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Back to the pond: Seattle heads to Anaheim to face the Ducks

What: Seattle Kraken at Anaheim Ducks

Where: Honda Center, Anaheim, CA

When: Friday, February 11, 2022; 7:00pm PST

Wait, who are we playing? Landlubber’s Guide to the Anaheim Ducks

Coverage

Local TV: (*none*)

Streaming: ESPN+, Hulu Live

Local Radio: 950 AM KJR

SiriusXM: Channel 220

Last Time Out

The second meeting of these two teams was back in December. It took just 22 minutes for the Kraken to give up goals on the power play, penalty kill, and at even strength to fall behind 3-0. While they managed to prevent a complete collapse, they were never able to mount any form of comeback; the game ended with Anaheim earning a 4-1 victory.

Ryan Donato scored the lone goal for Seattle, who went 1-for-4 on the power play. Ducks goaltender John Gibson was never tested, making 19 saves on a paltry 20 Kraken shots, the majority of which were from the outside. It was the first of nine consecutive losses for Seattle, their worst stretch of the season.

Stats, Streaks, & Droughts

Anaheim is surging following a 4-game losing streak in January, winning four of their last six games, including victories over Boston and Tampa Bay. One thing of note, however, is that all but one of those six games was decided by a single goal. So Anaheim is in every game, but they are also at risk of losing every game.

As for Seattle, despite Wednesday’s very Kraken-esque loss the club is still 5-5-0 in their last 10 outings. Scoring remains the key problem: in the 14 games since January 10th (when play resumed after a series of COVID-related postponements) Seattle has put up two goals or fewer nine times. They are averaging exactly three goals against over that same span. Two goals for, three goals against; a 6-year-old can figure out that math.

Players To Watch

Anaheim forward Troy Terry continues to run away with the team scoring title, denting the twine more than twice as often as the 2nd place scorer. His 25 goals and 41 points leads the Ducks.

The other two dangerous weapons are center Trevor Zegras…

…and winger Rickard Rackell…

For Seattle, hustle-bug Colin Blackwell has himself a little 3-game point streak going at present, with an assist against both New York and Boston, and then this little beauty on Wednesday:

Calle Järnkrok is flying following the holiday break, with 6 goals and 4 helpers in that 45-day span. This tally against San Jose was particularly juicy…

And forward Morgan Geekie has gone without a goal since December 11th — I have a hunch he’s due. When he’s on, we get filthy snipes like this one…

Injuries, Illnesses, Additions, & Scratches

For the Ducks, forwards Sonny Milano and Max Jones, and defenseman Josh Manson are all on Injured Reserve and will not play. Apart from that the team is healthy, with nobody on LTIR or in COVID protocol. Anaheim is well-rested, having not played since their 2-1 loss to Detroit on January 31st, so we expect starter John Gibson to get the nod in goal.

For Seattle, the club got some good news on Wednesday afternoon as Jamie “Big Rig” Oleksiak was activated from IR. His status is probable for tonight. Apart from that, several players are inching their way back from injury but are still unavailable: Brandon Tanev (knee, out for season), Jaden Schwartz (hand, week-to-week), and Karson Kuhlman (upper body, timetable unknown) remain on injured reserve. Carson Soucy is still officially on the active roster, but is not able to play. Newcomer Austin Czarnik (see below) was taking reps on the third line alongside Alex Wennberg and Ryan Donato during practice on Thursday, so it’s possible that we see him make his Kraken debut this evening.

As for a goaltender, Philipp Grubauer has both starts against Anaheim so far, though he was relieved by Chris Driedger for the 3rd period in the last outing. Grubauer is not playing above his season averages to any significant degree, and with seven games in the next two weeks coach Dave Hakstol might decide to rest Gru and give Driedger the start. As we get better information we’ll have the latest for you on Twitter.

Odds & Ends

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