Sunday’s Seattle Kraken victory over the New York Rangers was so completely bat-guano crazy that it would be criminal not to linger on it a bit longer, even as the tide of an 82-game regular season usually washes one game right into another.
For those of you who switched away to football when the Kraken fell behind 3-1, DJLR’s Em Rupp provided the game story of an improbable 7-5 Seattle comeback win. Colleague Allyson Ballard will be chiming in with implications for the Kraken offense.
But I take a back seat to nobody in our vast global DJLR organization when it comes to speaking authoritatively about weirdness. So let’s review the afternoon insanity at Madison Square Garden, shall we?
1. Can’t Win For Losing, Can’t Lose For Winning
The Kraken embarked on their four game East Coast road swing lower than a snake’s belly. If not for a 3rd period rally Nov. 25 in Anaheim, Seattle would have lost back-to-back games to the Ducks, currently 29th in the 32-team NHL. The Kraken then did lose a home-and-home set with the San Jose Sharks, 27th in the composite standings.
So don’t tell me you – or they – expected to hold the shot-happy powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes to 19 SOG in a 4-2 victory. Or that defensemen Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson would each contribute three points in a 5-2 domination over the Islanders. Or that the Kraken would rally from a multi-goal deficit for the fourth time already this season – four more times than all of last year – to stun the Rangers, last year’s President’s Trophy winners.
2. Kraken Cut Rangers To The Quick
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The Rangers Saturday made official their eight year, $92 million extension for goalie Igor Shesterkin. Sunday, the Kraken had to face a Blueshirts goalie who’s been outplaying the $92 million man. You know, Jonathan Quick, of the gaudy 5-1-0 record, 2.03 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. One of those wins came in a 2-0 shutout of the Kraken just two weeks ago at Climate Pledge Arena.
Seattle lit Quick up for six goals on 21 shots!
3. Man Of The (Grub)Auer
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Philipp Grubauer was supposed to be the backup to Joey Daccord. (Coach Dan Byslma on Daccord’s status: “If he can hold food down, he’ll be back soon.”)
By the fourth minute of the game, Grubauer was probably feeling a bit sickly himself. Reilly Smith put Seattle in an early hole, pushing a harmless-looking shot from distance over the goal line once it somehow oozed through the netminder.
Grubauer surely wanted to climb into that hole when K’Andre Miller’s 3rd period shot from an (almost) impossibly severe angle caromed off his back and into the net.
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But Grubauer deserves praise, too. Starting when you’re not expected to is tough on goalies, who are creatures of habit. He did make 32 saves, including on a handful of grade-A chances.
None were better than his daylight robbery of Artemi Panarin in the 2nd period, with the Blueshirts already up 3-1. If “Grubi” doesn’t slide post-to-post and use an “Ole” motion with his glove, the Rangers would have gone up by three.
Dunn awarded Grubauer the postgame wrestling belt as player of the game, telling the room, “This guy’s been battling has ass off every single night. We’ve let him down a few times, not scoring enough goals. Came in today not really expecting it and stood on his head the whole night.”
4. Speaking Of Goalies…
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Michael Matyas began his Sunday morning buying baby formula. Shortly after noon Eastern, he was wearing a Seattle Kraken #1 goalie uniform on the ice at Madison Square Garden, taking warmup shots from his teammates-for-a-day.
Matyas was signed to an amateur tryout contract when Daccord took ill, too close to gametime to summon a minor-league replacement. Matyas, a 33-year-old financial analyst, had last played competitive hockey in the 2014-15 season, seven games in goal for Alaska-Anchorage University.
When Grubauer was briefly shaken up in the 1st period (image at right), it appeared for a moment that Matyas might end up serving as much more than an in-uniform spectator.
New York’s Filip Chytil made contact with Grubauer’s head while skating through the top of the crease, felling the netminder. He removed his mask to clear away the cobwebs and stayed in the game.
In the victorious dressing room, Byslma tossed Matyas a game puck and quipped with a wide grin, “I heard you were pretty good in warmups.” The rest of the Kraken applauded and cheered.
Emergency Back-Up Goalies, or EBUGs as they’re known, don’t get paid. But what a story Matyas, who spent the game watching from the Kraken bench and got a hug from Grubauer at the horn, will have to tell that baby someday.
5. If He Can Make It There, He’ll Make It Anywhere
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Kraken forward Shane Wright on Sunday completed a New York City metropolitan area hat trick. He scored against all three of the region’s NHL teams.
Thursday, Wright’s power play goal put Seattle up 4-0 in their victory over the Islanders at UBS Arena. Shane tallied another PPG Friday in a hard-fought 3-2 loss to the Devils at Prudential Center.
In the 3rd period against the Rangers, Wright’s center drive paid off when Eeli Tolvanen found his stick for a deflection goal and a 6-3 lead with nine minutes left.
It seemed at the time like icing on the cake. But since New York narrowed the deficit to 6-5, Wright’s marker, his seventh, became the game-winner.
Bonus weirdness: Wright didn’t receive an assist on Oliver Bjorkstrand’s tip-in late in the 2nd period. But he cleanly beat NYR’s Vincent Trocheck on the right circle draw, which TV statistics said he had only a 35% chance of doing.