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.

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.