Kraken @ Blues RECAP: Kraken can’t capitalize in 4-3 OT loss

YOU FOOLS

YOU HAD THEM. HAD. THEM.

AND YOU LET IT SLIP THROUGH YOUR FINGERTIPS

The Highlights, if you can stand them

Game Notes

• Your TOI Leader tonight was Adam Larsson, who had 25:26 logged.
• They just let St. Louis back into this one. They absolutely did not need to do that either. St. Louis was playing like s#!t the entire night; they were chippy because they couldn’t play any defense that mattered, barely got any offense that wasn’t assisted to them by a call, gave up three goals, and had their tenth shot of the night after the ten minute mark of the second period. You should absolutely win those games no matter what. Just an absolutely unacceptable collapse of defensive structure while up two goals, and an absolutely unacceptable result against a team they otherwise ran out of the building by the halfway point of the 2nd.
• Of course, that pretty frank paragraph of frustration comes with a buried lede: The penalty kill was hot garbage tonight; being 0-for-2, which allowed St. Louis to get a foothold into this game. If they even got one kill of the two allowed, this would’ve been the easiest win the Kraken had gotten in the last two years. It’s the one thing that wasn’t working 100%, and it absolutely killed them tonight.
• This was a rare bad night for Joey Daccord, though in fairness just about every goal scored against him was done without a lot of help on his own end. Still…maybe one or two bigger saves in a night where St. Louis was barely getting anything at 5-on-5 wouldn’t hurt. A .778 SV% on 18 shots is definitely unbecoming. Still, most of this falls on the PK not coming through.
• Overtime wasn’t a hell of a lot better. Kraken looked like they were terrified of making a mistake, and it cost them.
• Honestly, it’s a terrible shame all of this ended in a loss. The Kraken played a genuinely excellent first 35 minutes of game-time before things started getting squirrelly on them, and even through the third period after surrendering a goal to Buchnevich they absolutely cranked up the pressure to try and get a 4th goal. They even got a power play tally on one of the crispest passing sequences they had all season. Awful that they couldn’t end it with a win.
• The point helped, but thanks to being unable to put this one away, the Kraken are still out of a playoff spot with LA cratering, and have allowed St. Louis crucial points over them. They need to play Columbus and San Jose and pound them into dust, and it was entirely avoidable to turn those games into bigger deals than they need to be.
• Still, I hope they drop 30 on the Jackets. Some vengeance for Matty has to be taken.
• Cal, if you’re wondering if all Kraken games are like this…an astonishing and frankly insane amount of them are like this. Please sign in Seattle anyway. I promise you they win some of these.

Was There Anything Positive About This Game?

YES. PLENTY.

• Ollie Bjorkstrand had another all-star performance tonight; 2 points, absolutely put the Blus’ Perunivich in a cell underneath hell itself on a pickpocket, and capped off a phenomenal sequence on the power play. A first star well-deserved.
• Brian Dumoulin! For getting goal #4 on the year at a moment they desperately needed it. Excellent job for him.
• Jared McCann! I was a little worried about him for a minute there, and now he’s ripped off 7 points in his last 5 games and was an absolute force in the shot-share battle.
• Honestly, I’m just gonna give it to the Gourde line in general because once again they had an absolutely phenomenal game. Eeli Tolvanen capped it off with a great goal, but they were buzzing all night, and that sequence was perfect.

…Which makes it so ANNOYING THAT THEY DIDN’T WIN GOD-

The NaturalStatTrick.com Charts

I looked at these charts like Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner for like ten straight minutes. How on earth did they end up losing this.

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Well, that loss was bad. But thankfully they play a game that’s much less acceptable to drop a loss in on Sunday evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets when they blow into town.

Two games before the All-Star Break. Better make ’em count.

Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win