Kraken vs. Vancouver RECAP: Third period collapse causes a runaway 4-2 loss

First Period:

Philipp Grubauer basically stood on his head for this entire period; having some real wild stops. But it would be your Kraken who scored first, as Vince Dunn put a cannon-fire shot right past Thatcher Demko as time was expiring on the period to put the Kraken up 1-0!

It gets LOUD in there, holy smokes.

Time expired shortly thereafter, and we head to the second!

Second Period:

The most annoying part of this period is that the first actual thing to happen was the Canucks losing a player to injury, getting shelled for 10 uninterrupted minutes, and then an ill-advised pass ended up on the stick of Conor Garland, who set Bo Horvat up for a massive high-slot goal to even things up. 1-1 all.

Third Period:

Things started good! As Mark Giordano not five minutes into the period put a beautiful pass from Jared McCann straight past Demko with another rocket. 2-1 Kraken!

And then the only thing they actually had to do was keep the gas on, and they would be able to easily walk out the win-oh god, Carson Soucy took a penalty. Oh god IS THAT BO HORVAT AGAI-

2-2. I want to dunk my head into the Sound and scream.

And it didn’t get any better, as a bobbled receipt of the puck from Dunn turned Garland into a heat-seeking missile, and Grubauer couldn’t grab the honestly quite excellent shot. 3-2 Canucks.

The Squids tried their damnedest to come back, but pulling the goalie as late as they did has it’s ups and downs...but for a team that’s had some puck security troubles, it can have consequences as well...

And that’ll do it as the first game in the new barn ends in heartbreak. 4-2 Loss for the Kraken.

Game Notes:

• Your time on ice leader at even strength and overall was Adam Larsson, who had 23:31 minutes logged tonight.
• Grubauer’s night started strange and then just kinda got...worse over time. a sub-.900 save percentage isn’t what you need if your defense is going to have the trouble winning puck-battles and races, which isn’t exactly their fault, but it would’ve been helpful to get at least a couple of the saves needed.
• Speaking of which...Gio...Dunn...guys...you need to be better with those passes. Need to.
• Vince Dunn said it best in the post-game presser: The Kraken are getting into a really rough habit of getting good waves of possession and play for a little bit, but then will let off. It was better tonight, but crippling yourself with bad, soft penalties and giving your opponent plenty of time to both tie it and then start making these boneheaded mistakes with the puck will kill you. Every time. Further, if you have to win a period...please just make it the third? It’s already getting really old.
• And the worst part is they generally controlled play after the first period! It was mostly Demko who kept it from being a complete blowout and ultimately cost the Kraken the chance to win! Man, I wish it wasn’t like that at all!
• Carson Soucy had some rough penalties called against him. The first one was..meh, but that trip was just...sheesh.
• I hate the Canucks more with every waking second.
• Climate Pledge Arena is rockin’ when this team is up, though. Kraken have to start putting some wins together to keep this building rocking.
• Hey, at least we aren’t the Leafs.

Game 7 is against the well-worn Habs who just won their first game. That game starts at 7pm PST. We’ll see you there!