The Need to Knows
- Time: 7:00 pm PT / 10:00 pm ET
- Place: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA
- Where to Watch: ROOT Sports NW, Bally Sports Midwest, ESPN+ (for out-of-market)
- Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM
- An Opposing Viewpoint: Blue Note Hockey
Know Your Enemy
I’m going to be extremely honest here: this blogger tends to forget about the existence of the Blues until forced to confront it. Even though one of the most drama-filled trades of the offseason involved the Blues and my local Philadelphia Flyers, sending Kevin Hayes over to St. Louis (though it was initially rumored that said trade would be sending many more players out to the Midwest), I still don’t pay attention to them much. I think much of this is due to the bitterness I felt during the 2018-2019 season when the Blues got their Cinderella story run to win the Stanley Cup while the Flyers, who simultaneously had a hot second half of the season after also calling up a rookie goaltender, weren’t able to catch up in a highly competitive Eastern Conference to make the playoffs. Maybe I should’ve forgiven by now, but I guess have not.
What I do know is that the Blues haven’t had the best of luck in recent seasons. They may have won the Stanley Cup in the past 5 years, but they’re a shining example of how difficult it actually is to sustain a championship-caliber team. After underperforming to start the season, the Blues replaced their Cup-winning coach, Craig Berube, with their AHL affiliate’s coach, Drew Bannister. It’s an interim title for Bannister for now, but until the Blues conclude their search, someone has to hold the reigns.
Even with the coaching change, the Blues still sit outside of a playoff spot. However, they are in a similar position to the Kraken where their hopes and dreams aren’t entirely out of reach. Every point matters.
Game Preview
The Kraken had fallen into a 4-game losing streak, which wasn’t ideal after having a steak of 13 games with a standings point. Wednesday night’s game against Chicago wasn’t the best game the Kraken have played this season, but they earned a 6-2 win against an inferior opponent. The hope going into this game is that the Kraken use that as momentum to build towards gaining a few more wins before the All Star Game break kicks in.
That small losing streak hurt the Kraken in the larger picture considering that they are still fighting for a playoff spot. They aren’t impossibly far out, but the Nashville Predators sit in the second wild card spot with 53 points while the Kraken have 49 points. As for playoff possibilities, winning against the Blues can swing a significant percentage in playoff odds:
Those are just the odds from Moneypuck, however. Different models account for different factors, and most of them aren’t nearly as bull-ish on the Kraken. If anything, seeing the other models be so low on the Kraken gives more importance toward winning this game. The NHL is close to entering the All Star Game break, and this is when the playoff race heats up. It’s been said before that American Thanksgiving predicts the majority of teams that’ll make the playoffs, but that’s only a majority. It doesn’t guarantee safety. The Kraken were in a playoff spot at that time, but they went through a prolonged losing streak that kicked them out of it. If the Kraken want to continue to prove that American Thanksgiving is the benchmark for playoff teams, they have to perform like a playoff team throughout the rest of the season.
Something that should hopefully help the Kraken going into this game is that Yanni Gourde’s 2-game suspension is at an end. He should return to the lineup and give his signature brand of energy to the team. Additionally, with John Hayden being sent back to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, there’s an expectation that perhaps Matty Beniers is set to return from his injury. Beniers has certainly been hitting a sophomore slump (instead of a comeback of the year if he could’ve rebounded from a slow start), but it would still be worthwhile to have him return to the lineup as well.
Ultimately, this game is about returning to the form they had been playing in for the majority of January and truly returning to their winning ways. The Blues aren’t nearly as bad of an opponent as Chicago, but the hope is that winning against them can help the Kraken bounce back and fight for a wild card spot.
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