What a difference twenty minutes makes.
But first, the Highlights!
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Brandon Montour, who finished the night with 22:19 logged.
- This game was a tale of two periods.
- The First Period was just awful. Totally butt. Swamp butt. The kind you get after a long sweaty hike and you can’t fix until you’re in a public bathroom wondering what you ate and if it’s stained your pants. The Kraken were slow, they were careless with the puck, they critically had trouble with transition defense…it was awful. Absolutely terrible.
- Everything I wrote there above you was what consisted of my notes until the Kraken hit the 2nd period, where I had to hastily rewrite this entire section. Sure, they still had their warts. That defense in some sequences was scary. They really need to figure out how to settle themselves down. However, after that? Complete domination of the Jackets. They looked stunned the minute Tye Kartye got the opening goal for Seattle, and only proceeded to look more and more shellshocked with each passing second of zone time gave the 4th line more and more time to do something spectacular. The 4th line has already been having some excellent games recently, and this was just a cap on it. Columbus genuinely did not have an answer for what was happening to them, and Seattle just cruised right on to four goals in a single period.
- After the 2nd period, the Jackets attacked the net hard, and critically Seattle held the fort with aplomb.
- Both sides hammered each other with 30+ shots. Can you say “High Event”? Because that’s what it felt like.
- Andre Burakosvky is starting to give me Joonas Donskoi vibes; in that he may never score again but will be a solid assist-getter. My dude desperately needs a goal.
- Actually pretty solid night when it came to discipline: the Kraken only took one penalty and then killed it off with little trouble. Given how chaotic that stat’s been for them lately I think we can call that a return to form.
- Another lovely night at the office for the Mayor. Joey Daccord finished his night with a .950 SV% and 38 shots saved. I think I’d prefer the Kraken to put 38 shots on the other team, but if this is how they wanna do things and win? I’ll take it.
- Kraken still need to make some headway after an ugly losing streak; but they’re taking on a number of struggling teams after this. If this is the kind of effort they can bring to their upcoming games, then my answer is both “I’m all for it!” and “I’m gonna be as gray as my father by Thanksgiving!”. It would be nice if one Seattle sports team ever played normal games? Just for fun? Like play the Islanders and leave with a nice 3-1 win that never seemed in doubt? I think that’d be fun.
Let’s give a Hand to…
- Tye Kartye for getting the ball rolling on coming back in this game with a slick shot from in front of the net!
- Brandon Tanev for continuing his strong play over the last few days with a 2-on-2 bullet coming across the most dangerous area of the ice. It is wild that the Jackets never bothered trying to stop him or step up to him. Great stuff!
- Eeli Tolvanen for being a strong presence on the power play tapping home a delightfully placed Eberle feed like it was no trouble at all in spite of a Blue Jacket right in his grill. I am so glad that whatever was bugging him last year isn’t doing so this year, because he’s been sneakily excellent so far.
- Big Billium William Borgen for taking the initiative and getting all the way into his own scoring play from behind the net to put a Bjorkstrand feed right past Merzlikens. Big work done bigly.
- Joey Daccord, for ensuring that the Kraken didn’t blow that 4-2 lead in order to allow Jared McCann the opportunity to tack on the empty netter. It’s kind of crazy a dude could play a .950 SV% game and not even get a star. C’mon, now.
- That Second period effort. The Kraken were setting us up for a real night of disappointment, and frankly watching them dismantle Columbus with the confidence of a team that was up by 4 even when they didn’t have a single goal was huge. Momentum swings for the Kraken are real, and man that momentum is strong when it’s on their side.
The Charts, via NaturalStatTrick.com
While I enjoy the win here, I’m gonna need you to never scare me like that ever again.
The Kraken get a day for rest, recuperation, and practice, then play host to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. That game drops the puck at 7pm PT.
We’ll see you there, and remember!
- Nobody in Seattle plays normal games. Nobody.
- Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.