Returning to routines and real life is no easy task after the holidays.
With an exhilarating 5-4 overtime victory in Vancouver Saturday, Seattle snapped a season-high five-game losing skid fresh off a four-day break. That is, not until buckling down and seriously sharpening their execution with 55 minutes already in the books.
What will linger of that performance in the minds of witnesses are the remaining five minutes of regulation– miraculous or devastating, depending on their allegiance– wherein Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn combined for three goals to tie what was a 4-1 game. If Dunn can’t remember his overtime-winning goal, his 11th point in his last 12 games and second three-point effort this month, there are no shortage of highlight reels and hype videos including his breakaway wrister to beat Thatcher Demko.
“Honestly it was kind of a blackout. I don’t think I’ve ever had a breakaway in my life,” the defenseman said post-game. “The pressure was on me. I beat the goalie in the same spot earlier in the period, late in the third. I just tried to do the same thing and got a great result.”
Seattle’s three-goal comeback within the final five minutes of regulation is the third such instance in league history. San Jose did it in October, and Montreal back in 2014. For Vancouver, it was the first time in franchise history they’d lost a game in that manner.
What may fade from the minds of onlookers, however, were the disheartening two-and-three-quarters periods preceding the spectacle.
Erroneous passes and frequent turnovers at both ends of the ice disrupted exits and entries, stagnating the Kraken’s attack. Offensive hesitancy amounted to six shots and a game-opening deficit conceded on the man disadvantage at the end of the first twenty minutes. Poor recoveries, puck watching, and a lost offensive zone faceoff led to an additional three Canucks goals before the halfway point of the final period.
Giveaways were 10-3, Seattle, through forty minutes. They finished the game with 11 total.
“Our details, they gotta be better. Puck play, simple plays, cleaning up, making hard plays in critical areas, getting the line,” assistant coach Jessica Campbell said during second intermission. “You can see when we get pucks behind [Vancouver], we can sustain and get our forecheck on their D.”
Vancouver appeared to score again for a four-goal lead, pouncing on a loose puck at Seattle’s blueline to thwart an exit, but the goal was revoked. Dakota Joshua, driving towards the net, batted the puck up and over Philipp Grubauer.
Head coach Dan Bylsma called the sequence and those leading up to it “dismal” for his team.
“I thought we used it as a little bit of a wakeup call,” he reflected afterwards. “The way we came back, time was dwindling down– the effort should build a lot of confidence in the guys for being able to come back and being able to win a hockey game.”
Following practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex Sunday morning, Bylmsa said he addressed the “mess” of his team’s performance, but emphasized that while necessary, schedule breaks hardly set teams up for success upon return to the rink.
“I think every coach will tell you, the games after the break are not really that pretty of hockey games. Guys don’t feel great, I mean, it’s an eternity. It’s important and it’s necessary, but four days off is like an eternity,” he said. “Two days off, the body starts to recoil and heal itself, and four days off, it’s going to be a grind coming back.”
“I think we knew that, we acknowledged that, and we went into the game with that mindset.”
Regardless, the details of Seattle’s game have hurt them all season. Giveaways per game have nearly doubled their totals from last season, increasing from 6.60 to 13.62. Before this, the highest they’d ever been was 8.16 during the inaugural season.
Seattle isn’t allowing many more shots against per game than they have in the past, but the chances they’re allowing are of higher value. Expected goals against per 60 indicates the performance of team defense sans goaltending, which can inflate plain GA/60 numbers independent of the defense’s performance. Seattle’s xGA/60 is the highest it’s ever been at both five-on-five (2.59) and in all situations (3.22).
Additionally, the Kraken have allowed the third-most high danger shots in the league this season (158), behind only the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. Last season, they allowed the fewest of any team.
Declining defense has resulted in most of Seattle’s games being won or lost by at least three goals (16), of which they hold a 6-10 record. The Kraken have lost six games by at least three goals since Nov. 27.