Surrounded by family and skating in as picturesque a rink as one could dream of, no one would blame the Kraken for straying off task in their familiar morning skate duties in prep for the Winter Classic. It’s not everyday line rushes and the flexing of power play units are swathed in a late December chill reminiscent of childhoods spent on frozen ponds.
But sentimentality never had a chance to take root Saturday at Seattle’s first and only practice at T-Mobile Park, quickly replaced by a determination to succeed, to follow through on the seasonal comeback set up by the eight-game point streak that led them to New Year’s Day.
Success tonight is what head coach Dave Hakstol calls a necessary “block in the building process,” as opposed to simply a good time.
“It’s a spectacular event, and it’s one that our guys are excited and proud to be a part of,” he said Saturday. “They should have fun. They should be a big part of it with their families.” Once the puck drops, however, “it becomes about the two points really quickly.”
Message received, loud and clear. Not the grandeur of their outdoor stage, not hosting the reigning Stanley Cup champions, not even the mention of tonight’s sell-out crowd, expected to near 47,000, fazed anyone as dictated in various media scrums. Focus inside the locker room was concentrated on toppling Vegas, on executing as planned. Seattle is locked in.
Unfortunately, confidence and resolve won’t make Vegas any easier of an opponent. As a top-ten offensive team in terms of shot quality generation and goal-scoring, projected starter Joey Daccord’s formidable numbers (.949 SV% and 1.54 GAA over last seven) will be put to the test. Seattle still lacks the offensive jump they may need to get them safely out of tight game situations, of which have occurred all too often. Six of their last games have been decided by one goal.
“They’re a heavy team that has depth up front, they’re big and strong on the backend, make it really hard to get to the net,” Hakstol assessed. “They’re built to be a good hockey team.”
And while the Kraken have only ever beaten the Knights once in franchise history– Nov 25 last season, 4-2 with the now injured Philipp Grubauer in net– that fact is of little concern.
“Anything before this year doesn’t really matter,” Hakstol said. “At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what your opponent does unless you do the things that you know you need to do to be successful.”
Seattle’s personally unconcerned with Vegas as an opponent, only on achieving their own high standard of play. That’s an attitude that could take them far– no revenge is being sought, emotions won’t run unreasonably high, reckless plays won’t be made. In fact, Jordan Eberle and Adam Larsson both denied feeling any kind of a rivalry budding between themselves and the Knights, despite the intentionality of pitting the newest expansion teams against one another for the marquee event.
“For me, rivalries are always created in the playoffs,” Eberle said yesterday. “That’s how things start.” But who knows– there’s a first time for everything.
“Maybe it starts tomorrow, we don’t know.”
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