As baseball legend and master of the malaprop Yogi Berra once noted, “it’s like déjà vu all over again.” That’s how it must have felt to the fans at Climate Pledge Arena last night. Once again, the hometown Seattle Kraken put early pressure on their opponents only to give up a fluky goal on the first shot of the game – in this case, by the Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson.
But then a funny thing happened. The Kraken tied the game on a power play before the first period ended, dominated the second period with three goals and then withstood a furious offensive onslaught in the third period to post a 5-2 victory in one of the most action-packed contests of the season.
The much needed win ended a six-game Kraken losing streak (four at home) and comes on the heels of Washington winning seven of its last eight games. Seattle improves its record to 5-12-1 while the Caps fall to 11-4-5.
After the game, coach Dave Hakstol along with players Philipp Grubauer and Adam Larsson was asked what was different about tonight’s game. But Calle Jarnkrok, a man of few words may have said it best, “maybe we just sick and tired of losing.” Jarnkrok certainly got the biggest laugh of the year in a post-game press conference with that comment.
Jarnkrok and Larsson both chalked up their first goals of the season but goaltender Grubauer (37 saves) and forward Jaden Schwartz (one goal, three assists) were clearly the Kraken stars of the game.
“We just have to make plays,” said Grubauer. “A save. A hit. Blocking shots. I think today was one of the first games where we got into the shooting lanes and blocked some shots. And obviously, we scored goals at the right time.”
“A key tonight was the response to their first goal,” said Hakstol. “We’ve given up the first goal in a few games but we didn’t sag tonight. We had a good first period and a power play goal before the end of the period to tie the game. We also had a PK (penalty kill) in the period that was big.”
Hakstol has preached good starts and the Kraken dominated the first period, perhaps helped by the Capitals having played the previous night and missing five regulars (including former Seattle junior hockey star T.J. Oshie). But Caps’ goalie Vitek Vanecek, a member of the Kraken during the summer – at least on paper – was sharp early.
Washington took a 1-0 lead when Evgeny Kuznetsov outfought Seattle’s Jeremy Lauzon for the puck behind the net and centered a pass to the Caps’ “aggravator” Tom Wilson who aggravated the sellout crowd with his sixth goal of the season.
The Kraken tied the game with Kuznetsov in the box for hooking, the only Washington penalty of the game. Morgan Geekie crossed a pass over to Schwartz in front of the net. Vanecek made the kick save but the puck ricochet to Jared McCann who fired it home.
Seattle took the lead for good at 6:17 of the second period. While not technically a power play, the Capitals were being called for a delayed penalty. Grubauer headed to the bench and Schwartz jumped on the ice as an extra attacker (since the whistle would blow as soon as Washington touched the puck) as play headed up the ice. Colin Blackwell’s pass to rushing defenseman Carson Soucy actually went off Soucy’s stick but Schwartz came flying down the left wing and fired a shot home.
It would only take the Kraken 43 seconds to make it 3-1, the quickest two goals in the team’s brief history. Yanni Gourde and Larsson came in on a 2-on-1 break and Gourde passed across to his defenseman who rifled home his first goal of the season.
Jarnkrok also assisted on the goal his first point of the season. Jarnkrok, who was Nashville’s leading goal scorer a year ago, got off to a late start with the Kraken as he missed the start of the season due to COVID protocols. But on this night, it would take him only seven more minutes to chalk up his first goal of the season. That goal was set up by Schwartz, who picked up his 400th career point with the assist.
“It was good to get (the first goal) over with,” said Jarnkrok. “The big thing is we got two points in the standings. We didn’t make a lot of turnovers. You can’t do that in this league.”
After two periods, Seattle had outshot their guests, 23-16. But the Capitals had a grand total of 23 shots in the third period at least four from Alex Ovechkin, who recently moved into fourth place on the all-time scoring list. Ovechkin did get his 15th goal of the season at 3:09. With Seattle short-handed and the Capitals’ goalie pulled, there were a couple of mad scrambles in front of the net but Washington was unable to score in the game’s closing minutes.
Gourde finally notched an empty netter at 19:32 on a pass from Brandon Tanev after Schwartz had cleared the puck out of his defensive zone. Along with their offensive contributions, Jarnkrok, Gourde and Schwartz were matched up against Washington’s top line of Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson.
“You knew a push was coming in the third period,” said Hakstol. “Grubie did a tremendous job and the guys in front of him did a tremendous job. The saves he made were big and I don’t know how many blocked shots we had in the third period.”
After the game, the Kraken congregated at center ice and raised their sticks in a salute to the crowd.
“The atmosphere stays with you,” said Hakstol. “We got a lot of support (Friday night in a 7-3 loss) on what was a crappy night.”
“We were behind 7-0 and scored a goal and the fans cheered,” Grubauer laughed. “Some places they throw beer bottles at you if you’re losing 7-0.”
The Kraken conclude a six-game homestand Wednesday night against the Metropolitan Division leading Carolina Hurricanes.
GAME NOTES
* The biggest disappointment for Seattle hockey fans last night was the late scratch of T.J. Oshie from the Capitals’ lineup. A 34-year-old Stanley Cup winner with Washington and a 2014 Olympic hero with Team USA, Oshie spent 10 years in the Seattle Junior Hockey Association, which counts Olympic View Arena in Mountlake Terrace as its home rink.
Although Oshie eventually moved to Minnesota for high school, he’s well remembered in these parts. There was some speculation before the expansion draft that Oshie might wind up with the Kraken. Or at least there was until the Capitals announced they were protecting the veteran forward in the draft.
Oshie had spent nearly a month on injured reserve after he took a puck off his right foot in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. He was activated off IR on Saturday and saw ice time against the San Jose Sharks. But before game time, Washington announced that Oshie and Conor Sheary, who had two goals in the Capitals’ 4-0 win over the Sharks, were out of the lineup due to injuries. They join three other forwards on the Washington injured list – Nicklas Backstrom, Anthony Mantha and Lars Eller’
* Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek was a Kraken in name only over the summer. Vanecek was drafted by Seattle in July’s expansion draft but when they signed Philipp Grubauer as a free agent, the Kraken traded Vanecek back to Washington for a 2023 second-round pick. Vanecek’s now 4-3-4 in the Capitals’ net. Grubauer also started his career with the Capitals and compiled a 79-33-11 record in the nation’s capital. The Rosenheim, Germany native played 35 games on the Stanley Cup champion Capitals in 2018.
*Another `kinda, sorta’ Kraken made his season debut last night as well. Dennis Cholowski was the Kraken expansion pick from the Detroit Red Wings. When the Kraken put him on waivers before the start of the regular season for the purpose of sending him to the minors, he was scooped up by the Capitals. Cholowski was called up by the Capitals before last night’s game due to several Washington injuries.
* Washington coach Peter Laviolette is the winningest NHL coach born in the United States. Laviolette, a Franklin, Mass. Resident boasts a 673-444-25-133 record in 20 years of coaching five different NHL teams. He’s one of four coaches to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup finals, winning the Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. He also led the Philadelphia Flyers (2010) and the Nashville Predators (2017) in the finals. He also coached Wheeling of the East Coast Hockey League, the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (where Kraken assistant Jay Leach coached for four years), and the NHL New York Islanders.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
W – Tom Wilson (Evgeny Kuznetsov) 6:43.
S – Jared McCann (Jaden Schwartz, Yanni Gourde) power play.15:58.
2nd Period
S – Schwartz (Carson Soucy, Colin Blackwell) 6:17
S – Adam Larsson (Gourde, Calle Jarnkrok) 7:00
S – Jarnkrok (Schwartz) 13:51.
3rd Period
W – Alex Ovechkin (Dmitry Orlov, Wilson) 3:09.
S – Gourde (Brandon Tanev, Schwartz) empty net, 19:32.
Goals/Saves – Washington: Vitek Vanecek 4-26. Seattle: Philipp Grubauer 2-37.
Penalties – Washington: 1-2. Seattle 4-8.
Referees – Justin St. Pierre, Trevor Hanson. Linesmen -Ryan Galloway, Kiel Murchison
Discover more from Cascadiasports.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
