What the hell is happening to this team.
If You Can Stand it, The Highlights
Game Notes, or Sky giving out about the Kraken’s inability to score goals
- The TOI Leader for the Kraken tonight was Adam Larsson with 25:11 logged.
- The Kraken straight up cannot score right now. They can get one, but after that they get that one…they simply cannot get anything else from their offense. It is an across the lineup problem; Matty looks out of sorts, the third line does cool stuff but rarely gets shots to net. Adam Larsson led this agonizing effort with six shots. This team is not just snakebitten, the snake’s swallowed them whole. In every game this year they’ve played that simple inability to get a second goal-for has won the game for their opponents more often than their opponents’ own offense has. Not every goalie in the league is a .950 SV% goalie; they just are when you’re putting the puck directly into their chests and gloves with haphazard shots.
- At this point, Dave Hakstol should just decline power plays and forget about pulling the goalie entirely. It is abundantly clear they do not have a functioning unit on the man-advantage, and they seem extremely timid with the puck when they have it; no chances taken on fear of losing the puck, and bad entries built on the backs of safety. It’s not worth it even with all the penalties the Kraken are drawing. That short-handed goal just took the wind directly out of Seattle’s already tattered sails and put a period on that.
- In general, of all the games that have been played by the Kraken this year and there haven’t been many…this is the one that’s felt the most like the disastrous inaugural season; a game simply willed into being bad because the Kraken couldn’t score and their defensive screwups were so bad they bordered on comedy
- Grubauer had a bad save-% but at this point I think we can all come together as equals to agree that this is not his fault; this team isn’t scoring for anybody, and he’s been hung out to dry more than once. Definitely was hung out to dry more than once in this game.
- I think I’m done with Dumoulin for right now. I think Ryker Evans would be a better choice for the lineup after an absolutely abysmal performance in Seattle’s end and tonight in general.
- I think the most frustrating part of being 0-3-1 is that it’s never been quite as cut and dry as “Oh they were down all game and lost 4-1”. These games have been maddeningly close for long, long stretches of the game, but at every opportunity the offense has been absent, and the defense cannot bend any further than what they’re asked to bend for. We gotta see more from the top six. Hell, we need to see more from the Top nine at this rate; Jaden Schwartz, Kailer Yamamoto, and Jared McCann share a team lead in goals scored at one. That needs to change. We need more from a good portion of this forward corps and fast.
- The charts make me sad. They can’t translate the things they did right into goals and therefor wins right now.
Are There Any Positives?
Well, one day the sun might burn out. That’d be fun to see.
- Kailer Yamamoto: Yamamoto has been one of the very few forwards over the past couple of games to really establish himself as someone trying his very damn hardest, right up there with Burakovsky in the “trying stuff” game.
- The Penalty Kill’s still good!: Against a high-powered Avs offense the Kraken still kept them 0-for-2 on the power play. Thank god, otherwise this might’ve been so much worse.
- This too, will pass: Things look rough right now but there are a bunch of teams in the same boat. The Sabres aren’t doing great, the Jets took awhile to get their first win and frankly aren’t doing hot in terms of ticket sales, and even the mighty Edmonton Oilers aren’t playing up to their standards right now. That cannot be who these teams actually are, right? Right. This could very easily be a rough patch, and the Kraken will soar into one of those multi-game win streaks they had last season. We’ve still got a long ways to go before we establish any trends or make any great decisions on what needs to change.
Hey we have a podcast!
This is our podcast Beneath The Frozen Sea, we’re building a page for it but until then, here’s where it can live.
Tonight? It’s pretty much everything I just wrote. I don’t wanna shout tonight because I’m more confused than anything else…but it’s building, man. It’s frustrating.
We’ll have more normal episodes starting next Monday.
The Analytics Charts from NaturalStatTrick.com
All I am is a hollowed out huskmeat of a being.
What happens when you do everything right and still lose?
Well, things are bad, and they don’t get easier past this; the Kraken finally leave ESPN’s clutches and welcome the Carolina Hurricanes to the Deep on Thursday. That game drops the puck at 7pm PST.
We will see you there, and remember:
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.
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