With injuries mounting, the final pair of Seattle Kraken pre-season games take on added urgency. Needing early season replacements for Kaapo Kakko for sure, and maybe Jared McCann, Chandler Stephenson, Brandon Montour and others, the Monday tilt at Climate Pledge Arena between the Kraken and Calgary Flames became an important prospect audition.
Of note, the “Kid” line of Matty Beniers (age 22), Jani Nyman (21), and Berkly Catton (19), who combined on Catton’s 2nd period goal. Catton shined in the d-zone too, with two shot blocks on one 3rd period shift. Later in the 3rd, a slinky move in the zone around a defender allowed Catton a testing shot on goal.
Ultimately, it was a Calgary prospect, 19 year old Matvei Gridin, who won the game 2-1 with a breakaway goal in regulation and the game-winning shootout score.
1st Period
Kraken defensemen Cale Fleury and Vince Dunn each delivered solid checks in the early going. That and an unsuccessful Kraken power play were about all worth mentioning in the first 10 minutes. The goalies, by the way, are Philipp Grubauer for Seattle and Dustin Wolf for Calgary. Thanks for asking.
Wolf has been the busier. Ryan Winterton’s spinaround wrister from between the circles is his 12th save in the first 15:05. Winterton, vying for one of those replacement forward spots, already has taken three shots – the same total the entire Flames team has on Grubauer.
Shots finished 17-5 Seattle in a scoreless 1st. 24-year-old senior citizen Tye Kartye has contributed four hits in 4:59 TOI. Standard caveat: as with most visiting teams in pre-season, the Flames team tonight only faintly resembles the squad they’ll ice in the regular season.
2nd Period
The Kid Line connects at 2:03, with all three earning points. Catton beats Wolf from a severe angle at the bottom of the left circle, with Nyman and Beniers drawing assists.
Someone sign Martin Pospisil up for a manners and etiquette class, maybe a semester’s worth. The Calgary forward, who once received a three-game suspension for a dirty hit that ended Vince Dunn’s season, exchanges pushes and words with the defenseman in front of the Seattle net. Pospisil, using his stick in all kinds of non-hockey ways, gets called for high-sticking AND cross-checking. Dunn gets a roughing minor.
Seconds later, Justin Kirkland tackles Ryker Evans. Because that’s not called, Kirkland steals the puck and attempts to slide it around Grubauer. If the Kraken netminder had been 6-0 instead of 6-1, Kirkland would have succeeded. But Grubauer’s able to do his best Gumby splits to keep Seattle in front.
Calgary’s Matvei Gridin ties the game 1-1 on a breakaway at 11:59. Ilya Solovyov finds Griden sneaking behind Cale Fleury. The center converts with a snap shot from between the hashes.
The Kraken easily kill a late Jamie Oleksiak hooking penalty. Like the end of the 1st, the 2nd period horn brings shoves, grabs, helmets knocked to the ice, snarky smiles and snarky comments. At one point on the KHN telecast, J.T. Brown, located between the benches, reported he had to mute his mic because of language the FCC would frown at.
Shots after 40 are 26-13, hits an almost identical 27-13, both favoring the home team.
3rd Period
Freddy Gaudreau with the fancy-Dan play of the night, eliciting “oohs” from the Kraken faithful, and it doesn’t matter if it didn’t result in a shot on goal. Gaudreau, in traffic, makes a 360-degree spin-o-rama through the left circle, then goes backhand-forehand. Unfortunately, his shot misses over the net.
Cale Fleury hits Nick Cicek so hard behind the net, Cicek’s stick (say that three times fast) flies all the way into the corner. The “Big Cat” and “Big Rig” take turns sending Pospisil to the ice. First, Adam Larsson flattens the winger against the end boards after a race for the puck. Later, Oleksiak takes down Pospisil – and gets called for it. Grubauer makes a fine post-to-post save on Aydar Suniev, helping the Kraken again kill Oleksiak’s minor.
Defenseman Larsson makes a rare foray deep into the Calgary zone, but Wolf denies both his shot and follow-up.
Overtime & Shootout
Larsson, the Big Cat, plays a Calgary 2-on-1 like a Cool Cat, breaking up Pospisil’s attempted centering pass.
Wolf sparkles with spectacular saves on both Ryker Evans and Eeli Tolvanen. Seconds later, Tolvanen appears to pot the game-winner. The horn sounds, the Kraken and fans celebrate – but replays show the puck hit both posts and didn’t fully cross the goal line.
In the shootout:
- Gaudreau scores on a backhand
- Frost scores by outwaiting Grubauer
- Catton’s shot goes off Wolf’s stick shaft
- Kirkland rings the post
- Beniers goes slow, off Wolf’s glove
- Coronato stopped by Grubauer’s pad
- Wright fails to beat Wolf 5-hole
- Gridin wins it for Calgary with a slow speed entry, then shot over Grubi’s glove.