The Need to Knows
- The Time: 7pm PT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
- Place to Watch: ROOT Northwest, ESPN+/SportsNet+
- Place to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Red Mile Hockey
Know Your Enemy
- Tonight’s opponent is the Calgary Flames, who are 6th in the Pacific Division with a record of 6-8-3.
- The vibes started out bad in Calgary, but they’ve won four of their last six games and the mood seems improved in the locker room.
- The most interesting player to Kraken fans is Chris Tanev, brother of Brandon. They look quite a bit alike.
- Calgary is probably secretly much better than they seemed on paper. They were good in shot volume, good in shot suppression, but lost a bunch of one-goal games, games in OT/shootout, and they hit the most posts/crossbars of any time. Just a snowball of bad luck made their season seem like a disaster, but in reality the team is probably not nearly as bad as they looked.
Game Preview
The last time these two teams played, it was more about what Seattle was not doing as opposed to what they were doing to face Calgary. They were their own worst enemy with defensive lapses and mistakes everywhere as they left their goalie out to dry. Recently, however, the Kraken seem to be playing with more effort, and it’s contributed to two much-needed wins.
Seattle’s issue has been getting a lead and maintaining it. They have the first part down well, but the second part is real dicey. The late collapses seem to be a focus/effort issue, and not really something influenced by the other team very much. So the struggles are largely internal.
And thus, this preview is somewhat opponent agnostic: Seattle is a better team than Calgary. If they show up and play 60 minutes of effort, they should win. If they don’t, then they will likely lose.
What I’m looking for is just a consistent, solid, expenditure of energy and hockey IQ. I don’t want anything fancy or flashy. When the Kraken are letting themselves get buried, it’s because of just not playing with enough pace or urgency.
Still, the team probably feels pretty good coming off two wins in a row, and hopefully that will serve as a demonstration of what a 60-minute-effort looks like.
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