The Need to Knows
- The Time: 7pm PT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Beautiful Seattle, WA
- Place to Watch: KHN, KING 5, KONG, Utah-16
- Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM
- An Opposing Viewpoint: We…still don’t really have one yet?
Know Your Enemy
- The Utah HC are 29-25-11, which is good for 69 points, and are 5th in the Central Division.
- Clayton Keller has been the straw that stirs the drink in Utah since the season began, and has amassed 74 points in his 64 games played.
- Dylan Guenther has Keller beat in goals, but only by a hair at this point. He’s got 24 goals in 53 games to Keller’s 23 in 64.
- Karel Vejmelka, fresh off of a signing that’s locked him down in Utah for a little bit, has been taking on more starts recently thanks to Connor Ingram’s injury. Jaxson Stauber has taken his place and recently has put together some half decent games. Vejmelka sports a .909 SV% in 39 starts, and Stauber has been able to sling together a .925 SV% in 4 starts.
Game Preview
It’s been a hot minute since the Kraken and the Unnamed club in Salt Lake came together to face each other, so why don’t we catch up with what’s been happening out in Utah?
Well, Utah is intriguing. They’re extremely young and have plenty of promising talents like Dylan Guenther, Matias Maccelli, Logan Cooley, and Barrett Hayton. They also happen to be quietly one of the better teams analytically in the league; being 5th in the league in xGF%, and 6th in CF%/FF%, so the future for whatever Utah turns out to be looks pretty bright. It hasn’t been an easy season, as they’ve had the worst time holding leads for whatever reason (which I attribute to them being a little soft in the high-slot), but they are definitely making a considered push for a date with the playoffs.
Now, has that translated into a playoff spot? Well…maybe! They’d definitely like to win tonight’s game to make a step towards that!
Utah are 6-2-2 in their last ten, and currently sit in a precarious spot where they can tie the Flames in points on a day where the Flames are playing Colorado, and Vancouver has been in a level of free fall not seen in a good long while. They need this game. It should be a layup, right?
Well, let’s talk about how the Kraken can play spoiler to that dream.
This is gonna be an interesting one because Utah generally protects the front of the net pretty well, but only from the slot. The high slot, on the other hand, has been a point of pain for them, and a point of pain for their goaltending. Seattle has a terrible time getting to the net-front most of the time, but places like the high slot? They can get there. It’s all about the Kraken then actually hitting the net…which has also been a bit of a challenge.
Still, this ought to be a fun little matchup between two teams that have a lot of fun ceding ice to one another. So let’s just enjoy the potential boat race it could become!
LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS.