The Highlights!
Sometimes hockey just doesn’t go your way.
Seattle did everything they were supposed to. They came out strong. They won puck battles. They played physically and with desperation. They dominated offensive possession and won the shot quality 57% to 43% (Moneypuck). They got fantastic goaltending from Philipp Grubauer.
They just couldn’t find enough goals.
“We played a pretty good hockey game,” Coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re obviously a team you have to defend well against. We did that. We spent time in quite a bit of time in the (offensive) zone. We generated enough good opportunities tonight to score some goals. Their guy in the pipes was good. A couple of bounces offensively didn’t come to us and at the end of the night it becomes a disappointing loss.”
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 24 of 25 shots faced in the 2-1 win, stopping point blank chances and not giving up a lot of rebound opportunities.
“More times than not you play a game like that you’re gonna score more than one goal,” said Jaden Schwartz after the game. “Just didn’t have too much puck luck tonight. We threw everything at (Skinner).”
The game was scoreless after the first period, with the Alexander Wennberg line matching up against the Connor McDavid line and keeping them in check. Seattle had great chances, but it was just one small mistake — with the Gourde line out there instead — and a great pass from Connor McDavid to Leon Draisaitl gave the Oilers the lead and undid all of Seattle’s hard work up to that point.
The Oilers tagged on a second goal with about 12 minutes remaining in the game when a Brett Kulak shot appeared to have maybe gone off Draisaitl and maybe Oleksiak.
The Kraken looked like their hard work all game might be rewarded when Seattle got one back when Eeli Tolvanen converted on a power play opportunity with 6:37 remaining.
Seattle put up a mad frenzy at the end but Stuart Skinner did not relent, and that’s how the game ended.
Adding insult to…being insulted, Nashville won their 8th game in a row after the Kraken game concluded. Seattle has gone 5-2-1 in their last seven games and fell back five points to Nashville in the process. It’s a cruel game, hockey.
This loss drops Seattle’s playoff chances down to 19.2%, per Moneypuck. By no means is that insurmountable, but in order for the Kraken to make the postseason, they’re going to have to keep playing well and hope to get some bounces. They’re running out of margin for error.
The Kraken go on the road to play Calgary on Monday.
“It stinks today but tomorrow you gotta flip your mindset,” said Schwartz. “This time of year you’ve got no choice but to just get ready for the next one and bring that same effort and work ethic.”
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