The Seattle Kraken slayed another dragon Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
Technically, it was the visiting Philadelphia Flyers who were vanquished, 6-4, in the opener of a five game homestand. The Kraken exploded for middle period goals by Jared McCann, Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle and Shane Wright, the last two eight seconds apart. McCann added two assists for a three point night.
About that dragon: five games into the current campaign, Seattle’s record stands at 3-2-0. They’ve also won three of four. Last year, it took the Kraken ten games to notch their third victory, a hole from which they never fully escaped. Another dragon slain: after five contests last season, Seattle had scored 10 goals – seven of those 10 came in one game. This year, Kraken skaters have already turned on the red light 20 times.
1st Period
Kraken Hockey Network rolled out its pregame 1st line at KHN’s in-arena set, hard by the Space Needle Lounge. ESPN SportsCenter’s Linda Cohn (left), made her KHN debut alongside Alison Lukan (center) and Ian Furness (right). This was also the premier Kraken broadcast on Seattle NBC affiliate KING-5.
The Kraken apply the early pressure, but the Flyers score the early first goal. Perhaps Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer strayed too far up the slot, because he’s unable to defend against Scott Laughton’s wraparound at 4:21.
Teams trade unforced errors – puck over the glass against Philadelphia, too many men against Seattle. Both teams get two SOGs on the power play, but neither scores. Speaking of unforced errors, Shane Wright gets stripped at center ice, then hooks the puck-stealer, Tyson Foerster. Again, the Kraken PKers come through.
Grubauer, whose glove hand has been strong in the 1st period, flashes the leather to stop Bobby Brink. With 3:30 left, Grubi says, “Fool me once, but not twice.” After an initial save on Egor Zamula, the Kraken goalie pushes his left leg against the post to stop another wraparound by Ryan Poehling. Before the 10-second sequence ends, he’s made a third fine stop, on Rasmus Ristolainen’s slapper.
At the other end, 6-foot-7 Flyers goalie Ivan Fedotov, a 7th round draft pick in 2015, is playing just his 5th career NHL game. At 18:15, he allows a goal he’d like back. Brandon Montor’s right point blast is heavy to be sure, but comes from distance and Fedotov doesn’t appear to be screened. TV voice John Forslund, who had this call ready, dubs it a “Monte Mash.”
Fans get 43 seconds to enjoy the tie, before Philly’s Laughton scores his second of the stanza. He threads the needle over Grubauer’s shoulder and underneath the bar. Pinpoint accuracy, yes, but did the goalie go into the butterfly too soon?
Shots are 11-9 Philly after 20, with the visitors’ 4th line making the difference.
2nd Period
Gamesmanship by Shane Wright: slashed by Joel Farabee, Wright drops his stick. Though it really was broken, the Flyers claimed it wasn’t. The Kraken are headed to the power play.
That becomes important when Jared McCann powers his third goal of the young campaign past Fedotov. Another unscreened, long-range blast ties the game for Seattle, 2-2, at 3:06. It’s McCann’s 99th in a Kraken sweater.
Brandon Montour with an early candidate for hit of the year. When he pinches in the offensive zone, it appears the Flyers will have a counter-attacking rush. Not only does Montour catch up, he buries Matvei Michkov into the near corner boards.
More gamesmanship: Grubauer holds the puck in his mitt palm up, daring a Flyer to try to grab for it. When Garnet Hathaway obliges, Grubauer whacks him twice with his goal stick. No penalty’s called, but one is when a possibly still-salty Hathaway trips Jordan Eberle.
Grubauer stretches out a toe – possibly a toenail, too – to barely reject Travis Konecny’s suave shorthanded sortie. After the PP ends, Grubauer makes another fine save, when a cross-ice pass leaves Travis Sanheim alone at the lower edge of the right wing circle.
At 14:57, Eeli Tolvanen picks up loose change for Seattle’s first lead of the night. Andre Burakovsky pulls the puck from the far wall to the the top of the right circle. Fedotov stops his drive but can’t corral the rebound. Tolvanen parks the puck where mama keeps the cookies (top shelf, kids).
If Kraken goal three was gritty (not Gritty, Flyers fans, gritty), Kraken goal four was tic-tac-toe passing perfection. After Tye Kartye dives to break up a Philadelphia scoring chance, veteran savvy takes charge. Yanni Gourde (10th NHL season) feeds McCann (also 10th), who finds Eberle (15th) at the doorstep for the redirection. 4-2 Seattle at 17:52.
Eight seconds later, Shane Wright’s first goal of the season, a heat-seeking dart, makes it 5-2 Seattle and sends CPA into delirium.
Oh, that hit of the season competition – the Kraken have another contender. Brandon Tanev lowers a shoulder, and the boom, on Konecny, who crumbles to the ice as his helmet goes flying.
Shots in the period are 15-5 Seattle, goals are 4-0.
3rd Period
The Flyers switch goalies to start the period, inserting Samuel Ersson. It provides a boost, as Cam York narrows the Kraken lead to 5-3 at 10:19.
Konecny, already stopped on a grade-A shorthanded chance and knocked woozy by a clean check, now trades punches with Yanni Gourde. The truculence started when Gourde, with his stick tied up, clearly kicked the puck into the net.
Out of the resulting scrum, Montour drew an extra two minutes, and Philadelphia closed within 5-4 on a Jamie Drysdale power play goal at 12:31.
Philly, forced to press for the equalizer, gets burned when a rink-length pass lobbed down ice by Jaden Schwartz is caught up to by Oliver Bjorkstrand, who converts the breakaway at 14:52.
It’s a short night of relief for Ersson, who gets pulled by Flyers coach John Tortorella for a sixth attacker with four minutes remaining. The Kraken don’t score an empty-netter, which would have made back-to-back seven goal games, but also don’t allow the Flyers to creep closer. Shots finish 29-21 Seattle, goals 6-4.
Up Next
The team is scheduled to practice Friday morning and have an optional morning skate Saturday at Kraken Community Iceplex. Game two of the homestand will be Saturday night at 7 pm against the Calgary Flames. The game, to be broadcast nationally in Canada on CBC as the back half of “Hockey Night In Canada,” will feature an undefeated Flames team out to a shocking 4-0-0 start.