The highlights (if you can stand them):
Game Notes
- It was reasonable to expect the Kraken to be rusty playing against Philadelphia on Saturday coming off a long break. However, this excuse could not be applied tonight, and the Kraken came out flat again to start the first 35 minutes or so of the game.
- Part of that was penalties, part of that was Brian Dumoulin getting hurt and leaving the game early, and the Kraken never really got into any sort of rhythm. They were getting forechecked to oblivion by the Devils.
- Dumoulin left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return. Coach Hakstol, as usual, did not elaborate.
- The Kraken started the second period getting outshot 15-0. That, in my estimation, is suboptimal for Seattle.
- Joey Daccord was great tonight again, but he was left hung out to dry too many times. It seems like the Kraken so far have been pick two between good goaltending, good special teams, and good 5-on-5 play, but you may never have all three.
- Seattle did come to life towards the end of the game, but they were down 3-0 by that point and scoring effects would generally dictate that the trailing team is going to win the shot quality/quantity battle at that point, so it’s hard to read too much into it, but if you do want a positive takeaway, the Kraken did finish somewhat strong.
Was Hakstol trying to send a message to Beniers?
Matty Beniers turned the puck over in his own zone which led to the second goal of the game.
Afterward, Beniers wasn’t on the ice for the next 11 minutes. When asked by Geoff Baker (Seattle Times) about it, Coach Hakstol said it was just part of the gameflow, since the Kraken were on the penalty kill:
“We went through kills at the time. That’s not part of what (Matty) does. The turnover came off his tape and ultimately that’s his responsibility, but there five guys on the ice who have to be in the right spots to get that going and look organized.”
Baker: “So that wasn’t a message or anything?”
“No,” Hakstol immediately replied. “I’ve told you before if I have a message, I’ll talk to a player directly.”
This is consistent with what he’s said in the past. When Ryker Evans was called up and activated over Brian Dumoulin on December 7th, he replied similarly when I asked him if it was about sending a message, as written about by Allyson in her excellent piece about reading into Hakstol’s words.
“If I want to send a message,” he said. “I’m going to sit across from somebody and talk to them. I don’t need to call somebody up to send a message. We don’t do that.”
Let’s Give a Hand To…
- Joey Daccord: who stopped 34 of 37 shots (.919) and wasn’t the problem tonight. He just couldn’t get the goal support.
- Tom Ohashi and Brady Morgan: Okay, this is a bit of a gimme because there was a fourth Devils goal challenged for goalie interference. Ohashi and Morgan are the video staff who signal down to Hakstol to tell him if he should challenge or not. It should have also been a penalty on New Jersey, but the Kraken were not getting any breaks with the zebra variance tonight.
Three Stars of the Game
⭐⭐⭐Tyler Toffoli (1G)
⭐⭐ Nico Daws (26 of 27 saved, .964 sv%)
⭐ Jack Hughes (1G, 1A)
Here’s the heat map courtesy of Natural Stat Trick:
The standings race has not been kind to the Kraken and the playoffs aren’t out of reach yet, but things have to turn around and there isn’t a ton of time to do so in a very competitive playoff race.
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win
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