Had the game ended devastatingly, the Kraken’s casual defense would’ve been a bigger post-game talking point. For now, Joey Daccord can take his team’s reliance to the point of carelessness as a compliment. His goaltending is strong enough to lean on.
Daccord’s 32-save performance Saturday night makes seven-straight starts for the unofficial number one goaltender, who’s allowed only 1.70 goals on average and saved 6.76 above expected over that span.
On breakaways that slipped through the defense’s grasp, versus demanding lateral plays, and challenged with chaotic net-front flurries, he was an impenetrable force. A slot chance on a four-minute man disadvantage taken following a high-sticking double minor to Brandon Tanev and a highlight reel play– a lacrosse goal, the league’s second of the night, courtesy of Trevor Zegras– were all he failed to stop.
Part of the blame falls to the skaters in front of Daccord, ambitiously pinching, puck watching, and poorly anticipating opposing plays. These defensive lapses went unmentioned by every post-game interviewee, suddenly irrelevant.
“He’s standing very tall for us, he’s playing very confident,” Tomáš Tatar said of Daccord.
Failing to reign in a smile, he went on to gush about his new team, unprompted. “So far I am impressed with everyone, to be honest. We picked up a lot of points on this road trip and hopefully we’ll continue.”
Mistakes tend to be overlooked in favor of celebration, as in last night’s contest, seeing Seattle best the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 for points in six-straight, and boy have they needed a reason to celebrate, be it the strength of goaltending or a clumsy win. December’s been as grim as these early winter evenings for the Kraken, who’ve scrounged together four wins the entire month.
“It’s a dark place, sometimes, coming to the rink when things aren’t going your way,” Vince Dunn confessed. “We haven’t been a team that got quiet on each other. I think everyone would say the same– that we’re a really close group.”
Collaboration was the key to finding a 2-0 lead before first intermission.
It allowed Jared McCann, returning from a tweaked leg muscle sustained against the Dallas Stars, to slip back into the lineup as if he’d never left. His blind, cross-ice pass to Oliver Bjorkstrand, helped the Dane score on the power play. Later, cruising into the offensive zone on a two-on-one, Matty Beniers sauced a pass to Dunn over the head of defenseman Jackson LaCombe, mid-slide, to set him up for an easy tap-in behind Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal.
Anaheim surged to control 67.48% of the shot quality in the second frame and cut the deficit in half. Seattle wasn’t rattled knowing the support they’d find in the crease, and were soon rewarded with a response. Patiently dragging the puck around the Ducks’ defense and sneaking net-front, Tatar scored backhanded and from an impossible angle early in the third for the game-winner.
But he couldn’t have done so without Dunn, who physically held back opposing skaters to clear space for his teammate to work undisturbed.
“Teams go through adversity but when you have a team that sticks together you can find a way to get out of it,” Dunn concluded.
The locker room and the state of its relationship with head coach Dave Hakstol has spent the last few weeks under fire. In reality, it’s the Kraken’s biggest strength. Of stark contrast to his former Colorado Avalanche teammates, whose locker room appears to be coming apart at the seams, chemistry is making for an oppressive offensive cohesiveness for Seattle. Tatar recognized that immediately upon arrival.
“I’m very grateful for the guys, how they welcomed me to Seattle. It wasn’t easy. It was pretty fast, everything that happened in the span of 48 hours. But it looks like me, Matty, and Ebs [Jordan Eberle] are building some chemistry,” Tatar said. “I’m having a lot of fun.”
Four games into his tenure with Seattle and Tatar has already accumulated four points and found the back of the net twice. Among Kraken lines having played at least 30 minutes together, Tatar, Beniers, and Eberle are third-best at controlling on-ice shot quality (57.9%). Such efficient scoring would not have been feasible with the Avalanche, whom he failed to connect with.
Undeniably, the Kraken’s issue lies within finding confidence and attacking consistently, not personnel relations. Tatar can attest to this, if his one-kneed goal celebration, Hakstol’s smile at the final buzzer, and the bear hug Chris Driedger attacked his tandem partner with didn’t send home the message already.
“Hockey feels right again.”
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