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Kraken seek third straight win as they host the St. Louis Blues

What: St. Louis Blues at Seattle Kraken

Where: Climate Pledge Arena

When: Friday, January 21, 2022; 7:00pm PST

Wait, who are we playing? Landlubber’s Guide to the St. Louis Blues

Coverage

Local TV: ROOT Sports NW

Streaming: ESPN+

Local Radio: 950 AM KJR

SiriusXM: Channel 223

Last Time Out

It’s only been a week since these two team last met, but the vibes around the Kraken at least were significantly different then. The Blues earned a 2-1 victory last time in their building despite a really impressive performance from Seattle’s Chris Driedger in net. The scoring didn’t materialize for the Kraken aside from one top shelf snipe — from Alex Wennberg, no less.

Seattle actually carried the 1-0 lead into the third period, but taking one too many penalties bit them in the end, and a third period power play goal gave this one to St. Louis.

Even so, this one could’ve been a lot worse. Seattle took five minor penalties in the game, and the Blues — who sport the NHL’s 2nd ranked power play percentage — only tallied one marker with the extra man. So there’s that at least. This game brought the Kraken’s season-high losing streak to 8 games, but that’s all behind us now.

Stats, Streaks, & Droughts

The Kraken have won two straight for the fourth time this season. They’ve yet to get that third consecutive win so far, and this feels like a prime opportunity to finally start a real winning streak. With Davy Jones the dog behind them, the sky is the limit.

Calle Järnkrok has been the hot hand for Seattle of late, leading the team with 4 goals and 4 assists in their last nine games. He spent much of that time on a line with Yanni Gourde, but last night it was Morgan Geekie who set him up for what would eventually be counted as the game-winning goal.

The Blues are coming into the night as winners of four of their last five games, all of which came in St. Louis. They haven’t played on the road in over two weeks, and should be plenty fresh for this contest as they’ve had the last 3 days off.

Jordan Kyrou still leads the Blues in points and was named to the All-Star game for his efforts. Kyrou just had a 7-game points streak (in which he scored 5 goals and 9 assists) snapped against the Predators, so he’ll be looking to restart that in Seattle tonight.

Injuries, Illnesses, Additions, & Scratches

Morgan Geekie is back in the lineup for Seattle after missing 4 games with an upper-body injury. He tallied his 8th assist of the year last night and now has a career-high 11 points on the season. He needs one more goal to surpass the 3 he scored in each of his previous two seasons in Carolina.

New addition Karson Kuhlman eased into action with Seattle last night, playing just under 8 minutes of ice time, 2 of which came on the penalty kill. With any luck Seattle will be on the penalty kill far less tonight, but if not, Kuhlman should get some more time out there. Seattle did not allow a goal with him on the ice last night.

Joey Daccord is expected to get his third start of the year, with Driedger still on the NHL’s Covid protocol. Head coach Dave Hakstol wouldn’t commit to this last night, however, noting (correctly) that Philipp Grubauer played really well against the Sharks.

For the Blues, they come into this contest the healthiest they’ve been all year. They don’t have a single player in Covid protocol right now, with Pavel Buchnevich being activated on Wednesday and expected to play tonight. Buchnevich had the game-winner the last time these teams met.

Odds & Ends

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