SEVEN. SCORERS.
THERE WAS AN ENTIRE PERIOD WHERE THERE WAS NO SCORING.
WHAT A GAME.
But first, the Highlights!:
Game Notes:
- Your TOI leader was Adam Larsson, with 25:24 TOI logged!
- The Kraken showed some serious gumption, some real grit, if you will, in response to getting mostly pumped in Game 2. They dismantled the Stars’ defense, and for the most part they controlled the most important parts of the ice. They also got a little bit of help from an unsteady Jake Oettinger, who they chased in the 2nd period for Scott Wedgewood…who did not make much of a difference!
- Paul Bissonette on the TBS broadcast suggested that the building was dark which contributed to the goaltending misfires but uh…personally I thought they got some great looks and that building was plenty bright; they just couldn’t get saves.
- I think the real turning point was an errant shot that popped Stars’ wunderkind defender Miro Heiskanen straight in the mouth, which contributed to Jordan Eberle’s opening tally. From there, it became clear that the Stars defense has a lot of deficiencies when he’s not around, and the Kraken capitalized big time. If he’s out for any exceptional length of time it may spell doomsday for Dallas.
- The Kraken also matched Dallas’ physicality appropriately tonight, giving as good as they got from the Stars and then some. Yanni Gourde of course bringing a little bit of that playoff pugilism but I’ll also give Morgan Geekie some credit for locking horns with Max Domi. I will always take that trade-off six days out of the week and twice on sundays. Seems the Squids had enough of the Stars bossing them around in Game 2 and came out ready to rock.
- One of the big things Dave Hakstol preached in the leadup to Game 3 was getting net-front chances, and I think we can safely say that he got through to them. If they weren’t directly attacking the net, they were trying to create rebounds to further attack the net from distance. Just an excellent night for the Kraken offensively.
- Hakstol gave a lot of credit to the crowd who, in spite of TBS’ crowd mics best efforts, gave Climate Pledge an espresso shot. After that first goal, it felt like every shift was a dangerous one. It’s as I said: The Deep is a tough barn. Dallas got to learn that first hand.
- No word on Daniel Sprong, but he’s probably not playing Tuesday. We wish him a speedy recovery if it’s more serious than we realize. Same for Miro, I wouldn’t want to take that kind of shot to the kisser even if you paid me.
Let’s give out some plaudits!:
Brace yourself, this list is pretty long tonight!
- Let’s take it from the top and start with your Calder finalist and almost assured winner Matty Beniers. Two Points, got the play that got Eberle going and scored an absolute beauty on Jake Oettinger. First Star well earned as per usual!
- Jordan Eberle got the Kraken on the board and boy what a game he played tonight; causing trouble on both sides of the ice with aplomb.
- CARSON SOUCY! I know! Yeah he gave up a boneheaded penalty that was kinda ticky-tack but you know what? He scored a really nice goal five-hole and wasn’t entirely a net negative, getting possession going the right way for 60 minutes!
- Alex Wennberg pulled up and put a cannonshot past Oettinger in transition thanks to an unreal shift he and Jaden Schwartz shared!
- Eeli Tolvanen should alone get Ron Francis a statue. What a player he turned out to be. I’m so excited for him to be a (hopefully) long-time player in Deep Blue going forward!
- Justin Schultz proved that with enough cussedness and a hard shot? You can score on the power play. That’s no mean feat with how Special Teams in Seattle have been.
- My main man Yanni Gourde. What a dude. Stirring up trouble, scoring goals, killing penalties, taking no s#!t. He played with passion and with a point to prove, and I’d say he did it spectacularly.
- Philipp Grubauer could’ve had a .900 SV% tonight, and still have vastly outperformed the Dallas netminder pair. He played out of his mind tonight and deserves full credit for the excellent performance. Playoff Grubi is on another level.
No but seriously can you believe there was no scoring in the first period? What a wild game.
Let’s celebrate the win and marvel at the NaturalStatTrick.com Charts!:
Kraken get a chance to push Dallas to the brink on Tuesday night. That game is on ESPN (oh god.), and the puck drops at 6:30pm PT
Let’s get a good night’s rest in, get excited…and of course.
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.
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