal and it proved to be the right move. Driedger made 19 saves in a fairly light workload.

The game began in the same fashion as so many before, with the Predators taking the lead on a goal from Philip Tomasino, which was the only goal of the period. Nashville held a slim 9–8 lead in shots, but they made up for the lack of action in the second period.

The Predators took a 2–0 lead on an early second-period power-play goal from Matt Duchene, but the Kraken fought back just 29 seconds later on a goal by Alexander Wennberg. Seattle added two more goals in the next 2:30 from Calle Jarnkrok (#RevengeEffects) and Yanni Gourde, which gave them a brief 3–2 lead until Duchene struck again to take a 3–3 tie into the second intermission.

The Kraken dominated the third period, outshooting the Predators 15–3, and got the only goal of the period from Blackwell, with Ryan Donato in the penalty box no less, to send Nashville away with the loss.

a shorty for our short king! pic.twitter.com/aFcfexQKET

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 3, 2022

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The former Preds players really killed them with three points on the evening,

The Seattle penalty kill has been on fire lately with shorthanded goals in three of their last five games.

Even though he did not score, Kole Lind led the Kraken with five shots on goal and had an assist on Wennberg’s goal. He also led the team in 5-on-5 Corsi with 86%.

The Kraken put together a solid possession game after starting a bit slow:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 57%–43%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 54%–46%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 58%–42%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 59%–41%
Face-off percentage 63%–37%

The Kraken travel to Washington D.C. to face Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Saturday. The puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken end losing streak in comeback win over Nashville appeared first on The Rink.

Kartye was part of the Kraken developmental camp this past fall as a free agent, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ camp in 2019, and signed with the team on the first day teams are eligible to sign players to entry-level contracts. The 6-foot-1, 198-pound forward has scored 33 goals and 58 points in 45 games this season and is expected to be part of the new Kraken AHL team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, next season.

The post Kraken sign Tye Kartye to entry-level contract appeared first on The Rink.

Things started well for the Kraken, as captain Mark Giordano walked in through a defensive breakdown in coverage and scored just 3:29 into the game, shorthanded. This was Giordano’s second shorthanded goal of the season and also his second this week.

The Bruins used a little luck to tie the game late in the first period when a Jake DeBrusk centering pass was deflected in the air and tipped by Kraken defenseman Jeremy Lauzon off Philipp Grubauer and into the net. These were not the #RevengeEffects that the Kraken were hoping for from Lauzon.

Other than the fluke goal, Grubauer stood tall in goal, stopping 16 of 17 shots. The Kraken offense managed only eight shots on Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark.

Much like the previous game, the Kraken came out and had a more competitive middle period, getting 10 shots on goal to the Bruins’ 14 shots. The teams traded goals from David Pasternak and Jordan Eberle, which set up a tie game for the third period.

things we love to sea
└ backhand goals by ebs pic.twitter.com/JWuhL0Mh3c

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 25, 2022

In the third period, the Kraken outshot the Bruins 9–7, but neither team was able to score. As a result, the game headed to overtime, where DeBrusk scored his second of the game to give the Bruins the win.

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Grubauer played really well in this game. This is the way he was supposed to play every game based on the salary he is making. The two regulation goals were not his fault, but he is going to want that overtime goal back. He had DeBrusk at a terrible angle and just “muffed” the shot. It is a pity that these goalies cannot make a single mistake without it costing the team a win. That is far too much to expect every single night.

The penalty kill was great, holding the Bruins to 0–5 and scoring a shorthanded goal. I thought they might take a hit in success with the loss of Brandon Tanev but, overall, they have been really solid as of late.

Not all was lost on defense, either. The pairing of Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak was really solid with an (almost) 60% 5-on-5 Corsi in 11:52 together.

Again, as you might expect when you get outshot by 12, the Bruins held the edge in most possession numbers, but can we talk about face-offs? Possession starts with face-offs deep in each end, and the Kraken are just bad at it. They are 24th in the league and falling.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 56%–44%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 58%–42%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 59%–41%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 51%–49%
Face-off percentage 61%–39%

Seattle is off until Sunday when they travel down the coast to face the San Jose Sharks. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Bruins deal Kraken sixth straight loss in OT appeared first on The Rink.

Playing the second game of a back-to-back, following a 5–2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks the night before, the Kraken never seemed to get their engines going. Seattle managed only four shots in the first period while surrendering 13 Islanders shots. A goal by Brock Nelson and Zach Parise’s first of the night had the visitors up 2–0 at the first intermission. Parise’s goal was originally waved off for goaltender interference, but reversed by the war room in Toronto because Mark Giordano pushed Parise into Philipp Grubauer.

The Kraken had a more engaging second period, but not before two more Islanders goals from Kyle Palmieri and Casey Cizikas had the visitors up 4–0 at the halfway point of the game and New York was leading in shots on goal 24–6. Seattle’s Yanni Gourde broke the shutout at the 11:18 point of the second, but that was all the ground that the Kraken were able to gain in the second period. Shots still favored New York heavily at 27–15.

Keeping with their “too little, too late” theme, Seattle forward Riley Sheahan opened the third period with a goal to cut the Islanders’ lead to 4–2. This was all the scoring for Seattle, as Parise wrapped up the evening with an empty-net goal for his second tally of the night with two minutes remaining in regulation. The final shot totals were 36–25 in a game that Seattle was never in.

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Vince Dunn, Yanni Gourde and Calle Jarnkrok were all -3 on the night. The pair of Dunn and Jeremy Lauzon was brutal, giving up 16 attempts against and generating only eight, in 9:52 together. I will continue to say this: Lauzon is not a very good defender. This begs the question of why Dave Hakstol would put Lauzon with Dunn, who is not a great defender in his own end.

For all those truthers out there that claim face-offs are overrated: Both Seattle goals came almost directly off face-off wins.

Playing in his first game against his former team, Austin Czarnik was a -2 in 11:02. He had the third-worst 5-on-5 Corsi on the Kraken with 41.67%

Grubauer was, well, Grubauer. He was right on par with his season save percentage of 88.7%, saving 31 of 35 shots for an 88.6% on the evening. His defense did him no favors, but if you are going to command a top-tier goaltender’s salary, you need to play like a top-tier goaltender. Grubauer is not. He needs to steal some games and keep you in most others.

The Kraken led in even-strength shot attempts, but could not get their shots on net, especially in the second period, when they attempted 28 and only 11 made it to the net.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 53%–47%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 55%–45%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 52%–48%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 53%–47%
Face-off percentage 56%–44%

The Kraken are off Wednesday and host the Boston Bruins Thursday evening at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Islanders jump out to big lead, beat Kraken 5–2 appeared first on The Rink.

Seattle Head Coach Dave Hakstol gave the start in goal to Chris Driedger with back-to-back games against the Canucks and New York Islanders.

Driedger barely had time to scrape up his crease before the Canucks took a 1–0 lead on a goal from Tyler Motte. The Kraken came back three minutes later and tied the game on a goal by Seattle’s leading goal scorer (and former Canuck) Jared McCann. Not only was McCann facing the team that drafted him, but he was also playing in his 400th NHL game.

in his 400th game – playing against the team that drafted him – and canner finds the back of the net.

we’re here for this. pic.twitter.com/yVQihGLKpd

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 22, 2022

Seattle wrapped up a successful first period with a shorthanded goal by captain Mark Giordano with 5:34 remaining. The Kraken were outshot 15–9, though, but Driedger found his footing.

If the first period was classified as a success, the second could certainly be labeled a failure. Vancouver outshot the Kraken 18–4 and added goals by Travis Hamonic and Vasily Podkolzin to give the home team a 3–2 lead heading into the second intermission.

The third period did not fare much better for the Kraken, as Vancouver forward Bo Horvat scored a power play goal 35 seconds into the period and Tanner Pearson scored an empty-net goal with just over 1:30 remaining in regulation. The Kraken did manage to attempt a comeback by outshooting Vancouver 14–13, but it was far too little and far too late once again for the expansion team.

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Driedger played good enough (41 saves) to keep the Kraken in the game, but when four goals against is a “good game,” there is a lot going wrong in other areas. He mentioned in his postgame media availability that he would have liked the fourth goal back, but even without that goal, the Kraken still lose the game.

Penalty kills were good and power plays were bad. That is a quick assessment of what happened out on that ice regarding special teams. The teams were a combined 1-for-8 with the man advantage and Seattle scored one of their goals while shorthanded.

Giordano, McCann, Vince Dunn, Jordan Eberle and Morgan Geekie were the only players that were not under water 5-on-5. The line of Ryan Donato, Joonas Donskoi and Alexander Wennberg were just crushed all night, giving up 12 shots while generating only one. On the other hand, the line of Eberle, Geekie and McCann played only 1:40 together, but had a remarkable 8–0 Corsi advantage.

As one might expect from a 5–2 loss where you are outshot 46–27, the possession heavily favored Vancouver.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 58%–42%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 65%–35%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 69%–31%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 72%–28%
Face-off percentage 52%–48%

Seattle will host the New York Islanders tonight at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken lose in Vancouver, end Canadian road trip 0–3 appeared first on The Rink.

The Kraken almost seemed doomed from the puck drop, as (alleged Seattle Kraken legend) Alexander Kerfoot roofed a shot past Seattle starter Philipp Grubauer just under four minutes into play on the Leafs’ second shot on goal. The Kraken tied the game five minutes later on a Calle Jarnkrok shot from the top of the circles.

our fave boi boi stays hot with points in three straight games!!! pic.twitter.com/47uYmXbzRO

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 15, 2022

The Leafs came right back with two more goals from Michael Bunting and Ondrej Kase (on the power play) to take a 3–1 lead into the intermission and chase Grubauer from the game. Chris Driedger did not fare much better either, though, behind a chaotic defense and sketchy special teams.

Seattle never gained any momentum back, giving up another power play goal to Mitch Marner in the second period and then a shorthanded goal to David Kampf early in the third period, which left them facing a 5–1 deficit.

The Kraken did add a power play goal of their own late in the third period from Maple Leafs legend Jared McCann, but this was far too little, far too late. Toronto wrapped up the scoring with a long bomb from Jake Muzzin at the 18:19 mark of the third period to walk away with a convincing 6–2 win.

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Shots on net were 25–25. Toronto led 11–6 in the first period and the Kraken turned around an 11–6 period of their own in the third. Needless to say, that first period did the Kraken in. Not many teams are coming back from a 3–1 deficit against the Leafs…well, outside of the Montreal Canadiens, I suppose.

I was surprised to see Dave Hakstol pull Grubauer, but I support his decision. The team was flat and Grubauer was, too. Driedger looked pretty good. He was screened on the Marner power play goal and left hung out to dry on the Kampf shorthander.

Check out tonight’s @WAFDbank Signature Save of the Game. pic.twitter.com/bzee4cmNnD

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 15, 2022

Special teams just ate up the Kraken. While they scored a late power play goal, they gave up two power play goals and a shorthanded goal previous to that. If you allow three special teams goals against, you will not win many games.

Surprisingly, the Kraken led in almost all possession metrics.  Again, an enigma.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 59%–41%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 55%–45%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 50%–50%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 60%–40%
Face-off percentage 59%–41%

The Kraken are off until Thursday night when they face the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg to start a three-game road trip through western and central Canada. The puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Maple Leafs easily dispatch Kraken 6–2 appeared first on The Rink.

Head Coach Dave Hakstol started goaltender Chris Driedger in net with his shiny new custom set of pads.

The game immediately started off much like the wild west, as Ryan Donato and Isac Lundestrom scored 12 seconds apart to go along with a fight between Jamie Oleksiak and Nicolas Deslauriers. The Kraken took a 2–1 lead late in the first period on a goal by Vince Dunn, which they took into the first intermission. Anaheim led in shots 11–6, but Driedger held the lead.

The Ducks came out in the second period and took a 3–2 lead after another goal by Lundestrom and a power play goal from Rickard Rakell. Donato tied the game back up late in the second with his second goal of the game, as his teammates outshot the Ducks 15–11.

In the third period, both teams fought for the lead in a tightly contested, low-event 20 minutes. The Kraken led in shots 6–5 and the only goal was the eventual game-winner from Jordan Eberle with 1:48 remaining in regulation. This turned out to be a much-needed tough win against a good opponent for the Seattle team.

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Donato has been such a great find for this club. He led the Kraken in overall Corsi with 63%. I would love to see them lock him up for a couple more years to bolster the middle six. He can likely be had for a reasonable salary, one would assume.

I am still leaning toward Driedger in net for the Kraken. He was under fire in close all night and kept them in the game long enough to pull out a win. He just seems to give them more of a chance to win night in and night out. Unfortunately, it seems like salary is going to dictate the rotation more than actual results. The stats are not lying. If they want to continue to tank and try to get Shane Wright, I am not opposed to that, but if they are really trying to win some games, they need to play Driedger more.

Austin Czarnik dressed for his first game with the Kraken and was a big part of Donato’s first goal. I am more of a believer in Czarnik than some, and he could turn out to be a shrewd waiver claim. He only played 10:45 and had 60% overall Corsi, which was good for fourth overall on the Kraken.

The Kraken crushed in most 5-on-5 metrics except faceoffs. You have to give them credit for battling, but this is clearly not sustainable or a long-term plan for success.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 55%–45%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 56%–44%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 80%–20%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 66%–34%
Face-off percentage 56%–44%

The Kraken are off until Monday when they will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken come back on the road to beat Ducks 4–3 appeared first on The Rink.

The Kraken definitely had more energy to open the contest, peppering Arizona goaltender Karel Vejmelka with 15 shots on net, while only surrendering eight Coyotes shots. However, as has been the case many times this season, the Coyotes opened the scoring just over four minutes into play. Veteran Phil Kessel found the puck on his stick with only Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer to beat after a poor turnover on the half wall by Seattle defenseman Adam Larsson. This turned out to be all the first period scoring as the teams headed into the first intermission.

Arizona bounced back in the second period to outshoot the Kraken 10–9 and were able to pad their lead with five minutes remaining in the period. Nick Schmaltz raced up the left wing by himself on a breakout and beat Grubauer over the glove for a 2–0 Coyotes lead. The Kraken were getting shots, but could not solve the 25-year-old Arizona netminder, which set up a tense third period for all involved.

As the third period commenced, Seattle finally got on the scoreboard despite killing a Vince Dunn slashing penalty that carried over from the previous period. Colin Blackwell carried the puck up the right half wall with, what seemed like, little opportunity for scoring. Blackwell snapped a long wrist shot from the top of the circle and beat a seemingly surprised Vejmelka to cut the Arizona lead to 2–1, just 16 seconds into the third.

Jarny nets his eighth goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/w3cAqpEPum

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 10, 2022

Arizona came right back and expanded their lead to two goals, once again, just 1:36 later. Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman surprised everyone by sneaking into the play and scooping a loose puck past Grubauer. This was how the score remained heading into the final five minutes of regulation.

While the Kraken have had many disappointing results this season, they cannot be accused of quitting very often, which was also the case in this game. With 4:08 remaining in regulation, potential trade deadline trade target Calle Jarnkrok took a cross-ice backdoor pass from Yanni Gourde for a tap-in goal that cut the Coyotes’ lead in half once again.

Unfortunately, this would be as far as the Kraken could come back, with Arizona scoring empty-net goals from Alex Galchenyuk and Schmaltz to secure a 5–2 win.

Anchor points

The rule of thumb is that if you outshoot your opponent at home, you should win said game. The Kraken did so and lost. They cannot keep allowing these unforced errors to cost them wins. Larsson’s strange, blind, between-the-legs turnover in his own end is an avoidable mistake. Just chip it up the wall. Keep things simple, make the smart play and win the game.

Converting on the power play, in addition to the shorthanded Blackwell tally, would have had the Kraken tied heading into the final minutes of regulation rather than pulling their goaltender and eventually surrendering two more goals. Little things.

Grubauer was “just okay” in this one. The Schmaltz goal seemed to surprise him and was definitely a low percentage opportunity. The Kessel and Stralman goals can be chalked up to poor defensive coverage.

As mentioned earlier, Larsson had a rough night and his underlying numbers strongly support that. He was on the ice for 22 5-on-5 chances against and only 12 for. Dave Hakstol might want to consider breaking up that pair of Giordano and Larsson. He may be forced to if Giordano gets moved at the deadline, which should be a very real possibility.

I have been really hard on Jeremy Lauzon all year, but the Dunn–Lauzon pair was analytically really good with 63% Corsi at even strength.

It is strange to see a team lead in shots by a considerable margin but get beat in possession metrics in almost all categories, but the Kraken are an enigma.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 51%–49%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 56%–44%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 56%–44%
Face-off percentage 53%–47%

The Kraken are off today but travel to Southern California to face the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken drop first game back from break, fall 5–2 to Coyotes appeared first on The Rink.

The 5-foot-9, 174-pound Washington Township, Michigan, native was signed as a free agent by the Boston Bruins on April 1, 2015, and played 136 NHL games with the Bruins, Calgary Flames and Islanders. He has tallied 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) over his career.

Czarnik also tallied 219 points in 233 AHL games with the Providence Bruins, Stockton Heat and Bridgeport Islanders, eclipsing the 60-point mark in 2015–16 and 2017–18.

The #SeaKraken have claimed forward Austin Czarnik (@ACzarnik7) off of waivers from the New York Islanders. pic.twitter.com/vLS9WKaGuE

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 8, 2022

The Kraken also re-claimed defenseman Dennis Cholowski off waivers from the Washington Capitals today. He was claimed by Washington on Oct. 14, 2021, after being selected in the expansion draft from the Detroit Red Wings.

The #SeaKraken have claimed defenseman Dennis Cholowski off of waivers.

Cholowski was originally selected by the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft before being claimed by the Capitals off of waivers on Oct. 14. pic.twitter.com/AqkbWjBc67

— Seattle Kraken PR (@SeattleKrakenPR) February 9, 2022

The Kraken host the Arizona Coyotes tonight at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheRinkOfficial, @TheRinkSeattle, @KrakenHostile and @PuckinHostile.

The post Kraken Anchor Points — Seattle claims Czarnik, Cholowski off waivers appeared first on The Rink.

As has been the norm for the Kraken, they came out in the first period looking a little rusty. The Penguins threw 11 shots at Grubauer, while Seattle sent only seven shots at Tristan Jarry. Neither goaltender yielded the elusive first goal, and the teams went into the first intermission tied 0–0.

It was much of the same in the second period, as well. Seattle managed only two shots on Jarry this time, while Pittsburgh put nine shots on Grubauer. Neither period was boring, though. Each goaltender seemingly outdid the other at each end, which set up an intense third period.

The game stayed scoreless until the Penguins got a fortunate power play 7:23 into the third period after Marcus Johansson collided with Jarry and was called for goaltender interference. Just over a minute into the power play, Evgeni Malkin took a feed from Kris Letang and beat Grubauer with a cannon of a shot on one of only four shots that Pittsburgh had in the entire third period.

Seattle could have very well curled up and fallen apart, but they went the other direction, outshooting the home team 18–4 (20–4 if you count overtime) the rest of the way. With just under four minutes remaining in regulation, McCann bit his former team with a nifty redirection of a Vince Dunn point shot. As regulation time expired the teams were deadlocked at 1–1.

In overtime, the Penguins were maybe a bit too careless, letting Alexander Wennberg set up Adam Larsson for a long shot that beat Jarry and gave the Kraken the extra point.

FIRST OT WIN IN KRAKEN HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/Iw1zUPyBZM

— ROOT SPORTS | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) January 28, 2022

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Goaltending will make or break this team, and it made the Kraken in a big way this time. Grubauer was incredible from beginning to end. He was aggressive and sharp all night. No matter who scored, Grubauer was the first star for Head Coach Dave Hakstol.

It was really nice to see this team band together and fight one out. McCann has become an unsung leader, and we may be seeing the beginning of an identity for this organization. Better late than never, but, coming so late, this is just building the personality for next season.

The Wennberg-Ryan Donato-Joonas Donskoi line had the most time on ice and held a 70% 5-on-5 Corsi-for percentage. On the back end, Haydn Fleury and Jeremy Lauzon got crushed in their own end 5-on-5, getting out-chanced 12–6. I am not a fan of Lauzon and this certainly did not change my opinion.

The big third period had the overall possession analytics in favor of Seattle:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 51%–49%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 62%–38%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 53%–47%
Face-off percentage 63%–37%

The Kraken will play matinee games in New York against the Islanders and Rangers on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, before the all-star break begins Monday. The puck drop is scheduled for 11 a.m. PST on Saturday and 10 a.m. PST on Sunday.

The post RECAP: Kraken beat Penguins 2–1 in first-ever OT win appeared first on The Rink.

Head Coach Dave Hakstol rode his hot goaltender in Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer played in all three home wins, with Chris Driedger and Joey Daccord playing in losses against the Loa Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues.

Seattle began this game with some momentum, which has been rare for this Kraken team. They outshot the Predators 12–11 and scored the opening goal on a two-man advantage at the 8:59 mark of the game. Leading goal scorer Jared McCann took a one-time feed from captain Mark Giordano and beat Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros to give the Kraken a 1–0 lead. Seattle had the opportunity to really open up the game with three straight power plays and a Yanni Gourde breakaway, but Saros held the Predators within one.

Sweet 16 for number 16!

McCann nets his 16th goal of the season! pic.twitter.com/Ww1VQv0u8B

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 26, 2022

Eventually, Nashville’s Luke Kunin followed up with a game-tying goal with just 21 seconds left in the first period to deadlock the score heading into the first intermission.

The Kraken had momentum in the second period as well, with defenseman Adam Larsson scoring his third goal of the season just over halfway through the period. Nashville followed up once again, though, but this time they took the lead into the second intermission with goals from Filip Forsberg (15:15) and Mattias Ekholm (16:31) just 1:16 apart. The Kraken led in shots, once again, 13–11.

Nashville took advantage of a late third period power play for too many men, on one of only five third-period shots, to secure their 4–2 win. The Kraken doubled up Nashville in shots with 10 in the frame, but were unable to tie the game on a shorthanded Alexander Wennberg-Calle Jarnkrok 2-on-1 just before Matt Duchene gave Nashville a two-goal cushion to put the game away.

Anchor points

Grubauer had been playing so well lately that we had to expect things would trend back to average. He played a really good first period, but he is going to want Forsberg’s goal back. Giordano played it well and left Forsberg with a long perimeter shot that Grubauer needs to stop.

COAST TO COAST pic.twitter.com/VKIcprk2Zz

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) January 26, 2022

On special teams, the Kraken both “giveth” and “taketh away.” They opened up scoring on the two-man advantage, but had the opportunity to take a two-goal lead and failed. A third period stop on the penalty kill would have kept it a one-goal game heading into the final minutes and given the Kraken a much better opportunity to send the game into overtime.

The Gourde, Mason Appleton, Calle Jarnkrok line was pinned in their own end most of the night, getting only three shots for while surrendering seven against. Luckily, four of those seven against were blocked. Hakstol seems to be relying on Giordano far too much. He was on the ice for 17 chances against and only nine for at 5-on-5.

When you outshoot your opponent on home ice, and lead in almost all relevant analytical categories, you need to win said game. This is why the Kraken currently sit at 29th overall.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 57%–43%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 55%–45%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 60%–40%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 54%–46%
Face-off percentage 55%–45%

The Kraken travel to Pittsburgh today, where they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Predators score three unanswered goals to beat Kraken 4–2 appeared first on The Rink.

Friday vs. St. Louis Blues

Unfortunately for the Kraken, they never got rolling against the visiting Blues. Goaltender Ville Husso stopped all 20 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season, and the Blues got all the scoring they needed in the first period from Tyler Bozak and Brayden Schenn.

St. Louis added three more goals in the third period from Pavel Buchnevich, Colton Parayko and Jordan Kyrou to solidify a 5–0 win.

Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord stopped 19 of 22 shots with Chris Driedger out and Philipp Grubauer taking the night off. Defenseman Vince Dunn had a rough night as well, playing only 17:50 and watching three goals against up close.

Sunday vs. Florida Panthers

Following Seattle’s whitewashing against the Blues, the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers came to town Sunday evening. Once again, the Kraken struggled out of the chute, but this time scored three goals in the second and two more in the third to surprise the Cats. Colin Blackwell and Yanni Gourde set a Seattle team record by scoring goals 17 seconds apart.

The game was not without its drama, though. After taking a 3–1 lead in the second, the Kraken surrendered two goals to close out the second period and head into the intermission tied at 3–3.

Mason Appleton and Calle Jarnkrok secured the win with their third period tallies. Grubauer was back in net and had a solid 23-save performance, including a clutch 12-save third period.

Last week’s hero, Carson Soucy, played only 4:41 before leaving with an injury.

The Kraken host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken split weekend with Blues and Panthers appeared first on The Rink.

San Jose wasted no time taking a 1–0 lead before most fans had taken their seats following the national anthem. Tomas Hertl beat Philipp Grubauer just 38 seconds into the game, which stunned the home crowd. Once the Kraken settled in, they locked down defense in their own end and held the Sharks scoreless for the remainder of the first period. Unfortunately, they were held scoreless in the opening period as well. Shots favored the visitors 8–6 heading into the intermission.

Despite getting doubled up in shots 12–6 in the second period, the Kraken made the most of their opportunities and took a 2–1 lead. Defenseman Carson Soucy scored goals 4:07 apart to grab the lead. The Kraken nearly had a two-goal lead, but Ryan Donato’s goal was overturned as a result of being offside. Nonetheless, the Kraken had a lead heading into the second intermission and Grubauer had a very good 12-save second period.

*DJ Khaled voice*

ANOTHA ONE…FOR DA SOUCE! pic.twitter.com/X8pRodF85T

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 21, 2022

In the third period, Calle Jarnkrok gave the Kraken that elusive two-goal lead 6:27 in, beating Sharks goaltender Adin Hill for his 100th career goal. San Jose came back to cut the lead back down to just one goal on the power play, with red-hot Timo Meier’s 21st goal of the season. Despite giving up six power plays on the night, the Kraken were only scored on this one time, which was a moral victory for the Seattle penalty kill. Neither team was especially aggressive in the third period, splitting the 10 shots with five apiece.

When the final horn rang out, the Kraken had their first regulation win in 2022 and since beating these very Sharks 3–1 over one month ago, on Dec. 14. It looks like the newest Kraken mascot has been all the good luck they have been looking for.

*chomp*

2-0 since introducing davy jones! pic.twitter.com/IjhO6Nx0Y6

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 21, 2022

Anchor points

Grubauer was not peppered with shots, but he did have a pretty heroic second period. I will not say he is finally over the hump, but he is playing better. He needs to string four or five good games in a row, but you cannot get there without two in a row. With Chris Driedger unable to stay healthy, the Kraken are going to need this kind of performance more often than not from their franchise goaltender.

Gru says “NOT A CHANCE ” for today’s @WAFDbank Signature Save! pic.twitter.com/0mD6F5sKOJ

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 21, 2022

The Kraken penalty kill won this game for them. Holding the Sharks to only one goal on six opportunities was key. They could have used a little help on their power play opportunities, but Jarnkrok and Soucy took care of business 5-on-5.

Soucy was on the ice for all three Kraken goals and had the hot hand. With Jamie Oleksiak out, the pair of Soucy and Mark Giordano is starting to look pretty good. Maybe it is time for Dave Hakstol to start playing the hot hands instead of trying to beat the bad play out of underperforming players.

Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde and Alexander Wennberg had a rough night. Janrkrok was having a rough night, as well, until his third period game-winning goal. All were considerably out-chanced 5-on-5. Defensemen William Borgen, Adam Larsson and Jeremy Lauzon were also on the wrong side of possession metrics as well.

Recent waiver claim Karson Kuhlman played a team-low 7:46 in his Kraken debut.

The Kraken were considerably outplayed 5-on-5 in just about every enhanced metric, but still managed to pull out the win:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 54%–46%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 71%–29%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 55%–45%
Face-off percentage 52%–48%

The Kraken are back in action tonight against the St. Louis Blues. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Soucy the hero in Kraken’s second straight win appeared first on The Rink.

First period

In the first period, the Kraken controlled the early play against the Blackhawks. With two early penalties, the Blackhawks had to rely heavily on their defense and their goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury stopped all eight shots he faced in the period. In addition to Fleury stopping eight shots, the Blackhawks blocked eights shots, with Calvin de Haan leading the way with two.

Despite controlling the play early, Seattle was unable to score, but was able to hold the Blackhawks scoreless as well. For the Kraken this season, goaltending has been a huge issue, as the Kraken lead the league in goals allowed at 135. Despite their goaltending woes, Philipp Grubauer saved all five shots on goal in the first period.

The first period ended with the Blackhawks on the power play after Mike Hardman leveled Jared McCann with a clean hit. Seattle’s William Borgen fought Hardman after the hit and bought himself an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Second period

The second period began with the Blackhawks on the power play, but Seattle was able to stymie any offensive chances. After their penalty kill, the Kraken started to control the play once again.

The game was scoreless until midway through the second period when Erik Gustafsson broke up a Seattle rush and then connected on a stretch pass to Dominik Kubalik. Kubalik received the pass and beat Grubauer for the first goal of the game. For Kubalik, it was his third goal in the last three games. The Blackhawks desperately need Kubalik to start heating up in order to provide depth scoring.

KUBALIK BURIES THE BREAKAWAY pic.twitter.com/FkxwYA7JDW

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) January 17, 2022

The Blackhawks’ lead was short-lived, as with under five minutes to play, Seattle’s Vince Dunn fired a shot from the point that deflected past Fleury. The Dunn goal ended Fleury’s shutout streak at 119:09, just shy of two games’ worth of action.

Dunner’s 300th game:
100th goal in franchise history: pic.twitter.com/oaLyMOSiki

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 17, 2022

With less than three minutes to go in the period, the newest Blackhawk, Sam Lafferty, used his speed to draw an interference penalty on Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak. On the power play, Patrick Kane found Kubalik in front of the net. Kubalik tried to stuff it home, but Grabauer fended off the attempt. In the mad scramble, Brandon Hagel found the puck and buried it in the back of the net for the Blackhawks’ second goal of the game.

Kane puts it on net and Hagel bangs it home! pic.twitter.com/mpFbjBRV7t

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) January 17, 2022

The second period ended with the Blackhawks leading 2–1.

Third period

In the third period, the Kraken came alive and took over the game.

Early in the period, Seattle’s Ryan Donato willed his way into the Hawks’ zone and beat Fleury with a great shot to tie the game at 2–2. The goal was caused by a defensive gaffe from Jake McCabe, who got caught flat-footed in the neutral zone.

it’s not delivery, it’s DONATO! pic.twitter.com/XOXQW22SUF

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 18, 2022

With more than 12 minutes left in the period, Caleb Jones committed a costly penalty. Jones was in the lineup despite being outplayed by teammate Jakub Galvas. Galvas had been good in his last two games for the Blackhawks. On the Jones penalty, Fleury made a potential save of the year candidate, robbing McCann at point-blank range on a cross-crease pass to keep the game tied.

Another day in the office with pic.twitter.com/F3wghxMifM

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 18, 2022

With 6:26 left in the period, Gustafsson could not clear the zone, which lead to a breakaway for McCann. McCann was tripped by Riley Stillman, which resulted in a penalty shot. Fleury rose to the challenge again and stopped the McCann shot with another great save.

For the third period, the Kraken had 16 shots to the Blackhawks’ six. Seattle also had nine high-danger chances while the Blackhawks had zero.

Overtime and shootout

In overtime, the Kraken dominated the entire period. They controlled the play and created several chances. Fleury was excellent in the overtime, getting help from Connor Murphy and the crossbar in addition to making nice saves of his own.

In the shootout, Seattle was able to bury two goals, and the Blackhawks got nothing, sealing the 3–2 victory for the Kraken. The Blackhawks’ four-game win string ended and Seattle snapped its nine-game losing streak.

Analysis

Seattle dominated the third period of this game with strong play and good puck possession. The team still lacks an elite goal scorer, which hurts them in close games. Despite having a poor goaltending number coming into the game, Grubauer was good enough to win. Do not be fooled by their record, as Seattle needs better goaltending play and one elite scorer in the offseason to be a playoff competitor in the Pacific Division.

The Blackhawks did not play a complete game and did not show up for anything after the second period. Their winning streak might have been a bit of fool’s gold because two of their wins came against bottom feeders in Columbus and Montreal. They also got a win against Anaheim, who finished in the bottom four last season.

The Blackhawks return home to face the Minnesota Wild on Friday. Seattle’s next game is against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

The post Kraken edge Blackhawks in Seattle’s first-ever shootout win appeared first on The Rink.

SEA claims Kuhlmann

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 17, 2022

Kuhlman is 5’10”, 190 lbs, 26 years old, and a native of Esko, MN. He was signed by the Bruins as a college free agent out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth on April 10, 2018. He played at Minnesota for four years where he was an assistant captain in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and he was team captain in 2017-18. He accrued 80 points (39 goals, 41 assists) in 166 games with the Bulldogs.

After signing with the Bruins he played 75 games over parts of four seasons with the AHL Providence Bruins, amassing 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists). He also played 91 games with the NHL Bruins in those four seasons, scoring 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists).

Kuhlman is listed as a “strong forechecker and penalty killer”, who comes with NHL playoff experience and will add bottom-six depth to the Kraken lineup.

The Kraken will host the Chicago Blackhawks today in a rare matinee game.  The puck drop is scheduled for 2:00 P.M. PST.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheRinkOfficial, @TheRinkSeattle, @KrakenHostile, and @PuckinHostile

The post Kraken Anchor Points — Seattle claims Karson Kuhlman off waivers appeared first on The Rink.

The 12-year veteran and 2008 first-round draft pick (22nd overall) of the Edmonton Oilers spent seven years with Edmonton before being traded to the New York Islanders on June 22, 2017, for Ryan Strome. He played four seasons with the Islanders before being selected by the Kraken in last summer’s expansion draft.

“It’s a huge honor being selected as the Kraken’s first-ever All-Star,” Eberle said. “Our fans have been so amazing this season. Climate Pledge Arena has been one of the loudest buildings in the league. Their support means so much. I’m excited to represent them in Vegas.” – via NHL.com

Eberle played in the 2012 game representing the Oilers after missing the 2011 game due to an injury. He leads the Kraken in points with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points. Eberle scored the first-ever Kraken hat trick earlier this season.

The 2022 All-Star Game will be Saturday, Feb. 5 at 12:00 pm PST and entail a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, featuring four teams, one from each division. The All-Star Weekend will feature Eberle and other stars in the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Presented by DraftKings Sportsbook event on Friday, Feb. 4.

All-Star Ebs has a nice ring to it!

Learn more about the #Seakraken‘s first-ever player representative → https://t.co/Fysr1n5VjA pic.twitter.com/LQjYvBpRwq

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 14, 2022

The post Jordan Eberle selected as first-ever Kraken all-star representative appeared first on The Rink.

The goalie matchups were a battle of the backups, with Chris Driedger facing Blues backup Ville Husso. Both played great on the night, but one unequivocally earned the “goalie win” in this low-scoring goalie duel.

As has become the norm for the Kraken, they came out in the first period and heavily outplayed their opponent. They outshot the Blues 15–8 and looked like a team hungry for a win. It took 15 minutes, but Seattle took the first lead of the game, as the teams looked like they were instead going to head into the intermission tied 0–0.

Kraken center Alexander Wennberg tallied his fourth goal of the season when he found a loose puck in the slot and snapped it past Husso. Wennberg had been held scoreless in his previous 11 games going back to Dec. 3. His goal held up until early in the third period, when the inevitable collapse came.

RT if you love wenny #content! pic.twitter.com/rBf76y8J8h

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 14, 2022

The scoreless second period was tighter fought, with the Blues outshooting the visitors 12–8 to set up an exciting third. St. Louis also had three power play chances to help their momentum.

The Kraken did have a majority of the chances in the third period, but early goals by Robert Thomas (1:29 in) and Pavel Buchnevich (5:30 in, on the power play) were all that the Blues needed to squeak out the win. Husso finished with 30 saves and held the Kraken scoreless in the final two periods.

Once again, the Kraken ran out of steam late and it cost them a chance at a win. Teams do not lose eight games in a row by seizing opportunities, and the Kraken certainly let another winnable game slip through their fingers.

Anchor points

Driedger had a good night, stopping 25 of 27 shots. That said, the Blues only had six high-danger chances all night, while the Kraken put 13 on Husso. At some point, Grubauer or Driedger need to steal some games, any games. Both goaltenders came into the season with reputations of being able to carry their teams, and they have not done so with the Kraken. You cannot get out-dueled every game and be successful.

That said, scoring one goal for leaves no room for mistakes. Neither goal was on Driedger and can both be pinned on defensive coverage. He played well enough to win this game. The disconnect between team and goalie needs to be fixed.

this save by Driedgs tho pic.twitter.com/GNmPObGW35

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 14, 2022

It was the Blues’ power play that did the Kraken in. After holding the St. Louis power play scoreless on four chances, the final Blues’ man advantage of the night was the one that did Seattle in.

Jordan Eberle, who was named as the Kraken’s first-ever all star on Thursday, had a quiet game on the score sheet, but led all players (both teams) with five shots on net.

The Kraken, for the second game in a row, held a significant advantage in possession but still managed to lose the game:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 56%–44%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 79%–21%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 66%–44%
Face-off percentage 55%–45%

The Kraken have Friday off, and return home to face the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Blues come back in the third to give Kraken eighth straight loss appeared first on The Rink.

Fans were not even in their seats before Stars forward Roope Hintz (allegedly) gave them a 1–0 just 50 seconds after the opening faceoff. It looked like Jason Robertson banked the puck off Mark Giordano’s skate and past goaltender Philipp Grubauer, but the goal was given to Hintz. Regardless, the top line of Hintz, Robertson and Joe Pavelski continued to play very well for Dallas and figured heavily in the outcome of this game.

Seattle tied the game eight minutes later when Calle Jarnkrok took a quick pass from Marcus Johansson and one-timed it past goaltender Jake Oettinger on the power play for his third goal and fifth point in his last four games. Despite the Kraken’s losing streak, Jarnkrok and the power play have had success as of late.

The tie game lasted only a few minutes as the Hintz-Pavelski-Robertson line struck twice in two minutes to give the Stars a 3–1 lead heading into the first intermission. It turned out that goals by Pavelski at 11:00 and Robertson at 13:01 (on the power play) were all the Stars needed to come away with the win, but there were still two periods left to play.

The Kraken managed only five shots on goal in the first period to the Stars’ 10 shots.

The second period was much more tightly fought, as the shots were 8–6 in favor of Dallas, and each team added a goal. Seattle center Jared McCann cut the Dallas lead in half five minutes into the second frame, but Pavelski struck again with under two minutes remaining in the period to give the Stars back their two-goal lead.

As has been the case quite a few times this season, the Kraken came out in the third period and peppered Oettinger with 14 shots, but it was too little, too late. The Dallas netminder stopped all 14 shots, and Jani Hakanpaa scored an empty-net goal (his first of the season) with time waning to secure a 5–2 win for the home team.

As the final horn sounded, the Kraken had their seventh straight loss dating back to mid-December with the St. Louis Blues, winners of two in a row and seven of their last 10, on the agenda. If the Kraken cannot find a way to start gathering points real soon, their season may be essentially over before the all star break.

Anchor points

I cannot really fault Grubauer on most of the Dallas goals. The first one was off his own defenseman, the second was a bad bounce off the end boards, the third was terrible coverage in front, the fourth was a wide-open guy on the back door and (of course) the empty-netter. This is one of those games where only 20 saves on 24 shots looks bad, but the Kraken defense offered no help for their goaltender.

Jarnkrok will definitely get lost in this box score, but he has been as hot as any Kraken player and McCann is right there with him, putting up six points in his last four games. It is no coincidence that the Kraken have looked so bad since losing Brandon Tanev to injury, though.
He was the heart of this team and they have looked mentally checked out since losing him.

William Borgen and Carson Soucy were the whipping boys of the night, giving up 10 chances as a pair. Luckily, they failed to give up any goals, which could have made this one really ugly.

If you break it down by the numbers, the Kraken outplayed Dallas. All possession metrics favored Seattle and their forward lines were all over 52% in total shots. I hate to beat a dead horse, but this loss falls squarely on defensive coverage problems.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 55%–45%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 55%–47%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 53%–47%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 54%–46%
Face-off percentage 52%–48%

The Kraken are right back in action tonight against the St. Louis Blues, in St. Louis. The puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Stars score early and often in win over Kraken appeared first on The Rink.

The Avalanche did not take long to start the scoring even though the Kraken had their opportunities. Forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel beat former Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer (with the help of Carson Soucy running into his own netminder) at the 5:50 mark to give the Ball Arena crowd something to cheer about.

Following the Aube-Kubel goal, Grubauer put his net on lockdown for the rest of the first and most of the second period. A fortunate power play allowed wing Marcus Johansson to tie the game at 9:16, which held into the first intermission. The tight shot totals were 10–9 in favor of Seattle.

GRUUUUUUUUUUU pic.twitter.com/9GqItL8SP9

— ROOT SPORTS | NW (@ROOTSPORTS_NW) January 11, 2022

In the middle period, the Kraken came out shooting and brought a little luck with them. Jared McCann gave Seattle the lead on a bad-angle goal five minutes in, and Colin Blackwell gave them a two-goal lead 10 minutes later at the 14:20 mark.

Colorado cut the lead in half before the second intermission on Aube-Kubel’s second goal of the game with three minutes left in the second. Grubauer made 11 saves in the second period (some of them spectacular) to hold onto the elusive one-goal lead for the Kraken. He would be called upon in the third period even more, but his luck was not as good.

The Kraken’s bend-but-don’t-break defense finally gave way in the third period. Colorado peppered Grubauer with 14 shots, and goals by defenseman Devon Toews and Nazem Kadri snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat for the Avalanche. Toews’ goal was reviewed for a possible kicking motion, but eventually deemed good, which seemed to take the wind out of the Kraken sails.

Seattle could take a moral victory from this one, though, as they were heavy dogs coming in. They held the lead until late in the third and their goaltender played an excellent game. The final shot tallies were 35–24 in favor of Colorado.

Anchor points

I have been pretty hard on Grubauer (and for good reason), but I was really impressed with his play. He clearly came out with a little extra motivation to beat his former club and made some great saves. His team just left him fighting alone in the third period.

Another good sign for the Kraken was their power play breaking through in the first period with the Johansson goal and their penalty kill holding Colorado scoreless on three attempts.

The only Kraken line to have any success for the entire game was the Johansson-McCann-Jordan Eberle line, which was in the 60% range for Corsi and Fenwick. The Joonas Donskoi-Riley Sheahan-Alex Wennberg line was held to only three shots for and 10 against.

Soucy had a rough night, as he was directly responsible for two Avalanche goals. He ran into Grubauer on the first Aube-Kubel goal and inadvertently deflected the game tying Aube-Kubel goal into the net. He was on the ice for the Toews goal, as well.

Seattle was dominated in most possession metrics, but they focused on high-danger chances, which kept the game within their reach. Head Coach Dave Hakstol should take note and continue this approach. It never hurts to get the puck to the net and get some rebounds or redirections.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 58%–42%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 58%–42%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 56%–44%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 63%–37%
Face-off percentage 52%–48%

The Kraken have Tuesday off for travel but head to Texas to face the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken run out of steam in the third period against Avalanche appeared first on The Rink.

  Forward Brandon Tanev underwent successful surgery on his injured knee. He will miss the remainder of the 2021–22 season, but should make a full recovery for the 2022–23 season.

  Forward Jaden Schwartz will undergo hand surgery and will miss 4–6 weeks. He is expected to make a full recovery.

  Goaltender Joey Daccord and forward Kole Lind were temporarily assigned to the Kraken taxi squad, but then officially sent back to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL.

  Games vs. the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets were all postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. The next Kraken game is Monday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST.

  Follow us on Twitter: @TheRinkOfficial, @TheRinkSeattle, @KrakenHostile and @PuckinHostile

The post Kraken Anchor Points — Jan. 7, 2022 appeared first on The Rink.

As far as the COVID-19 protocol went for this game, Vancouver was without forward Brock Boeser, while Seattle was without defenseman Jeremy Lauzon.

From the drop of the puck, Seattle did not seem to have the steam behind them to take out the visiting Canucks. They managed only six shots on goal in the opening frame against Vancouver netminder Thatcher Demko while surrendering 14 shots. Young emerging forwards Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander gave Vancouver a comfortable 2–0 lead, which had the Canucks sitting pretty heading into the first intermission.

Seattle cut the lead to just one goal in the second period, as Calle Jarnkrok scored on a seeing-eye shot from downtown. This resulted in the only goal of the period, as the Kraken held the Canucks to only eight shots on Philipp Grubauer while sending nine shots the way of Demko. A one-goal game heading into the third period of a division game seemed promising, but Seattle watched their hopes slip away.

Tyler Motte gave Vancouver all the goals they would need just under five minutes into the third period, while Conor Garland and Tanner Pearson (empty-net goal) added a couple of insurance goals to pad the lead. Seattle did not get held scoreless in the final 20 minutes, though. Defenseman William Borgen made up for an earlier gaffe on Podkolzin’s goal by scoring his first of the season and of his career.

borgy lights the lamp for the first time! pic.twitter.com/ejboyuEY7y

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 2, 2022

Sadly, that was all the excitement the team could provide for their home fans. When the final horn sounded, the Canucks were 5–2 winners despite being outshot 26–21 in the second and third periods.

Anchor points

Grubauer did not get much help from his teammates, at all. The Podkolzin, Motte and Garland goals were all egregious turnovers by his defenders. You cannot really place this loss on the goaltender.

There were just four total power plays in this game, and Vancouver had the only power play goal.

This turned out to be the tale of the top six vs. the bottom six. The lines of Jordan Eberle, Morgan Geekie and Jared McCann and Ryan Donato, Joonas Donskoi and Alex Wennberg were comfortably over the 50% mark in possession, but the Jarnkrok, Colin Blackwell and Yanni Gourde and Marcus Johansson, Max McCormick and Riley Sheahan lines were both under 35% 5-on-5.

With only one high danger chance all night at full strength, you are fighting an uphill battle.

Digging a little deeper into the possession metrics, Vancouver limited the Kraken to almost entirely perimeter shots

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 54%–46%
5-on-5 Fenwick (unblocked shot attempts) 51%–49%
5-on-5 High-danger chances For 89%–11%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 64%–36%
Face-off percentage 51%–49%

The Kraken will be off until Thursday, when they are supposed to face the Ottawa Senators. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST. Tuesday’s scheduled game against the New York Islanders and Saturday’s scheduled game against the Winnipeg Jets have been postponed until a later date.  

Take some time out of your day to watch this segment about a Seattle Kraken fan who helped save the life of the Canucks’ equipment manager. It is a really nice feel-good story for the new year.

On 10/23 #SeaKraken fan Nadia Popovici urgently banged on the glass to alert @Canucks Asst. Equipment Manager Brian Hamilton of an abnormal mole that turned out to be life-threatening.

Today, they reunited for the first time since she saved his life → https://t.co/ueSuAwoz6s pic.twitter.com/zd8d8Rn7PU

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 2, 2022

The post RECAP: Canucks extend Kraken losing streak to five appeared first on The Rink.

As teams recover from COVID-19 decimating their rosters, both the Kraken and Flames iced rosters that looked relatively similar to their normal lineups. Seattle was missing Haydn Fleury, Riley Sheahan, and Jaden Schwartz, while Calgary was only missing Michael Stone and Adam Ruzicka.

There was no delay to the action, as the teams combined for 25 shots in the first period, but goaltenders Chris Driedger and Jakob Markstrom held the scoring to one goal apiece. Former Flames Captain Mark Giordano (#RevengeEffects) bit his former team and opened the scoring just under six minutes into the game, but Flames star forward Johnny Gaudreau tied the game four minutes later. As the teams headed into the first intermission, the Flames led in shots 15–10.

rekindling an old flame. pic.twitter.com/JrSWk8Oe9d

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 31, 2021

Seattle’s Calle Jarnkrok continued his hot play scoring his third goal of the season just 0:09 into the second period, on the power play, but Gaudreau got his second goal of the game (also on the power play) four minutes later. Calgary dominated the second period in shots 14–7, partly due to their three power plays.

Flames veteran forward Milan Lucic gave Calgary their first lead of the game with five minutes remaining in the second period, which also led into the second intermission.

Scoring opened up in the third period with the two Pacific Division teams battling for the win. Yanni Gourde tied the game five minutes into the third period, which held until the final 5 minutes of regulation. Three goals in 0:43 from Andrew Mangiapane, Jared McCann, and Matthew Tkachuk set up a 5–4 score heading into the final moments of the game.

Kraken Head Coach Dave Hakstol pulled his goaltender in the closing moments of the game in an attempt to send the game to overtime, but Calgary’s Noah Hanifin closed out those hopes, with an empty-net goal in the final 0:20 of play. Hakstol’s team was only able to manage five third period shots on goal as Calgary led overall 40–22, and won the game 6–4.

Anchor points

Driedger definitely wants a few of those flames goals back. Gaudreau’s second caught him way too far into his own net, and he was late getting across on the Tkachuk winner. I cannot fault him for over persuing Zadorov on Gaudreau’s first goal because no one in the building thought he was passing that puck.

The Kraken power play did break through in the second period but the penalty kill (which dropped to 22nd overall) gave up two on the night.

Only the line of Jordan Eberle (52% Corsi), Morgan Geekie (58% Corsi), and Jared McCann (54% Corsi) were above water in 5-on-5 possession. The line of Kole Lind, Max McCormick, and Alexander True were crushed by the Flames and only played 6:10 at even strength.

Calgary controlled most of the play and it showed in the final score

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 59% – 41%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 61% – 39%
5-on-5 High Danger Chances For 50% – 50%
5-on-5 Expected Goals For 56% – 44%
Faceoff Percentage 60% – 40%

The Kraken have little time to lick their wounds, as they host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, New Years Day. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PDT.

The post RECAP: Flames beat Kraken 6–4 despite Giordano’s three points appeared first on The Rink.

Previously this week, the NHL announced that cross-border games will be postponed through the holiday break.

According to the NHL release, the players will return to their teams on Dec. 26, which will be used for practice, travel and COVID-19 testing. Anyone that cannot produce a negative COVID-19 test will not be allowed back in team facilities.

According to Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland, the February break, originally intended for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, will now be used for make-up games that were previously postponed.

Sources confirm the February break in the #NHL schedule, originally for the Olympics, will now be used to play make up games for all games taken off the board.

— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) December 21, 2021

Of course, with the news affecting every team in the league, The Rink’s two primary teams are directly impacted. The announcement means Thursday’s game for the Chicago Blackhawks against the Dallas Stars is postponed, while the Seattle Kraken had their Thursday night contest against the Calgary Flames postponed as well.

The postponements come on the heels of both teams having previously had their Tuesday night contests postponed as well, as the Blackhawks were scheduled to face the Florida Panthers, while the Kraken were to host the Arizona Coyotes.

Clearly, this is a fluid situation and can change at a moment’s notice. Stay tuned for more information.

EDIT: The NHL and NHLPA formally announced that they will withdraw from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, late Tuesday.

BREAKING: The NHL will withdraw from the Winter Olympics after the regular-season schedule was disrupted by coronavirus outbreaks, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told the @AP. https://t.co/FyBMF5swfc

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 21, 2021

The post BREAKING: NHL, NHLPA agree to pause activities until Sunday appeared first on The Rink.

Coach Dave Hakstol was without defenseman Jamie Oleksiak for this game, who was in COVID-19 protocol. Chris Driedger was given the start over Philipp Grubauer, who left Wednesday’s game with an injury but was available to play. Edmonton was without some of their top contributors in Zach Hyman, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Kyle Turris.

DONATO STAYS HOT!
pic.twitter.com/3CildJipJN

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 19, 2021

The Kraken came out with some energy in the first period, scoring goals by Red Hot Ryan Donato and Jared McCann in the first half of the period, but Edmonton finally wiped the sleep from their eyes and game battling back to tie the game on a goal by Evan Bouchard and a power play goal by Warren Foegele before the teams could hit the intermission. Unfortunately for the Kraken, the Oilers led in shots 20–7 but Driedger weathered the storm enough to keep the score tied.

The game settled down a bit in the second period, with Edmonton leading in shots once again, but only by a 9–7 margin. The teams traded goals by Edmonton’s Colton Sceviour and Seattle’s Carson Soucy, which set up a 3–3 game heading into the third period. The Kraken had to be feeling fortunate that they were still in the game despite the 29–14 shot disparity.

After two periods where they fought and clawed (mostly by their goaltender) their way to stay in the game, things just fell apart in the third period. The Kraken managed only three shots on goal, while the Oilers threw 12 shots on the Seattle net. Foegele scored his second of the game 8:54 into the third on a disputed goaltender interference call and Connor McDavid (remember that guy?) put the cherry on top with an empty net goal in the final minutes of play.

In the end, the Kraken were probably lucky to even be in the game as late as they were, so they might be able to dress this loss up as a moral victory. Driedger certainly should.

Anchor points

  Driedger might want that Bouchard goal back, but overall, he played a solid game and put the team in a position to win. When your team cannot manage 20 shots on goal and they give up 41, you should not be within one goal in the third period.

“Not up in here!” -Chris Driedger, probably.

Check out tonight’s @WAFDbank‘s Signature Save of the Game. pic.twitter.com/kR720t1UN2

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 19, 2021

  The Kraken only had one power play of their own and were not able to convert. On the other hand, Edmonton converted on one of their two power plays.

  The game was not a total loss. Seattle had several close calls at the Edmonton end of the ice, as they appeared to go for quality over quantity. There were posts hit and a couple of big saves by Edmonton starter Stuart Skinner.

  Edmonton crushed the Kraken in every relevant possession metric, which predictably figured in the final score:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 70% – 30%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 67% – 33%
5-on-5 High Danger Chances For 65% – 35%
5-on-5 Expected Goals For 66% – 34%
Faceoff Percentage 58% – 42%

  The Kraken were supposed to face the Toronto Maple Leafs later tonight, but the game was postponed due to Covid-19 concerns (along with Thursday’s game in Calgary). As a result, their next contest will be Tuesday at Climate Pledge Arena against the Arizona Coyotes. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PDT (allegedly).

The post RECAP: Oilers spoil Kraken return home, win 5-3 appeared first on The Rink.

The second game of a back-to-back are always difficult, which is why the Kraken’s lackluster first period was no surprise. They managed only six shots on Ducks starter Anthony Stolarz, who was carrying a five-game home winning streak.

The Duck put up all the scoring they would need in a six-minute span of the opening frame against Kraken starter Philipp Grubauer. Zegras and Derek Grant put the home team up 2–0 late in the first period and anaheim never looked back. Grant’s goal was of the shorthanded variety, while Zegras’ goal was even strength.

Terry put the Duck up 3–0 early in the second period, on the power play, which probably had the Kraken faithful wondering if the game was going to end up being a blowout.

Recently red hot Ryan Donato (say that three times) ended any hopes of a Stolarz shutout late in the second period on a great cross-ice pass from Jordan Eberle while on the man advantage. That would be all the offense that the Kraken could manage, though.

Donato’s seventh goal of the season is now the second-best goal total of his NHL career in just 26 games, after 14 goals in 62 games with the Wild in 2019-20. A total that it looks like he will eclipse some time this season.

Donny with goals in back-to-back games pic.twitter.com/XFW9iw6zLD

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 16, 2021

The third period seemed like both teams just wanted to get over this game without any injuries as they combined for only 11 shots. Anaheim’s Sam Carrick added an additional insurance goal off the skate of third period replacement Chris Driedger to increase the lead to 4–1, but clearly, Anaheim took their foot off the pedal and the Kraken had nothing left in the tank.

Anchor points

Grubauer did not play terrible, but he certainly wants the shorthanded Clark goal back.  The first goal was not his fault, as Jared McCann was nudged into him and the third goal was a loose puck right in the slot that Terry buried.  What can you do when your team only scored one goal?  Driedger did not fare much better, with his team running on fumes by the time he came into the game.

The power play is clicking for the Kraken (or at least maintaining). Donato’s power play goal in the second period has Seattle on the verge of climbing into the middle third of the league at 17.7%.

I am not sure who’s brilliant idea it was to put the Kraken on the national game in the second game of a back-to-back but it was a terrible idea before the game, and certainly a terrible idea after the fact. A late west coast game where neither team managed more than 24 shots on net had to tank the ratings.

Advanced Metrics
5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 56% – 44%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 60% – 40%
5-on-5 High Danger Chances For 75% – 25%
5-on-5 Expected Goals For 64% – 36%
Faceoff Percentage 55% – 45%

The Kraken are off until Saturday, when they return home to Climate Pledge Arena to face Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and struggling Edmonton Oilers. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PDT.

The post RECAP: Young Ducks power Anaheim to dominant 4–1 win over Kraken appeared first on The Rink.

In goal for Dave Hakstol was Chris Driedger, who has had a rough time keeping healthy, despite boasting the better numbers of the two Kraken netminders. His return from the injured reserve list would prove to be pivotal for the visitors.

The fact that both the Sharks and Kraken had a hard time scoring in this contest should come as no surprise. Both teams are in the bottom half of the league in scoring, and San Jose has gotten some quality results in net from the unlikely duo of James Reimer and Adin Hill. Head Coach Bob Boughner’s goaltender of the day was Reimer against the Kraken.

The division rivals battled evenly for the first and second periods, but neither could break the ice and score the opening goal of the game. Seattle led the first period in shots 11–8, while the Sharks took the second period tally 12–7.

Unfortunately for anyone not watching on the west coast, almost all of the action was in the third period when the east coast clocks were already reading “Wednesday morning.”

The former Shark line of Ryan Donato, Joonas Donskoi and Alexander True opened the scoring 6:23 into the third period. Donskoi threw a shot toward Donato, who was right at Reimer’s doorstep waiting for a rebound or deflection. Donato tried to pull the puck to his forehand after failing to tip Donskoi’s shot past the goaltender, and the puck went off defenseman Radim Simek’s skate and into the net.

The 1–0 lead was increased to 2–0 when Brandon Tanev took a Morgan Geekie pass on a rare 2-on-3 rush and beat Reimer. This would prove to be the game-winning goal, with Calle Jarnkrok adding an empty-net insurance goal in the final seconds of the game.

San Jose broke the Driedger shutout with Reimer on the bench for the extra attacker with 2:07 to play, but that was all the Sharks could muster. The Kraken left San Jose with their 10th win of the season, but gained little ground in the standings.

Anchor points

Chris Driedger, folks. If he could stay off injured reserve and on the ice, he might be making Philipp Grubauer sweat a little. Driedger deserved a shutout, period. He earned the first star of the game and saved 31 of 32 shots.

In a pretty strange game, there was only one penalty the entire night, which was Vince Dunn’s holding penalty at 14:59 of the second period.

“Turbo” Tanev’s ninth goal of the season is his third-most in his least amount of games (28). He had gone scoreless in his previous five games before his huge goal in this game. What is not to love about this guy?

You would not know it by the box score but Donato, Donskoi, Geekie, Jarnkrok, Tanev and True were all crushed in scoring chance percentage, ranging from 33% to 28%. That is two entire forward lines that were caved in, which just goes to show how well Driedger played.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 51%–49%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 56%–44%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 52%–48%
Face-off percentage 51%–49%

The Kraken are right back in action tonight against the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken fight out much-needed goalie win in San Jose appeared first on The Rink.

Seattle leading goal scorer Jordan Eberle made his return to the lineup looking to ignite another hot scoring streak after scoring just three goals in his previous eight games.

From the puck drop, the Kraken were simply not ready to battle in this contest. Veteran Penguins center Jeff Carter banked a goal in off the back of goaltender Philipp Grubauer just 1:47 into play and the bleeding never stopped. Crosby and Danton Heinen added goals 25 seconds apart just three minutes after Carter’s goal, which chased Grubauer from the net after making only one save.

Enter Joey Daccord, who was tasked with stopping the onslaught of offense from the visiting Penguins. The goaltending change shifted the momentum enough to keep Pittsburgh off the board for the remainder of the first period, but the damage was already done. As the teams went into the intermission, the Kraken were down 3–0 but up in shots 10–8.

Eberle opened the second period with a goal to break the shutout for Penguins netminder Casey DeSmith, but that would be all the offense that Seattle could muster in this game.

Ebs picks up where he left off! pic.twitter.com/yuHvYKJwL7

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 7, 2021

Jake Guentzel scored his first of two on the night with 1:30 remaining in the second period and Carter scored his second of the contest just 23 ticks later to wrap the first 40 minutes up with a 5–1 Penguins lead. Pittsburgh also led in shots in the period 13–9.

With the game out of hand, the third period just turned into a game of “don’t make any huge mistakes, and let’s all get out of here healthy.” Guentzel scored his second of the game near the midway point of the third, which wrapped up all the offense on this night.

The Penguins held a slim edge in shots on the night, 31–29, but the end result was decided in the first five minutes of play.

Anchor points

Just when the goaltending seemed to be catching up with the rest of the team, Grubauer has a clunker. Carter’s goal was ugly, and the momentum just kept rolling downhill after that. He has played well of late, so I would just chalk this up to an off night. Daccord played pretty well, but even if he stopped all 26 shots, they would have still lost.

A power play goal in their only opportunity might have cut the Pens’ lead to 3–2, but it was not to be. Despite some frustration, Seattle was also able to stay out of the penalty box. In fact, they gave up a shorthanded breakaway to Teddy Blueger, but Daccord bailed them out.

JOEY OK, Y’ALL! pic.twitter.com/CNu3iEUdG0

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 7, 2021

We should all just take a mulligan on this game. The Kraken were sloppy from the puck drop and have to forget about the result. The pair of Jamie Oleksiak and Carson Soucy were completely caved in all night with a not-so-nice 20.69% shot attempt percentage.

As you might expect by the score, the Penguins held a pretty convincing lead in most advanced metrics:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 51%–49%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 52%–48%
5-on-5 High-danger chances for 63%–37%
5-on-5 Expected goals for 59%–41%
Face-off percentage 57%–43%

The Kraken are off today and tomorrow, but host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Penguins strike early and often in 6–1 win over Kraken appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com host Jeff Osborn is joined by Darren Brown from the Sound of Hockey website and podcast to talk about the tough Kraken road trip where they finished up winning four of six.

  The $20 tour of Sound of Hockey
  The road trip of doom(?)
  Injuries cool the hot streak.
  The goalie problems
  Players we like and (potentially) dislike
  Darren preaches redemption?

Watch the entire replay on FaceBook right here:

Watch the entire replay on YouTube right here:

Watch the entire replay on Twitter right here:

Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast – S1 Ep8 – @SoundOfHockey https://t.co/S3wBByDSd3

— Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast (@KrakenHostile) December 3, 2021

Please do us a favor. Subscribe, rate this episode, share with your friends, and even write us a review. The best reviews will be read on the air.

Also, please help spread the word to more #RinkRats and visit our sponsor www.PUCKHCKY.com. Use the discount code “THERINK” for 10% off all orders.

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The post Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast – Season 1 Episode 8 – featuring Sound of Hockey appeared first on The Rink.

Seattle was without quite a few players, as the injury hammer hit them hard Wednesday morning. Kraken captain Mark Giordano remained in COVID-19 protocol, while goalie Chris Driedger and Calle Jarnkrok were put on the injured reserve list. The Kraken’s leading goal scorer, Jordan Eberle, as well as forward Jaden Schwartz and defenseman William Borgen were listed as injured and scratched.

The first period was a rather timid one. Both teams felt each other out with little action. Detroit looked to have taken the lead on a Lucas Raymond goal, but the play was reviewed and deemed offside.  The Kraken held a slim 7–6 lead in shots while German-born starting goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Philipp Grubauer held the game scoreless. The fun was just around the corner, though.

The goals started just under five minutes into the second period, as Robby Fabbri broke the deadlock on the power play with his fifth goal of the season. Detroit held the slim 1–0 lead for six minutes when Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn scored a power play goal of his own.

Seattle took a brief 2–1 lead on Ryan Donato’s fourth goal of the season off a brutal Detroit turnover late in the second, but the Wings answered two minutes later on a Vladislav Namestnikov goal. This resulted in a 2–2 deadlock heading into a tense third period. Shots in second were 13–9 in favor of the Red Wings in the second, but Grubauer helped keep his team as close as possible.

The third period was a great example of tight, fun hockey, as both teams fought to take the lead. Raymond scored a seeing-eye goal that counted this time at the 6:30 mark to give the home team a 3–2 lead, which held for eight minutes. That was when Donato scored his second of the game and fifth of the season to knot the score at 3–3. As a result, the teams treated the Little Caesars Arena fans to some free extra hockey.

Grubauer with a big stop on Erne. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/6vracJfLwa

— Alison (@AlisonL) December 2, 2021

Overtime was not the usual run-and-gun that fans are used to and only yielded one Seattle shot on net. On to the first shootout in Seattle Kraken history, where Greiss stopped two of the three attempts he faced, only giving up a dribbler to Joonas Donskoi, to secure the extra standings point for Detroit.

Given the absence of significant offense in the lineup, Head Coach Dave Hakstol should have been fairly happy with a point after a long road trip against some tough competition.

Anchor points

The power play seems to be running smoothly, and Dunn looks to be heating up a bit. As long as the Kraken can continue to convert on at least one per game, they will have themselves in a good position to win every night.

  Not to rain on Grubauer’s parade but he still seems to be giving up loose chances on these weird shots that do not always end up in the net. His defensemen are there to bail him out much of the time, but he needs to tighten up his initial saves and keep them in front of him rather than trickling in behind him.

Riley Sheahan (Corsi 25%), Donskoi (Corsi 37.5%) and Dunn (Corsi 39.3%) had rough nights as far as 5-on-5 possession goes. The oddest stat of the night is that Detroit was credited with seven giveaways while the Kraken had none.

As has been the norm this season, the Kraken held the possession advantage, but still managed to lose the game. This team has been a bit of an anomaly.

  5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 52%–48%
  5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 54%–46%
  5-on-5 High-danger chances for 50%–50%
  5-on-5 Expected goals for 51%–49%
  Face-off percentage 53%–47%

The Kraken are off Thursday but head back home to face the Edmonton Oilers Friday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.  Join us tonight as we have Darren Brown from Sound of Hockey on the Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast to talk about the Kraken road trip and injuries.

The post RECAP: Red Wings out-pace Kraken in shootout appeared first on The Rink.

After a great showing against the Florida Panthers, Head Coach Dave Hakstol gave Chris Driedger his second start in a row. Former Sabres defenseman Will Borgen played in his second Kraken game against his former team. The #RevengeEffects were in play, as Borgen assisted on Mason Appleton’s late second period goal for the former Sabre’s first career point.

borgen revenge game pic.twitter.com/Xy300Fhbh2

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 30, 2021

On the momentum of a big third period in Florida, the Kraken came out in the first period against the Sabres and opened an early 3–0 lead. Shots were almost even, with the Kraken holding a slim 12–11 advantage. The Kraken offense came from defenseman Carson Soucy (shorthanded at 5:47), Brandon Tanev (also shorthanded at 14:40) and Jared McCann with just under a minute remaining in the period.

The second period is where things opened up and defense was thrown out the window. The teams traded goals throughout the period, with big rookie Brett Murray netting his first career goal two minutes into the middle frame. McCann scored his second of the night five minutes later to expand the Kraken lead back to three goals.

Veteran Jeff Skinner scored his seventh goal of the season for the Sabres with under three minutes left in the period and, as mentioned previously, Appleton scored his first as a Kraken less than a minute later, which wrapped up an action-filled, 26-shot (14–12) period. Heading into the third period up 5–2, the visitors were sitting in a good position to come away with a victory.

An Appleton a day keeps the Sabres at bay pic.twitter.com/Ve7WmO6VlP

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 30, 2021

The wildness did not end with the second period, though.

Skinner scored his second goal of the game on a terrible turnover by Jamie Oleksiak just 37 seconds after the third period opening face-off to cut the Kraken lead to 5–3, which held for almost 15 minutes. Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz scored his fifth goal of the season at the 13:44 mark to re-establish the three-goal margin.

Buffalo’s 2019 first-round draft pick, Dylan Cozens, scored his sixth of the season with a minute and a half remaining in regulation to, once again, cut the lead down to two goals, but Appleton closed out the game a minute later with an empty-net goal.

give some fist bumps to the boys pic.twitter.com/3FfneMGJzu

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 30, 2021

Anchor points

With his team jumping out to a comfortable lead, Driedger had the opportunity to breathe a bit. He weathered an 11-shot first period and did well to keep the Sabres from getting any closer than two goals. Two third-period goals on only six shots was the point of concern in this game. He definitely wants the Skinner power play goal back as well: Driedger overplayed the original shot and was badly out of position when Skinner banked the puck off his skates.

In most other games, four power plays against and none for would be a big issue, but the Kraken were able to hold the Sabres to only one power play goal. Seattle still sits in the creamy middle of the league at 16th on the penalty kill, while their power play has climbed to 18th overall with their recent hot streak on the man advantage.

Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin had a really rough game. He was directly responsible for both Kraken shorthanded goals, which his team never recovered from. He was also on the ice for three more even strength goals. Needless to say, Dahlin was memorable for the wrong reasons in a game where he tallied his 100th career assist.

Appleton adding to the offense is a good sign for Kraken fans. It took him 10 games to get started, so this was hopefully a sign of things to come.

Kraken leading goal scorer Jordan Eberle left the game with a lower-body injury after playing only 7:21.

The possession and analytics metrics were fairly even, which is odd in a game where one team tallied seven goals. If Buffalo could get a save in the first period, this game could very well have had a much different outcome.

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts): 52%–48%
5-on-5 Fenwick (unblocked shot attempts): 51%–49%
5-on-5 high-danger chances for: 55%–45%
5-on-5 expected goals for: 51%–49%
Face-off percentage: 53%–47%

With their fourth win in their last five games, the Kraken take today off and take a short trip to Detroit to face another rebuilding team in the Detroit Red Wings. The puck drop is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken rack up seven goals in win over Buffalo appeared first on The Rink.

Driedger’s numbers were awful coming into the game, but Philipp Grubauer played the night before and this was a great time to harness some #RevengeEffects. This wasn’t just a milestone game for Driedger, though. Veteran wing Jordan Eberle was playing his 800th career NHL game and would also figure big in the final score.

the force is strong with @ChrisDriedger pic.twitter.com/ZAU2l4sh9o

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 27, 2021

In what is becoming strangely familiar, the Kraken were outplayed fairly significantly in the first period, getting outshot 14–9 and pinned their own end for much of the period. Like their game against the Hurricanes, the Kraken weathered the storm and came out ahead at the first intermission. Florida sandwiched a goal by Patric Hornqvist between ones by Kraken forwards Eberle and Ryan Donato which shockingly had the visitors up 2–1.

After a scoreless seconds period where Driedger turned away all 13 shots he faced, the Kraken nursed their one goal lead and a little bit of momentum long enough for Eberle to score his second goal of the night which was the backbreaker.

Jordan Eberle with the hot hands pic.twitter.com/TtFFJNS18n

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 28, 2021

Hakstol’s troops seemed to take the motto “the best defense is a good offense,” because they kept the pressure on Florida for most of the third period. This pressure resulted in Eberle’s second goal and, eventually, Jamie Oleksiak’s first goal as a Seattle Kraken into an empty Florida net in the final minutes of the game.

When the final horn sounded, the Kraken were 4–1 winners after breaking the Panthers’ home winning streak. They also finished a streak of games where they faced teams in the top-10 for seven of their previous 8 games and pulled out a respectable 3–5 record. Letting your goalie get pummeled and forcing him to carry you on his back is not a recipe for long-term success but a couple to jumpstart your team never hurt.

Anchor points

Grubauer had his night to shine against Carolina and this was Driedger’s turn. He harnesses some kind of voodoo revenge magic and showed a little of what General Manager Ron Francis picked him from Florida for, in June. Driedger stopped 33 of 34 total shots on net, including a Jonathan Huberdeau breakaway and eight of nine high-danger chances.

the video speaks for itself. pic.twitter.com/kJjnr7pppT

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 28, 2021

The hot power play was back like it never left. Eberle scored his first goal of the night early in the first period with just a few seconds left on the penalty to Gustav Forsling. 50% is just fine on the night.

  Everyone but the line of Morgan Geekie (55%), Jared McCann (62%), and Brandon Tanev (56%) were underwater in 5-on-5 shot metrics (63% overall).  How do you not love Brandon Tanev?

The advanced possession and analytics metrics were in favor of Florida but the Kraken hit them where it hurt, in the faceoff dots, the high danger area, and goal columns. Those numbers were as follows:

5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 62% – 38%
5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 59% – 41%
5-on-5 Scoring Chances For 58% – 42%
5-on-5 High Danger Chances For 53% – 47%
5-on-5 Expected Goals For 55% – 45%
Faceoff Percentage 62% – 38%

After an extremely challenging road trip, the Kraken head up to Buffalo to face the lowly Sabres Monday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Driedger shines in return to Florida – beats Panthers 4–1 appeared first on The Rink.

First up for the Kraken were the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Could Seattle continue their good play against some of the NHL’s elite teams or would they get pushed around in Florida?

Unfortunately for the visitors, it was the latter. A goal just 2:52 into the game by depth forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ended up being the only goal that the Lightning needed. Bellemare snapped a shot, at the right faceoff circle, past a surprised Philipp Grubauer for a 1–0 lead. Once again, a goal that Grubauer would probably love back.

The Kraken would not get more than seven shots on net in any of the three periods. They ended with seven in each of the first and second periods, and just three shots in the third.

Goals by Ross Colton (0:31 into the second) and Steven Stamkos (halfway through the third), just added salt into the wound for a game that the Kraken were not prepared for. Final shot totals were 26–13 in favor of the Lightning as the Kraken were shut out for the first time in franchise history.

Anchor points

Back to the goaltending. After two great outings, Grubauer gave up two pretty pedestrian goals before the Stamkos one-timer in the third but the game very could have well been 0–0 at that point.

The hot power play streak came to an end. For the first time in five games, the Kraken did not convert.

Adam Larsson and Jeremy Lauzon were on the ice for all three Tampa goals. I am beginning to think that Lauzon is going to drag down whoever he is paired with.

The possession and analytics metrics were heavily in favor of the home team. The 5-on-5 in shot attempts (Corsi 62%-38%), unblocked shots (Fenwick 63%-37%), high danger chances for (HDCF% 82%–18%), and expected goal for (xGF% 71%-29%) all showed just how dominant that Tampa was. As you can see below, Seattle was able to get nowhere near Andrei Vasilevskiy, which will rarely result in success.

There was one player that was not completely crushed in possession metrics, Morgan Geekie (58.33% Corsi).

No rest for the weary as the Kraken head to Sunrise, Florida on tomorrow to face the first place overall Florida Panthers. The puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken run out of power, lose to Lightning 3–0 appeared first on The Rink.

Forward Nathan Bastian was put on waivers with the intention of being sent to Charlotte of the AHL but was plucked off the waiver wire by his former team, the New Jersey Devils.

Calle Jarnkrok was injured against Carolina and was not on the ice for the morning skate, in Tampa.

Make sure you subscribe to our Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast on all of your favorite podcatchers. Last week we had RJ from Emerald City Hockey join us.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheRinkOfficial, @TheRinkSeattle, @KrakenHostile, and @PuckinHostile

The post Kraken Anchor Points — Post-Thanksgiving Bits appeared first on The Rink.

The Carolina Hurricanes made their first visit to Seattle, Wednesday, to face the Kraken. Carolina was on the heels of an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks two nights before, which ended a four game winning streak. Seattle was coming off a big home win against the Washington Capitals on Sunday night. Taking two out of three games from the Colorado Avalanche, Capitals or Hurricanes should be just what they need to get the train rolling in the right direction.

The Kraken and Canes played a pretty tight first period, which was nice to see if you are a “long-suffering” Kraken fan. Shots were 9–7 in favor of the visitors, and there was just one goal scored.

Late in the first, defenseman Brendan Smith beat Philipp Grubauer from long range on a perfect screen shot just under the crossbar. As we mentioned on last week’s Kraken Hostile Rinkcast, the Kraken netminder has really struggled this season to stop those shots he should but this was not necessarily the case. Hurricanes veteran center Jared Staal provided the screen in front which was enough to delay Grubauer’s reaction.

This resulted in a 1–0 Carolina lead after 20 minutes.

The Kraken fought back, as they did against the Capitals, with another power play goal from red-hot Jared McCann. The goal was their sixth in their last 12 opportunities and ran their streak of power play goals to five straight games.

Despite getting outshot 16–9, Grubauer and the Seattle defense held the Canes scoreless in the second, which set up a tight third period for the Kraken faithful.

Just when it seemed as though the game was headed to overtime, Kraken forward Marcus Johansson surprised Carolina goaltender Freddie Andersen (and everyone watching) with a shot that found its way through two Canes defenders and into the back of the net. The goal came with just over three minutes left in regulation and was all that Grubauer and the Kraken needed to pull off a second goalie win in a row.

things we’re thankful for:

– jojo giving us the lead pic.twitter.com/ImyAbdO75P

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 25, 2021

Anchor points

We pointed out the goalie win on Sunday which makes this game a second goalie win in a row. Could Grubauer finally be finding his footing? He has saved 51 of his last 54 shots faced and has a .944 overall save percentage. More importantly, he has saved all 16 high-danger chances he has seen in the last two games. This is the Philipp Grubauer we all expected.

The power play is on fire and has made its way up to 21st overall. We preached earlier this season about how the Kraken needed solid goaltending and power play production to win games and here we are, winning on the heels of a power play goal and strong performances in goal.

The possession and analytics metrics were a mess for the Kraken. The 5-on-5 in shot attempts (Corsi 63%-37%), unblocked shots (Fenwick 58%-42%), high danger chances for (HDCF% 69%–31%) and expected goal for (xGF% 69%-31%) were all heavily in favor of Carolina, which is not unexpected for one of the top teams in the league. Carolina also had a convincing lead in faceoff wins 61%-39%. This is a game that Seattle flat-out stole from the Hurricanes.

The Kraken have Thanksgiving off but are right back at it, facing the Tampa Bay Lightning, in Tampa on Friday. The puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. PST.

After seeing the players use a pirate hat, #SeaKraken investor Jerry Bruckheimer decided to create a one-of-a-kind surprise for the team’s Player of the Game award.

Introducing from the depths to the sea – the Davy Jones Hat. pic.twitter.com/KcjH46OLao

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 25, 2021

The post RECAP: Grubauer shines in Kraken 2–1 win over Hurricanes appeared first on The Rink.

Colorado Avalanche at Seattle Kraken

The Avalanche came into Seattle riding a hot streak of three wins in a row, while the Kraken were plummeting down to the depths of the Puget Sound with a five-game losing streak.

Colorado took hold of Friday’s game almost immediately and never looked back. Head Coach Dave Hakstol finally gave a rest to struggling goaltender Philipp Grubauer, which meant that Chris Driedger was the sacrifice served up to the high-flying offense of the Avalanche. Things eventually got so bad that Grubauer ended up seeing action anyway.

The Avalanche came out firing on all cylinders, scoring two goals (one power play, one shorthanded) in the opening half of the first period and peppering Driedger with 11 shots. Seattle managed seven shots of their own, but were not able to chip away at the 2–0 Colorado lead. The power play goal was unassisted by Andre Burakovsky at the 4:04 mark and the shorthanded goal was two minutes later by Valeri Nichushkin with teammate Samuel Girard in the penalty box.

To say that the Kraken fell apart in the second period would be putting it lightly. Colorado scored four goals in the middle frame, on 14 shots, and drove the Kraken starting goaltender to the showers early. Young star Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar netted two goals, while Burakovsky scored another goal on the man advantage and Erik Johnson closed out the period with a goal to send the teams into intermission with a 6–0 Colorado lead.

All was not lost, though. Following the seventh goal by new Avalanche wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel, the Kraken showed some heart by not only breaking the shutout, but scoring three late goals to make the game a bit more respectable. Jordan Eberle scored a power play goal just a minute after the Aube-Kubel goal and Brandon Tanev scored a power play goal of his own three minutes later. Winger Colin Blackwell scored his first as a member of the Kraken in the final five minutes of play, which would be all the scoring on the night.

The teams filled up the box score with 10 total goals on 58 shots and a 7–3 Colorado win. Would the Kraken take this decimating loss and continue to plummet, or would they take their third period momentum and surprise the Washington Capitals?

Avalanche anchor points

Once again, the goaltending let the Kraken down. Driedger and Grubauer only saw 28 shots and only stopped 75%. At least Hakstol tried something different by starting Driedger. Thinking that “beating the bad” out of Grubauer was a wise idea just seemed nonsensical.

I hinted at this in the previous recap, but the Kraken are actually hot on the power play. Two more goals in this game gave them power play goals in the last three games and four in their last nine opportunities.

Defensemen Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson were on the ice for three Colorado goals after starting the season as the Kraken’s best possession pair and top 10 in the league.

As evidence by the final score, analytics were not in Seattle’s favor. Colorado led 5-on-5 in shot attempts (Corsi 55%–45%), unblocked shots (Fenwick 54%–46%), high-danger chances for (HDCF% 57%–43%) and expected goals for (xGF% 52%–88%). Seattle once again crushed their opponent at the faceoff dots, 63%–37%. Oddly enough, defensemen Jeremy Lauzon and Jamie Oleksiak had a phenomenal night analytically with a 70% Corsi.

Washington Capitals at Seattle Kraken

With a bit of a sour taste in their mouths, the Kraken hosted the high-scoring Capitals. Washington actually came in top five overall in goals for, which is considerably higher than the team that just put up seven goals on the Kraken two nights previous. They were also riding wins on back-to-back shutouts against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Seattle fans were probably not feeling very confident when the Capitals opened the scoring on a terrible Lauzon turnover 3:34 into the game. Lauzon failed to clear the puck behind his net, had the puck stolen and fed to a streaking Tom Wilson. Grubauer had little time to react to Wilson’s one-timer, and the visitors were up 1–0 early.

One of the biggest bright spots for the Kraken lately has been the power play, which lit the Seattle fire in this one. Jared McCann ripped a backhand shot over Kraken legend Vitek Vanecek’s shoulder on a scramble in close to tie the game late in the first period. It was essentially all Kraken from then on.

Even though there were only two goals scored in the first period, on 25 total shots, the second period went off the rails. The second was one of the most successful periods for the Kraken all season. Larsson and veteran Jaden Schwartz scored just 43 seconds apart, and Calle Jarnkrok scored his first goal as a member of the Kraken to open the flood gates for the home crowd. The three goals were scored on only nine Kraken shots on goal.

Clearly embarrassed by their awful second period showing, the Capitals came out in the third period on fire and peppered Grubauer with 23 shots on net. This time, though, the Kraken netminder shined. In what can be best described as a disastrous first 14 games, Grubauer showed the fans what General Manager Ron Francis went out and signed him for this summer, after he gave a soft one up to Alex Ovechkin three minutes into the period.

Based on the prior 14 games, most people watching probably got really concerned following the Ovechkin goal, but Grubauer shut the door and stopped the final 17 shots he faced.

Snake-bitten forward Yanni Gourde added a late empty-net goal, which gave the Climate Pledge Arena fans something to celebrate in a Sunday evening 5–2 win.

Capitals anchor points

This might be as close as we have gotten to a goalie win with the Kraken. Grubauer was the second star and stopped 37 of 39 shots. He held the usually dangerous Capitals power play unit scoreless on four opportunities. He would love to have that Ovechkin goal back, but the Wilson one can be piled on the head of pylon Lauzon.

Once again, the Kraken scored on the man advantage, taking advantage of their lone chance. This gives them five goals in their last 10 opportunities and power play goals in their last four games.

The possession and analytics numbers were split right down the middle. The 5-on-5 shot attempts (Corsi), unblocked shots (Fenwick) and expected goals for (xGF%) were slightly in favor of Washington 51%–49%. The high-danger chances for favored the Kraken (HDCF% 57%–43%). Washington also had a slight lead in face-off wins 52%-48%. The line of Eberle, Marcus Johansson and Alexander Wennberg held a positive Corsi percentage and Fenwick percentage over 75%. Dunn and Gourde had a rough night, giving up 18 and 17 shot attempts up, respectively.

The Kraken are off today and tomorrow but are back in action Wednesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, who are no slouches. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

The post RECAP: Kraken split weekend with hot Avalanche and Capitals appeared first on The Rink.

The-Rink.com host Jeff Osborn is joined by RJ Eskanos from the Emerald City Hockey Podcast to talk about the Kraken sinking to the depths of the Sound and the Pacific division.

 The Kraken experience from the Emerald City Hockey perspective.
The underlying numbers are actually really good
 Not only is the offense competitive, but the defense is also pretty good.
GOALTENDING!
 GOALTENDING, AGAIN!
Players we are fans of and some disappointments

Watch the entire replay on FaceBook right here:

Watch the entire replay on YouTube right here:

Watch the entire replay on Twitter right here:

Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast – S1 Ep7 – featuring @EmeraldCityHky https://t.co/5PzUIwirjh

— Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast (@KrakenHostile) November 19, 2021

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The post Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast – Season 1 Episode 7 – featuring Emerald City Hockey appeared first on The Rink.

The opening period was slow for the Kraken. Chicago limited them to just three shots on goal, most of which were early on. In fact, Seattle was not able to get to Marc-Andre Fleury for the final 10 minutes of the first period. Fifteen minutes into the game, Blackhawks star wing Patrick Kane led a 3-on-2 rush which went tic-tac-toe from the stick of Kane to Alex DeBrincat and finally ended up on the open stick of defenseman Seth Jones. Jones, who was wide open to the left of the Kraken net, deposited the puck past Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer for his 300th NHL point and a 1–0 Chicago lead. This would be the only period that Chicago led in shots on goal, 8–3.

Having finally woken up during the intermission, the Kraken came out and peppered Fleury in the second period. As has been the problem all season, though, it was finishing that they struggled with. Just two minutes into the second, DeBrincat got his second point of the night, taking a stretch feed from Kirby Dach before out-skating Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak en route to the net. DeBrincat snapped a shot over Grubauer’s shoulder to give the Blackhawks a 2–0 lead. Despite the overall 19–15 shot advantage, the Kraken went into the second intermission down by two.

The Kraken once again fell victim to Kane five minutes into the third period. This time, the rush was led by second-year Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev, who ended up 2-on-3 with Kane. Kurashev dished a nice saucer pass to a surprisingly wide-open Kane, and Kane did what he has done over 400 times in his career, as he snapped the puck past Grubauer to give Chicago a comfortable 3–0 lead.

Seattle did give the home fans some excitement, albeit far too late. The Kraken took advantage of a late power play to try and break the shutout, which is exactly what happened. Jared McCann found a loose puck on his stick and shoveled it into the net to cut the Chicago lead to 3–1. Head Coach Dave Hakstol pulled the goaltender with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, and Yanni Gourde scored on a one-timer a minute later, which cut the Chicago lead to just one goal.

However, the comeback bid was still too little, too late, and Chicago finally twisted the dagger with a long empty-net goal from Jake McCabe to leave Seattle with their fourth win in a row and extend the Kraken’s losing streak to five.

Anchor points

This is going to sound like a broken record once again, but goaltending killed the Kraken on both ends of the ice. Grubauer saved just 15 of 18 shots while Fleury was sensational, saving 31 of 30 shots he faced. This game was won and lost in the crease.

DeBrincat finished the night with a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight). The fight should have been labeled a super flyweight bout with the generously listed 5-foot-7 DeBrincat facing the also generously listed 5-foot-9 Gourde.

Goal
Assist
Fight

Alex DeBrincat secured a Gordie Howe hat trick tonight for the @NHLBlackhawks pic.twitter.com/zGSZbK315Y

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 18, 2021

Has anyone seen Joonas Donskoi or Calle Jarnkrok? The normally reliable Donskoi is still scoreless after 16 games, and Jarnkrok has not been any better—without a point in 11 games this season. If the depth players are not producing, the Kraken are going to have a long and painful first season.

Again with the broken record. Analytics heavily favored the Kraken. They led 5-on-5 in shot attempts (Corsi 61%–39%), unblocked shots (Fenwick 58%–42%), high-danger chances for (HDCF% 64%–36%) and expected goal for (xGF% 62%–38%). Colin Blackwell and Haydn Fleury were the only two Seattle players without positive even-strength Corsi. The Kraken need to finish and they need a goalie to make a save. Just average numbers would have them at .500 or above. Seattle also crushed the Blackhawks at the face-off dots, 60%–40%.

The Blackhawks, on the other hand, were caved in most of the night. Only two players, Jones and Calvin de Haan, were above water in even-strength Corsi. Jujhar Khaira, Dominik Kubalik and Connor Murphy were all on the ice for 20 or more shots against.

Not all is lost, though. The Kraken scored a power play goal for the second straight game. They are improving somewhere.

The Kraken have a day off but things don’t get any easier for them. They face the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday. The puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PST.