If an October NHL matchup can have a big-game feel, Saturday night’s clash at Climate Pledge Arena between the Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames certainly qualified.
On the season’s first “Common Threads” night, Pacific division rivals predicted to finish outside the playoffs both sported winning records. The Flames were riding a season-opening four-game winning streak. Hockey Night In Canada aired the contest nationwide. Then there’s the Kraken’s first rematch with Calgary’s Martin Pospisil, since his dirty hit caused Seattle’s Vince Dunn to miss 19 games late last season.
The game lived up to the buildup. Jordan Eberle scored his team-leading 5th goal of the season 48 seconds into overtime, giving the Kraken a 2-1 victory over a Flames team bidding for its best start in franchise history. (More about “Captain & The Free Agents” below.)
1st Period
The Hispanic Heritage Night Kraken logo at left was designed by local artist and Mexico City native Victor Melendez. The patterns and colors are inspired by ancient patterns found in architecture, textiles and art from all over Latin America.
The NHL continues to ban players from wearing special “theme night” jerseys in warmups.
The Kraken go on the power play just 27 seconds into the game. They spend the first 1:06 in the Calgary zone, but can’t solve Flames goalie Dan Vladar.
Seattle is without top-pairing defenseman Dunn, out day-to-day with what the team calls a “mid-body” injury. Free agent signee from Florida Josh Mahura draws back into the lineup.
Jaden Schwartz feeds Oliver Bjorkstrand on a 2-on-1. Bjorkstrand dekes Vladar out of position, but can’t park a backhand into the unguarded net.
(FYI, Vladar appeared to miss the poke check.) 8:34 into the contest, SOGs are Kraken 1, Calgary 0 – which doesn’t reflect the rapid pace of play.
Seattle goalie Joey Daccord finally gets to feel the puck with a routine glove save 9:50 in. A tougher chance moments later: Daccord gets tested by Mikael Backlund’s backhand in close; Joey’s right pad is up to the challenge. So is Vladar on another Kraken 2-on-1; down ice with Jordan Eberle, Brandon Montour fakes pass, calls his own number, and his initial drive and rebound stuff get rejected by the Calgary netminder.
Mahura takes a slash at 18:31. Daccord wanders out of his net on the PK and it bites him. When he roams to the corner and whiffs on a clear, Blake Coleman scores from distance before Daccord can get reset with less than eight seconds left in the period.
Shots are 8-5 Calgary after 20, goals 1-0.
2nd Period
The second Calgary power play lasts 25 seconds, until Nazem Kadri takes a high-sticking double minor against Will Borgen. After Borgen wipes away the blood, Seattle sets up for 3:35 of power play time. Vladar comes up big repeatedly, none bigger than Brandon Tanev’s point-blank chance. After the penalty ends, Vladar makes a sparkling low glove save on Tolvanen’s wide open blast. (Some believe low glove-side saves are the hardest to make.)
One Montour note during the Kraken power play – Jonathan Huberdeau appeared to have a clear shorthanded breakaway. But Montour, showing off the wheels we’ve been told about, catches all the way up to prevent a scoring chance.
The only Achilles’ heel for Calgary so far this season has been their penalty kill, 25th in the NHL at 73% coming in. Seattle has gone 0-for-3, but when Huberdeau and Kevin Bahl take minors 1:13 apart, the Kraken are gifted 47 seconds of 5-on-3.
The fourth time proves the charm. Chandler Stephen takes advantage of the two-man advantage to tie the game 1-1 at 12:25, his first goal since signing with the Kraken this summer.
Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell won’t draw an assist on the Stephenson goal (Jared McCann and Schwartz did), but she’s the one who drew up the play at the bench before the 5-on-3.
Non-Pospisil truculence just over two minutes later, as Calgary doesn’t appreciate Schwartz’s hard check on Huberdeau, and the two teams pretend they’re sharing a phone booth (remember those?).
Anxious moments late in the period for the CPA faithful, as the Flames have the puck on a string – but Seattle survives. Daccord wasn’t thrilled that a Ryker Evans-Coleman battle sent the goalie to the ice.
The Seattle goalie is back up and ready to make a terrific blocker save on Andrei Kuzmenko’s right circle sizzler. Former goalie Greg Millen on CBC calls it his best save of the night, keeping the score knotted 1-1 after 40 with shots favoring the Flames 15-10.
3rd Period
DJLR photog Jenn is the best, and we have the receipt:
@Jennthulhu_Photos
The lethal Calgary power play (about 30%), already 1-for-2 tonight, gets another chance on an Andre Burakovsky trip of Jake Bean. The Kraken kill it off.
A sign of just how tight this defensive struggle has been: almost eight minutes into the period, SOGs are 2-1 Seattle, and one of those from center ice. Tolvanen takes a baseball swing at a puck dangling above the ice, but Vladar makes save #3 of the 3rd. Then Shane Wright loses his balance driving the net, barely missing an Eberle centering pass.
Fun fact: this fan isn’t wearing a mask.
Calgary, caught making a bad line change, gets penalized for too many men. Bjorkstrand misses connection with Schwartz driving the net, then drives a blast of his own into Vladar. Shots are 10-1 in the first 15 minutes of the stanza, with the home team doubling its total from the first 40 minutes. Seattle, though, may regret converting only one of six extra-man chances.
With 3:30 left, Calgary gets a pair of bang-bang grade-A chances, first from Kadri and then Kuzmenko. How we know these were dangerous chances: (1) Kadri first raises his arms in celebration, then bends over at the waist and covers his mouth to hide his expletives (2) fans break out in a spontaneous Jo-ey! Jo-ey! chant.
Overtime
For both overtimes this season, coach Dan Bylsma has started “Captain & The Free Agents” – captain Jordan Eberle, Montour (signee from the Panthers) and Stephenson (signee from the Golden Knights).
Eberle pokes the puck away from Kadri in the Calgary zone, leaving Montour alone in front. Vladar stops his point-blank chance, but “Monte” retrieves the biscuit and feeds Eberle for a blast he admitted he shot “with his eyes closed.”
Up Next
After a scheduled day off Sunday, the Kraken will practice Monday at KCI. Game three of the five-game homestand arrives Tuesday, when the Colorado Avalanche come calling. Note the early start time: 5:30 pm at CPA.