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.

According to head coach Dave Hakstol, Joonas Donskoi, Calle Jarnkrok, Marcus Johansson, Jared McCann and Jamie Oleksiak are all on the COVID-19 protocol list. They will need negative COVID-19 tests to return to team activities as opposed to 14-day quarantines that unvaccinated players would need.

In what was supposed to be the big announcement of the day, Mark Giordano was named the first team captain in Kraken history. Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Jaden Schwartz were named as Kraken alternate captains for the inaugural 2021–22 season.

Mark Giordano was named first captain of the Seattle Kraken on Monday. He will be Seattle’s on-ice leader when it begins its inaugural season against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) https://t.co/CGUdQjVniJ via @NHLdotcom

— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) October 11, 2021

As the news rolls in of more players in COVID-19 protocol, the Kraken claimed Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Barre-Boulet off waivers. Barre-Boulet played 15 games for a stacked Lightning team last season scoring three goals. The 5-foot-10, 181-pound, 24-year-old forward has shown he can put the puck in the net at the AHL level (69 goals, 67 assists, 0.94 points per game) and has been looking for a spot to take his shot in the NHL. This will be a great opportunity for him.

Alex Barré-Boulet, placed on waivers by TB, played 15 whole games that looked pretty good. Why not eh? pic.twitter.com/am6lQHwKJx

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 10, 2021

Stay tuned  for more news and follow us on Twitter: @TheRinkOfficial, @TheRinkSeattle, @KrakenHostile and @PuckinHostile

The post Kraken Anchor Points — Team captains, COVID-19 protocol, waivers appeared first on The Rink.