The Need to Knows
- The Time: 7pm PT
- The Place: SAP Center in San Jose, CA
- Place to Watch: KONG, KHN, NBCSCA, ESPN+
- Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM
Know Your Enemy
The Seattle Kraken and the San Jose Sharks have fought in two of their three meetings this season. Klim Kostin and Will Borgen brawled in what ended up an 8-5 loss for Seattle in November, and when these two teams met later in January, it was Henry Thrun and Vince Dunn who dropped the gloves during the Kraken’s 6-2 win. At risk of dropping the season series to the worst team in the league in terms of points (50), regulation wins (14), and goal differential (-90), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a continuation of this pattern– especially if things go sideways for Seattle fast.
Although, San Jose will have enough reason of their own to instigate given they’re 3-6-1 over their last 10 games and averaging 1.75 goals over their last four– they controlled shot quality in exactly one of those games (an 8-1 loss to Los Angeles) and possession in exactly one (a 4-3 SO Loss to Anaheim). On the season, they’ve generated 41.46% of the total shot quality (31st) and 45.56% of the shot attempts (31st) at five-on-five.
Seattle brings a far more successful penalty kill to this battle than San Jose, but the Sharks have the Kraken beat on the power play, converting on 19.1% of opportunities this season (22nd). Macklin Celebrini is a big part of this success, leading his team in power play goals (7) and power play assists (13) while trailing only William Eklund for the most points overall (54).
Game Preview
Seattle is at risk of losing two of their most productive goal-scorers for the second consecutive game. According to Dan Bylsma, Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen are both game-time decisions after sitting out of Seattle’s 5-0 shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks.