If you gotta win ugly, then win ugly. But win all the same.
But First, the Highlights!
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Adam Larsson, who logged 24:17
- This game was ultimately quite typical of recent efforts; get a lead, have a bad second period where the lead evaporates, and then either someone in a Kraken sweater gets two points and they win or someone doesn’t and they lose. Though with the Avs and Kraken slowly building a bit of a rivalry with each other, it should be no surprise that the Squids and Avs spent a lot of time messing around; both sides traded cross-checking penalties at different points in the game, and Vince Dunn and Bowen Byram tussled in the third. This matchup has already been a
- MATTY SCORED! AT LONG LAST, MATTY BENIERS HAS HIS FIRST GOAL! He was actually pretty solid all around tonight so it was good to see him finally get rewarded for it.
- Speaking of another center, Shane Wright! Wright played limited minutes, but he was extremely strong in said sheltering, and that’s a great start. Had a couple of strong chances as well.
- For those who were concerned about Seattle’s “grit” level in comparison to the hitting being done by the Avs; one should remember that hockey is a game where two fanbases collide. If you were concerned about the hitting? Puck Yeti’s Evan Liu spent most of the game in the ForHockeyFans slack absolutely exasperated by how well the Kraken were breaking down the Avs like they were built to counteract them from the ground up.
- And that’s the nice opinion; Avs fans have been throwing up a number of very fun opinions of watching the Kraken; calling them “Boring” (which I disagree with), to “Dirty” (which kind of flies in the face of how they do things most of the time), to some straight up threats of vehicular manslaughter???? I think we can say Avs fans are not normal when it comes to Seattle anymore.
- Still gonna have to have a discussion about net-front defense with the Kraken. That’s a great area of the ice to deny your opponent and they’ve had a hell of a time doing it.
- Dave Hakstol has got to start impressing on his guys that the second period is an opportunity to extend the lead, not let the other team back in. It’s maddening how often this has happened and it happened again tonight.
- It is for those two reasons I’m not holding Grubauer’s .889 SV% against him. He had to keep this team in it for far longer than even the best goaltenders should be asked to.
- And regarding more overall ideas of physicality, I think we can have the debate on whether or not the team is “soft”, but I see it more as a philosophy thing. This team’s strength is driving the other team crazy with relentless speed and forechecking, something that they were able to accomplish in spades against the Avs. In a perfect world, if you throw hits against Seattle you’d better make them count because otherwise all you’ve done is give up space. They have in the past been able to stick up for themselves, but staying in your game and making it clear you have to force them out of it can be just as intimidating as getting hit, and the Kraken absolutely took their space and ran with it tonight. They need to remember this game as a get-right game (and a get-Wright game, HEYOOO-.) and take that momentum forward now that they’re going to be playing a truly desperate Oilers squad.
- That said I’m fully expecting a donnybrook next game against the Avs. They let it go once, but that’s the thing; you can always get one. Next one comes with payment.
- Unfortunately, a decidedly not-good trend being set by the Kraken and Avs meeting is that whenever they play against one another; somebody is in danger of getting hurt, and unfortunately that grim sentence was passed to Artturi Lehkonen, who lost balance on some incidental contact with Jamie Oleksiak, and went headfirst into the boards. Mercifully he was pulled form the game early and went to the hospital as a precaution, but those kinds of board impacts have shortened careers. We really hope he’s okay, and that he recovers fully.
Let’s Give a Hand To…
- Ollie Bjorkstrand! The Game winner was just an incredible example of what happens when you stick with a play. Absolutely incredible work from him tonight, and two goals well-earned. A true Maestro.
- Jaden Schwartz! For continuing his climb up the goalscoring ladder, and for another two points well-earned. A goal and an assist on Matty’s goal.
- Adam Larsson! Had a hand in both of Bjorkstrand’s goals and played a million minutes. Well done.
- Jamie Oleksiak! Spent a lot of this game taking high-speed shots to parts of the body I wouldn’t take with a suit of armor on. Goalies are weird, Defensemen are crazy.
- Vince Dunn! Had a hand in Schwartz and Matty’s goals.
- The Penalty Kill! The Kraken PK has honestly been kinda middling lately, but 0/3 against Nathan MacKinnon-led man advantages is nothing to sneeze at.
The NaturalStatTrick.com Charts!
Not bad at all, but definitely had the potential to be better. DEFINITELY need to clean up that Net-Front.
The Kraken get a day off, and then they run headfirst into a spiraling team everyone thought was going to be so much better; the Edmonton Oilers, on Saturday night. That game drops the puck at 7pm PT.
Thank you very much for reading, and always remember
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win
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