How could you do this to poor Aleš
What has he done to you, Tampa Bay?
But first, the Highlights:
Game Preview
- Your TOI leader was Vince Dunn, who finished the night with 24:27 logged.
- The annoying thing about losing a game this way is that for the first twenty minutes or so, the Kraken actually kept Tampa guessing! They clogged up lanes, they passed well, and they kept the Lightning mostly to the outside! They were even outshooting them for most of the game! But they also needed to keep that up for not just the full 60, but every phase of it, where unfortunately they ran headfirst into their old friend Power Play Troubles. Namely, their baffling ability to surrender shorthanded goals. From there, the Kraken began to take more chances and unfortunately create more mistakes in their own end; particularly in transition.
- I don’t even know what the hell to tell you about the power play at this point. I’ve exhausted all adjectives to describe how poorly it’s being run by this group of players. Maybe it’s them, maybe it’s the system, maybe it’s both. I just don’t know how we keep running into this issue time and time again.
- I think the most annoying part of this game is by far the fact that the Kraken actually controlled play pretty well against the Lightning and otherwise had a lot of ice to work with, which is unusual given how I’ve seen them play. It’s just a shame the offense went dry beyond Shane’s goal; they had chance after chance after chance. Vasilevskiy must have a horseshoe surgically implanted into his ribcage or something.
- The big thing of course will be discussing Aleš Stezka’s play. He left this game with a pretty mediocre SV% that was well below .900, and while he did have some real strong points tonight, one of his big concerns was how very deliberate and big his motions in net were, which led to some real issues where sudden changes of direction of the puck sort of made him look silly. The Kraken did a great job for a long time of limiting those kinds of chances…right up until they didn’t, and he then began to struggle. I’m not gonna blame him entirely for staring down the barrel of Nikita Kucherov and flinching, but they will need a better performance from him next time. The team will have to get comfortable with his game somehow, and if this is how you gotta do it? Well then, that’s how they have to do it. Joey can’t play every night, and as I think we can say with certainty; the other options are not looking great at the moment.
Was there anything good about this game?
A couple things.
- Shane Wright continues his point streak, this time with the only goal scored by Seattle tonight.
- The 4th overall pick is still pretty firmly in Seattle’s grasp at the moment.
I would’ve loved to have put Stezka here, but I think we’ll have to wait on that.
The Charts, via NaturalStatTrick.com
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
The Kraken make their way home soon, but before they finish their little roadie, they need to make a stop in with the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. That game drops the puck at 5pm PT.
Thanks for reading, and as always:
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.