It was a wild afternoon in Madison Square Garden, and I don’t know about you, but I’m still reeling from all of the action. At times, it made me wonder if I was up at the tennis courts up in Flushing, Queens instead of watching a hockey game at the World’s Most Famous Arena in the heart of Manhattan. Yet, for all of the game’s twists and turns, the Kraken completed their Metropolitan Division road trip with 6 out of 8 total points and will return to Seattle with something even more precious than the points: a renewed sense of who they are as a team.
A quick note: embeds are still not working fully correctly for me. I think WordPress is having an issue in that respect. So if you don’t see a video directly below a goal I’m discussing, just click the link in the paragraph itself to see the highlight. I’m doing my best trying to recap 12 goals here!
Period 1
In the past two games, one of the strengths the Kraken brought was getting on the score sheet early and doing it first. Today, the script was flipped on its head. The Rangers scored only 3:38 into the game with a goal that I bet Philipp Grubauer wants back. The puck had trickled right through him, and before he could even realize that it was now behind him, Reilly Smith batted it right in.
There was a brief scare that the Kraken were going to have to bring in the New York finance guy EBUG they signed after Joey Daccord came down with illness and couldn’t suit up today. Filip Chytil ran straight into Grubauer in net in what was a completely unnecessary move. Grubauer was down on the ground for a few moments, but eventually composed himself and kept going in the game. Some people were calling Grubauer’s reaction to it as embellishment, and maybe there was a little bit of that, but why was Chytil even skating right up in Grubauer’s kitchen like that in the first place? There was more than enough space on the ice for him to take a different path.
One of the worries I had as the period went on was that the Rangers had stretches where they were putting relentless pressure on Grubauer, but he couldn’t seem to get clean stops on all of them. With the collision, the nature of the first goal he let up, and the general nature of playing afternoon games, it felt like they could have all been affecting just how effective his goaltending could be. Yet, he never let another goal in during the period. When the horn sounded, and a scuffle broke out behind the net, the Kraken were only down 1-0.
Period 2
Only 14 seconds into the period, Matty Beniers was elbowed by Ryan Lindgren, sending the Kraken on the power play. I think the power play might be back, folks. Oliver Bjorkstrand potted this puck in after one of Chandler Stephenson’s patented passes.
The tie was short lived, though. 64 seconds to be exact. As the Rangers took off on the attack out of their own zone, Kaapo Kakko passed the puck down to Chytil, where he just blasted the puck right down Broadway.
The Rangers then padded their lead on the power play on a goal that Grubauer will surely be beating himself up for on the entire trip back home to Seattle. He took himself out of the net to try to smother a moving puck, but when he couldn’t stop it, it left the net wide open for the taking. Vincent Trocheck surely wasn’t gonna miss.
After most of the period seemed like might be more tilted toward the Rangers, the Kraken got up into Johnathan Quick and made the most of the net front presence. After some hacking and whacking around the net itself, Brandon Tanev was able to drive into the net and pot one right past Quick.
About a minute and a half later, Eeli Tolvanen decided to join the goal scoring party. It was an absolute blast of a shot that Quick certainly wasn’t going to get a handle of.
As the period started to come to a close, the Kraken bookended it perfectly with yet another goal of their own. Brandon Montour blasted the puck from the blue line, and Bjorkstrand was in the right space at the right time to tip it in.
The Rangers truly seemed befuddled out there in the second half of the period, and even when they were on the attack, it seemed like their shots were going wide or missing the net in ways they weren’t earlier in the game. It was like the razor-sharp focus they had brought to start the game suddenly disappeared. The Kraken properly took advantage and ended the period 4-3 with their first lead of the game.
Period 3
The Kraken were determined to not let off the gas of their momentum from the end of the previous period. It only took a minute for Vince Dunn to pad the lead with a goal that was extremely reminiscent of his blast against the Islanders on Thursday night.
As the period went on, the Rangers were back to applying pressure. They weren’t going to let themselves roll over and have the Kraken continue to steamroll them. Grubauer came up big with some strong saves, and really put to bed some of my doubts from earlier in the game. He just needed some time to settle in and wake up.
Even after the Rangers applied pressure, Shane Wright decided it was his turn to crash into the net and continue the parade of goals. It was a beautiful play that truly highlighted the way that entire line with him, Bjorkstrand, and Tolvanen have been performing.
All that goal insurance started to look really nice as the Rangers pushed forward. One goal from K’Andre Miller and another from Alexis Lafreniรจre chipped away at the Kraken’s lead. Only 1 goal now separated these two teams from being tied again.
Thankfully, Yanni Gourde was able to bring some extra cushion back to the game as he potted an empty net goal to bring the score to 7-5.
Final Thoughts
It was a wild back-and-forth contest between the two teams, but the Kraken proved that they were team able to dig in deeper. I certainly don’t want to belittle what the Rangers have been going through lately. Their team started falling into such a spiral that the organization felt forced to make a major shake up. Ultimately Jacob Trouba decided to allow a trade to the Anaheim Ducks, but the Rangers seemingly threatened to put him on waivers if he wouldn’t budge. The captain was no longer seen as the right person to lead their team nor be allowed to play on it. I’ve seen players on other teams mention that when a major change like this happens, it forces everyone to ask what they could’ve done differently to prevent losing a captain or firing a coach. Their game against the Penguins on Friday night was a sign that the Rangers were starting to wake up, and the 3-1 lead they jumped out to was another. The Rangers weren’t looking like the pushover team they had been as of late.
The Kraken had a chip on their shoulder as well, though. Losing to some of the worst teams in the league prompted the team to take a look at what they were doing. When asked about it, everyone seemed to indicate that it was a mindset shifted. Eeli Tolvanen said that “everybody just bought into putting the puck deep, getting on the forecheck, [and] playing for the team.” Coach Dan Bylsma mentioned that the takeway for this trip wouldn’t be just the three wins, but how they won: “A little change in mindset of we play and how we compete and where we compete.” Brandon Tanev described the team’s identity on this trip with a lot of descriptors that hadn’t necessarily been the way the Kraken had played prior: “It’s fast, it’s physical, its simple, everyone being on the same page, blocking shots, doing the little things that matter. Stopping pucks, getting a puck in deep when you have to, standing up for your teammate when it’s necessary.”
Part of the magic of sports is the fact that we, whether it be journalists in the press box or fans in the stands, are able to turn randomness into narrative. Each game is a completely separate event from another, but when strung together into a sequence, patterns emerge. One of the narrative tropes that I think people seek out is The Turning Point. What’s that one moment in the season that sparked everything to turn around? The problem with this trope is that it’s a lot easier to point it out in hindsight than it is in the moment. This four-game road trip has only just ended, and we still have yet to see if the Kraken are going to be able to take the lessons learned back home with them to Seattle. Yet, the conditions do feel ripe for a Turning Point moment. The team is finally playing the way it’s needed to for so long. They’re playing the style of hockey they were known for more when they made the playoffs in their second season: a deep team where it doesn’t matter which line is on the ice. It’s about finding the will and drive to compete no matter what the score looks like. It’s about doing the most to avoid letting off the gas.
Whether or not it’s the true Turning Point that we’ll all be able to look back at by April as the point that saved the season is up for the Kraken to decide. Writing the ending is in their hands, not mine! I’m honestly more of the ghostwriter in this case, using what the Kraken tell me is up next and writing the final copy for them. Yet, it’s certainly a pleasant twist in the narrative to see them finally put together what is truly Kraken hockey, baby.