Divine intervention exacted by the hockey gods– you don’t believe it until you see it.
On a whim, Will Borgen revved up and fired a shot that flew off Evgeni Malkin’s stick and into the heavens of Climate Pledge Arena. Upon the puck’s swift descent, Oliver Bjorkstrand found himself in prime position to haphazardly bat it past a scrambling Tristan Jarry. And that’s how the Kraken drew up their game-winning goal Thursday night in their shutout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“It’s tough when the puck goes up in the air like that,” Jarry told the media. “Your body is looking down and usually the way the puck’s traveling is down-to-up. It’s tough to track the puck from the ceiling down. I lost track of it and [Seattle was] able to get it before we did.”
A fortuitous bounce and a chance visual lapse stood as the difference between life and death for Seattle, clinging onto their seven-point deficit behind the second Wild Card. Or so it seemed.
Luck isn’t enough to turn the tides of a game by itself. After all, a team must be in a position to receive luck before they can benefit from it. Reality is, crisp, systematically-adherent defense from skaters and a golden performance from Philipp Grubauer made a tight game winnable, a random ricochet enough for two points.
“Obviously it’s more important to get those points than the shutout, but it’s– it’s not just for me, it’s a huge honor for the team,” Grubauer said.
Rational concerns had arisen earlier this season as to whether now annual lower-body injuries were finally taking their toll on the 32-year-old goaltender, yet he arrived in playoff form Thursday night. Timely and accurate, he held to posts, moved within the crease, and robbed angles as if he’d never lost 24 games to another injury this past December.
Seattle’s defensive corps did a fine job helping their netminder see lanes, keeping Pittsburgh tucked to the perimeter, and ultimately easing his workload. But Grubauer deserves credit for saving 1.76 goals above expected.
The crème de la crème of his body of work came late in the second frame, standing tall for a save on Pittsburgh’s Jansen Harkins, who crashed the net with the full force of his 6’2″, 197-pound frame while also dragging along Seattle’s own Brian Dumoulin on the backcheck.
Harkin’s audacious opportunity had a 22.7% chance of scoring, his team’s most dangerous attempt of the period. A flash of Grubauer’s glove extinguished the bid in a heartbeat, without issue, without rebound.
Thursday was only Grubauer’s fourth start since returning to the team. Over the five games he’s played– including an appearance in relief of Joey Daccord in Seattle’s 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild– Grubauer has recorded a .947 SV%. His shutout Thursday was the 21st of his career, his first this season.
Unofficially, he’s become the team’s right hand man over Daccord, who’s now averaging 3.47 goals against per game in February, a sharp and damaging increase from the 2.08 he averaged in January.
“That type of goaltending builds confidence because it erases mistakes,” head coach Dave Hakstol asserted. “Mistakes happen all the time in this game. Goaltending takes one off the board, all of a sudden it’s a little easier to focus on the positive thing.”
“Our goaltending has been a big factor for us and those guys have done a great job. Obviously Grubi, with the shutout– he should be proud of his effort.”
Burakovsky To Be A Game-Time Decision Versus Oilers
André Burakovsky made his first appearance on ice Friday morning at practice since exiting Monday’s game with injury. A full participant in drills and sporting a regular contact jersey, he seemed good to go for Saturday’s Pacific Division tilt.
Not so fast. Hakstol told reporters Friday that the winger is still classified as “day-to-day,” his availability to be decided prior to puck drop, however he did reveal that Burakovsky is dealing with a lower-body injury unrelated to any previous ailment suffered this season.
Hakstol is scheduled to speak before the game in lieu of a morning skate.
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