Just the Facts:
- The Time: 7pm PDT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
- Place to Watch: ROOT Sports, ESPN+, Sportsnet+
- Place to Listen: KJR 93.3-FM
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Blueshirt Banter
Know Your Enemy
The Rangers are in a bit of a transition period with a new coach, after hiring Peter Laviolette to replace the recently departed Gerard Gallant. Laviolette likes to play an aggressive style of hockey with his defensemen jumping in to join the rush, and asking a lot of the team to play a structured style so that they don’t get exploited with plays going the other way.
These things take time to implement, and so far, the Rangers don’t seem like they’ve figured it out how to do that consistently on a nightly basis yet, and they got lit up by Nashville on Thursday, largely because of breakdowns and players misreading plays or being in the wrong spot and suddenly the Rangers are facing an odd-man rush going the other way.
The talent is there, though. Forwards Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider can shoot the puck, as can defenseman Adam Fox. Goalie Igor Shesterkin is one of the best goalies in the world right now. Those who have been following the Kraken since season one may remember his performance against Seattle the first time they ever played. He stole a win from the Kraken that Halloween, and that’s kind of a thing he does a lot.
Game Preview
Ah, small sample sizes. What to do with them?
The first four games, Seattle scored 3 goals on 125 shots. In their fifth game, they scored 7 goals on 36 shots.
A team over a small sample can have wildly different outcomes, and we’re seeing that here with Seattle this season. Shooting 2.4%, as they did through games 1-4, is not remotely sustainable and seeing the offense bounce back was absolutely bound to happen. Are they going to score 7 goals every night from now on? Probably not, but the offense getting some breaks and the puck going into the net against Carolina Thursday was a bit of the hockey gods issuing a correction.
The Rangers offense has similarly underperformed to date, and like Seattle, they are bound to play better and score at a higher rate than they have been. How much of that is learning a new system that’s a decent departure from their previous system? How much of it is puck luck, lost in the great mélange that is the chaos of hockey? It’s hard to say what the proportions are, but I think both things are true:
- The Rangers have been unlucky this season.
- The Rangers are prone to defensive breakdowns and bad turnovers at the moment.
The Kraken just have to focus on themselves, stay within their own structure, and play the game that they’ve been building on for the last two seasons.
I assume Igor Shesterkin will get the start in goal, as their backup is Jonathan Quick. The once-legendary goalie has really slowed down and has been more of a last-resort option at this point than a quality backup. Still, I assume Shesterkin can’t start all 82 games, so if we do see Quick at Climate Pledge Arena, that would be a nice surprise for Seattle’s winning chances.
It’s always hard this early in the season since teams are still feeling themselves out, but the Kraken on Thursday showed that they can dismantle a very good Carolina team when they do play their game, and I think it’s safe to say that we now know it is possible for Seattle to score goals in bunches.