For the second consecutive game, the Seattle Kraken scored four goals. But unlike their season opener in Anaheim, the Kraken turned in a solid defensive effort last night to defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1. Since their opening night loss came in overtime, the Kraken received one point in the standings. That means Seattle left Southern California with three of a possible four points in the standings.
As in the opener, the Kraken got goals from four different players – Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev, Alex Wenneberg, and Adam Larsson. Martin Jones, who was a backup goalie to Jonathan Quick on the Kings’ Stanley Cup championship team in 2014, won his first game between the pipes with the Kraken stopping 26 out of 27 shots. Jones later became the San Jose Sharks’ starting goaltender and has defeated the Kings 20 times in his career.
“We weren’t happy with the results of our first game (a 5-4 loss to the Ducks after leading most of the game) and we wanted to fix the things we did wrong,” said Tanev. “The team played well in the third period tonight. We understood what we had to do and the team played together.”
Coach Dave Hakstol added, “we played hard. The biggest thing is we played together as a team. We didn’t make a ton of mistakes (against Anaheim) but the ones we made really cost us.”
The Kraken’s newly aligned power play also made a difference in the game. Schwartz opened the scoring with the Kraken’s fourth PPG of the season when he scored off a rebound of Jordan Eberle’s shot, 5:21 into the contest. Andre Burakovsky, one of the Kraken’s new acquisitions, started the play when he found Eberle at the side of the net. Schwartz was plagued by injuries in the second half of last season but was one of the Kraken’s players in their first two games.
The Kings tied the game on one of the Kraken’s few mistakes on defense. At the start of the Kings first power play, Morgan Geekie won the faceoff but Jamie Oleksiak couldn’t handle a pass from his defense partner Larssen and LA’s Alex Iafallo pounced on the loose puck and scored.
At the six-minute mark of the second period, Tanev came out from behind his own net and jammed the puck into the right corner of the net past Quick. The score marked Tanev’s first goal since December 14 of last season. The popular left winger missed the last 50 games with a knee injury. That was his ninth goal of the 2021-22 season and he was on a pace to finish the year with 25 goals.
“Turbo brings energy to the game,” said Hakstol. “He’s played two good games for us. He’s good with the puck and generates a lot of offense with his forechecking. He had a chance to take the puck to the net and that was a big goal. It allowed us to play with the lead. That’s big when you’re playing back-to-back.”
Seattle’s third goal wasn’t on a power play but it came seconds after a LA penalty had expired. Matty Beniers sent a lead pass to Alexander Wenneberg who fired it home. Bernier’s continued his point-a-game streak that began when he joined the Kraken for the final 10 games of last season. Beniers had a goal disallowed in the first period because his stick was about the crossbar.
Unlike the previous game in Anaheim, the Kraken successfully killed a couple of penalties in the third period. They were unable to score on a 5-on-3 for 1:55 but Larsson wrapped things up with an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining.
There was still plenty of action in the final minute. The Kraken didn’t seem to appreciate the Kings’ Brendan Lemieux picking a fight with the much smaller Yanni Gourde moments after Larsson’s goal. . Ryan Donato and Will Borgen got into a scuffle with some King players at the end of the game but it was quickly broken up. The Kraken and the Kings have two games coming up in November.
Seattle begins its home season Saturday night when they host the Vegas Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena. The Knights are 2-0 with home wins against the Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks.
GAME NOTES
Shane Wright, the Kraken’s number-one draft choice in the amateur draft was a healthy scratch after playing only six minutes in the opener. Morgan Geekie replaced Wright in the lineup. “I thought Shane played well in his limited time,” said Hakstol. “He played hard but we wanted to get Geekie into the lineup and Shane got a chance to watch a game. There’s competition and that’s good.”
Eddie Olczyk made his regular season debut as color commentator on Seattle Kraken telecasts. Olczyk worked the Chicago Black Hawks-Colorado Avalanche game on TNT the previous night with Kenny Albert. Olczyk who spent most of his NHL career with the Blackhawks is considered by many the best color man in the game.
He may be best known as the color man with the legendary Mike `Doc’ Emrick on NBC telecasts. Along with his national TV work, Olczyk also worked several seasons on Blackhawks TV (the team he spent most of his playing career with) alongside Pat Foley, another top-flight hockey play-by-play man.
But when Foley retired at the end of last season, the Hawks decided to revamp their broadcast team. The Kraken scooped up Olczyk, no surprise considering his brother Ricky Olczyk is the Kraken’s assistant general manager. Eddie’s son Nick also joins the Kraken and ROOT sports as a between-periods analyst, a role he fulfilled with the Blackhawks the past two seasons. Olczyk joins Kraken play-by-play man John Forslund, also one of the best in the game, who’s also worked national games for NBC and TNT.
SCORING
First Period- S, Jaden Schwartz (Justin Eberle, Andre Burakovsky), PPG 5:21. LA, Alex Iafallo (unassisted), PPG 7:43.
Second Period- S, Brandon Tanev (Will Borgen) 6:08, S- Alex Wennberg (Matty Beniers, Oliver Bjorgstrand) 13:08.
Third Period- S- Adam Larsson (unassisted) 18:59.
Shots on Goal- Seattle 22, Los Angeles 27.
Penalty minutes – Seattle 19, Los Angeles 21
Referee- Francois St. Laurent, Chris Schlenlker Linesmen- Ryan Gibbons, Tyson Barber.
