Is it time for the Kraken to go back home yet? This is one of the more depressing recaps I’ve had to write. In some ways, it’s hard to fault the team. The injury woes continued to stack up as it was announced shortly before the start of the game that now Mason Marchment would be out day-to-day. He joined Jared McCann, Brandon Montour, Freddy Gaudreau, Ryker Evans, and Kaapo Kakko on the list of players that are currently out due to injury or personal leave. Add to it that this is the fifth game of travel out in the Eastern time zone as well as being the second game of a back-to-back against a high-powered team, and it was a recipe for disaster from the start.
Observations
- Even before the game started, my first thought was that this is why it can be nice to carry three goalies, especially on the road. Last night, after Joey Daccord let in 5 goals, the Kraken decided to pull him for Philipp Grubauer. Instead of making Grubauer play again so soon, the team was able to turn to their third string goaltender in Matt Murray. This marked Murray’s first start for the Kraken, against an opponent familiar to him from his days on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- However, there’s also something to be said about a goaltender who only played a handful of games in the NHL last season finally getting the starting nod. There’s a little bit of rust that needs shaken off. While Nic Dowd’s first period goal was scored almost sideways to the net, Murray’s positioning wasn’t even in the paint. It left the net wide open for Dowd after John Carlson’s pass. Those are the kinds of things that need tightening up.
- It’s one thing to let Murray work through some rust when the team is firing on all cylinders. It’s a lot different when the team is running on fumes. Towards the end of the first period, the Kraken were deeply hemmed within their own zone, and it felt fortuitous that they were only down by 1 goal. Then, at the start of the second, the Capitals, well, capitalized with a Ryan Leonard goal about 30 seconds in, followed by a quick power play goal from Jakob Chychrun after Ryan Lindgren was called for tripping. Now, the Capitals have also been a team known for their offensive excellence during the Alex Ovechkin era (in no small part due to the record-setting man himself). It shouldn’t be this easy for them to score, though.
- Speaking of running on fumes, the Kraken had only 4 shots on goal during the second period. In comparison, the Capitals had 15 shots during that frame. Now, a couple of power plays are going to help tip the scales in Washington’s favor, but the Kraken were deeply, deeply outmatched.
- The third period had a slight change of fate, as this time the Kraken went on the power play. They weren’t able to score on it, but it finally gave the team some actual momentum in the attacking zone. With that, Jaden Schwartz was able to put the Kraken on the board. Throughout the rest of the third period, the effort wouldn’t be enough to stage a comeback, but they would go on to outshoot the Capitals 10 to 7 in that frame. Special teams momentum seemed to have some importance.
- Overall, playing poorly during the second half of a back-to-back isn’t new for the Kraken, as they went 0-12-0 in said contests last season. It’s also not unusual for teams in general to do worse in this situation (especially when you add in being on the road and missing many key roster players), but it’s hard not to let last season’s record linger. Good teams find ways to win these contests. If the Kraken want to prove that they can be a good team, they can’t let this trend continue further into the season. There are 12 more back-to-backs to go, and they’ll need to do better. Hopefully this one can just be chalked up to the extenuating injury circumstances.
In Their Own Words
After the game, Jordan Eberle’s assessment of the team’s performance tonight aligned closely with my own thoughts in admitting, “We defended well, but we just gave them too much o-zone time…There’s definitely some things we need to clean up.” Eberle also addressed the elephant in the room of being down further and further players: “We’re definitely being tested. Some adversity, some good guys out, but ultimately you’re going to go through a season where every team, there’s injuries that happen and guys need to step up and play more minutes and right now that’s the case for us. Up until now, maybe the last 2 games, we’ve been going…it’s not going to be a smooth season, you’re going to have times where adversity happens.” It was a well-balanced answer from the captain in admitting that these moments are going to happen. It’s just a matter of how the team pulls themselves out of it.
Matt Murray was also available for media after the game, and in addressing how long it’s been since his last NHL start, he said, “It can be tough just timing wise. And I think you gotta give [the Capitals] credit too, they’re a hard team to play against and they made it difficult on me. You know, that first period, they were throwing everything at the net, just causing chaos, getting bodies there. And that makes it even more difficult to kind of find your timing.” Despite admitting that the Capitals did their job in making his job hard, Murray also believed that “If I make a save there early in the second period, maybe there’s a different flow to the game…[the Capitals] got a good power play, they got one on us there early in the second, you know, again, if we don’t get one up there, I think it’s maybe a different game. That was kind of the turning point. So that one’s on me, I gotta make at least one of those saves.” To Murray, even though the Capitals played a strong game, he felt there was more he could have done to help the Kraken out.
Coach Lane Lambert seemed to agree with Murray. He said, “I thought [the Capitals] came as advertised. They’re a good hockey team and they are big and they would be throwing pucks in from the point, looking for sticks” but that Murray played well in spite of that. Lambert also admitted that “We inflicted pain on ourselves by turning pucks over and not making plays quick enough.”
The Kraken have one game left on this road trip as they head back up into Canada to face the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Hopefully a little extra rest between now and then recharges the team for one last push before they finally return back to Seattle for a 5-game homestand.