Kraken Game 78 RECAP: Seattle punches playoff ticket in 4-2 WIN!

THE PLAYOFFS ARE FOR CEPHALOPODS! THE KRAKEN ARE GOING TO THE 2023 NHL PLAYOFFS!

But First, the Highlights!:

Your TOI leader for tonight was Vince Dunn who logged 24:46 tonight!
This was exactly the kind of effort a team trying to lock up a spot in the playoff needs; they showed up on time, they got the first goal, they improved on it in the 2nd period, they got their young talent and veterans contributing to the scoresheet in equal measure, they even coasted for a little bit and got some exceptional goaltending from Grubauer in the third period where they kinda let the Coyotes off the hook for a bit, and dared them to come back and they couldn’t. Excellent work by the boys in Deep Blue.
Of course, one thing they got plenty of work on but didn’t capitalize with was penalties, as the Coyotes decided now was a smashingly good time to cause problems, all in that third period. The Kraken responded in kind of course, and nobody appears to be joining Andre Burakovsky in a no-contact jersey at practice just yet, but being 0 for 4 on power plays with nearly all of them coming in one period feels a little lethargic.
Oh, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out Milos Kelemen, you twerp. There’s no reason to go after Tanev like that and expect not to get dinged.

Matty B got on the scoreboard again, popping 2 new points on his exceptional year, and kept Matias Maccelli, realistically the only rookie left that could seriously catch him, to a single point; and kinda “eh” at even strength (not that anyone after a certain point in this game was playing at evens, but we’ll get there), and with so few games left, there’s realistically no shot at anyone catching him in the Rookie Race. What a player young Matthew has turned into. I can’t wait to see what he’s like in the playoffs.
Speaking of scoring fiends, Jared McCann’s road to 40 goals is now down to 2 goals needed when he opened the scoring for the Kraken today. Given that the next two teams they play are uh…not terribly concerned with competing, I think we could very easily see him do it.
Philipp Grubauer had a good night on his return to the net, which is good! They need him at his peak of form and attitude, and logging a .936 SV% against a bad team is definitely the kind of pick-me-up we need before game 1 against the Wild.

Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win

The Kraken get a day off for practice, and then face the Blackhawks as they come to town at 7pm PT.

We Will SEE YOU THERE!