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.

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