I think they should keep pulling Rangers off New York’s until they start scoring again.
But first, what could be almost misconstrued as Highlights:
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Brandon Montour, who played 26:27
- This game was a smorgasbord of all the lowlights of Kraken hockey; goaltending bailing out a sub-par defense until the dam finally breaks, complete failure of goal support, and special teams being incapable of pulling them even against a team they should be much, much better than. Just a bleak, bleak effort that they only really started to put energy into when they were already down enough goals to feel like an insurmountable problem. Just an unacceptable effort and I really, really hope they know it.
- I’ll just say it; I’m getting really sick of how much of the offense is dependent on defensemen starting it. I want to see these Kraken cycle the puck like they actually want to move the backcheckers without the backcheckers making a mistake first. I think Bylsma’s system has some merit when the team is skating hard, but the level of passive play from both the defense and offense is just getting infuriating. I know they are better than this. Or maybe; should be better than this.
- Joey didn’t exactly light the world on fire, but I feel like the charts will make it clear; he was not getting the help he needed to succeed tonight. Still, an .875 is below his standards. Let’s hope it’s just an aberration.
- I feel like one of the hallmarks of Kraken seasons so far is that a key injury suddenly causes a massive reverberation of bad things to happen to their ability to play with any sense of cohesion. It was Burky, Turbo, Eberle, Dunn…and it almost never improves until they’re back. It feels like every time it happens, suddenly the act of controlling a game becomes so much harder. It really feels like this is something the team needs to address.
- Also I don’t know about you but I’m getting really sick of their offense coming from the point or not at all. Surely you can fish for rebounds from at least the half-wall, no? Is that not what we’re going for here?
- I don’t care who is leading the charge on this power play system anymore; you should be able to score at least once on Arvid Soderblom on a power play. Throw out whatever you’re doing because it is clearly not working.
- At least the World Juniors will feature a lot of Future Kraken players. That’ll be fun.
Was there anything positive about this game?
Sure.
- Ryker Evans scored his first goal since October 29th tonight and was the sole goalscorer for Seattle. We can thank him for not letting things get even more bleak.
- The Penalty Kill didn’t give up any goals.
- It moves them closer to another top 10 pick.
That’s about it. This team is kind of hard up for positives at the moment.
The Charts, via NaturalStatTrick.com
I said this with a little bit of humor in the early part of the season, but I am no longer laughing; you need to actually help your f!#king goalie. The Blackhawks spent a good portion of this night sitting directly on his neck and you just let them!? Shameful. Just shameful.
The Kraken have a helluva weekend ahead of them; playing the Golden Knights and the Avalanche on the road in a back-to-back designed explicitly as a middle finger to anyone who appreciates professional sports from a 206 area code. I swear to god I will face the schedulemakers in a hell in a cell match, and all will marvel as I place each and every one of them in a picture perfect Sharpshooter submission hold.
Anyway, the first of those two games is Vegas on Saturday, and it begins at 7pm PT.
Also, Sorry for not having a gamethread up in time, by the way! That was a mistake on my part in rushing out the door. There will be threads set up ahead of time for the Knights and Avs game.
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.