The Seattle Kraken have outplayed their opponents in five of seven games this season. In two of those games, against the Anaheim Ducks on opening night and last Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues, the Kraken were able to garner a point in the standings although they lost both games in overtime.
Yesterday afternoon, the Kraken dominated the Chicago Blackhawks for long periods but two third-period goals gave the Blackhawks a come-from-behind victory, 5-4. The Kraken fall to 2-3-2 overall while Chicago, which some prognosticators had battling the Arizona Coyotes for the worst record in the league, won their third consecutive game to go 3-2 in the standings. The Blackhawks also trailed by two goals in their previous wins.
In the opening period, the Kraken wasn’t showing any signs of a letdown after their win against the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche Crisp pacing led to the first Seattle goal. Karson Kuhlman, who notched the game-winner against the Avs sent a lead pass to Morgan Geekie. The Kraken forward was in a bit too deep, but Jared McCann called out to Geekie who sent a no-look pass back to McCann who fired it home.
Seattle’s leading scorer a year ago, McCann scored his second goal in two games (three overall). That goal came at 5:46, but the Kraken would quickly put another score on the board. From the left wing boards, Jordan Eberle centered the disk to Andrei Burakovsky, who drove to the net for his third goal.
Special teams have become a struggle for the Kraken this season. The power play’s been good overall (six PPGs) but the Kraken allowed their second short-handed goal in as many games. Seattle also surrendered two Chicago power-play goals.
The Blackhawks got on the scoreboard with a short-handed score at 17:04. Jujhar Khaira stole the puck from the Kraken’s Vince Dunn, came into the zone where he traded passes with former Kraken Colin Blackwell and fired a shot past Seattle goalkeeper Martin Jones.
“That (shorthanded goal) really feeds them and gives them life in this hockey game,” said Krake coach Dave Hakstol, Amazingly, the Hawks already have five shorthanded goals on the season, two by Sam Lafferty.
After 17 minutes of Seattle carrying the play, the teams were tied at the first intermission. With Alex Wennberg in the box for hooking, Chicago’s Seath Jones fired a wrister from the point. Martin Jones made a kick save but the rebound came directly to Tyler Johnson who had the left side of the net wide open.
The Blackhawks would take a brief 3-2 lead at 22 seconds of the first period. On a power play, Max Domi scored on a rebound of Seth Jones’ shot. It took all of 29 seconds for Seattle to tie things up again when Matty Beniers scored off a drop pass from Jaden Schwartz. It marked Beniers’ first goal since the season opener at Anaheim.
The Kraken were killing a penalty when Brandon Tanev received a chipped tooth courtesy of the Hawks Seth Jones in a scrum along the boards. Jones received a double minor, but Seattle was unable to score in three minutes of a man advantage.
Dunn did give Seattle the lead at 10:43. He became the 13th Kraken player to score a goal this season on a pass from McCann.
Seattle led 4-3 at the second intermission and would hold that lead until 12:57 of the third period. Johnson picked up his second goal of the contest on a pass from Jonathan Toews behind the net. The Sunday matinee crowd at United Center were barely back in their seats when Jason Dickinson scored the game winner. Lafferty knocked Beniers to the ice behind the Seattle net and shoveled the puck to Dickinson in the slot.
The Kraken pulled their goalie in the game’s closing minutes for an extra attacker. Their best chance for a tying goal came when Justin Schultz passed across to his defensive partner Dunn, who blistered a 20-footer but Chicago goalie Alex Slalock made the save.
“We have to stay on the gas,” McCann said. “That’s an easy way to put it. We let off, and they’ve got players who can make plays.”
“A couple of critical mistakes and that’s all it takes in this one,” Hakstol said. “It was that type of game.”
Of course, Chicago’s first-year coach Luke Richardson, a long-time NHL defenseman, had a different perspective. “I thought as the game went along we played better, And when it really counted at the end of the game we played hard.”
On the bright side, offense hasn’t been a problem for Seattle. After seven games, the team has 21 goals. Last season, the Kraken had to score five goals in their seventh game against Montreal to reach 18 goals. And the schedule’s been tougher this year. Schwartz, Burakovsky and McCann lead Seattle scoring with three goals and three assists, mostly playing on three different lines. Beniers has two goals and three assists.
“I think we’re playing well and just need to close out our games,” said Beniers. “We were in the same situation in Anaheim [season opener lost in overtime]. We let that one slip away. You can see guys are certainly getting real chemistry with each other out there. That’s great to see but we have to close games out.”
The Kraken return home on Tuesday night to face the Buffalo Sabres another team that missed the playoffs a year ago but are off to a good start. The Sabres bring a 4-1 record into Climate Pledge Arena.
Game Notes
- While the Kraken and the Blackhawks were both picked to finish in the lower half of the NHL standings at the beginning of the year, Seattle entered yesterday’s game with a 2-2-2 record and Chicago checked in at 2-2. Ironically, both teams saw their goalie injured midway through the third period of Friday night’s games and yesterday’s starting goalkeepers Seattle’s Martin Jones and Chicago’s Alex Stalock both entered their respective games and were credited with victories. Jones and Stalock would both be considered backups, but starters Philipp Grubauer and Chicago’s Petr Mrzak were both injured in the Friday contest. Grubauer, who was having his best game against his former team the Colorado Avalanche, is listed as day-to-day, while Mrzak will miss a week. Both appeared to suffer groin injuries (common among goalies) but NHL teams are notoriously vague about injuries.
- Along with Grubauer, the Kraken were missing Yanni Gourde, who was out of the lineup for `personal reasons’. Joey Daccord was recalled from the Coachella Valley Firebirds and served as backup to Jones. Morgan Geekie, who’s been a healthy scratch in a couple of games this season recorded his first assist of the season. Geekie also saw more ice time than fellow center Shane Wright, who played his best game as a Kraken against St. Louis, recording his first assist. Geekie played 12:38 while Wright was on the ice for 5:51.
- Former Kraken Colin Blackwell had an assist on the first Blackhawk goal. Blackwell’s one of Chicago’s top penalty killers and the Blackhawks already have five shorthanded goals this season. Blackwell was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with former Kraken captain Mark Giordano at the trade deadline last season.
- Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toevs are the last vestiges of the Blackhawk’s Stanley Cup championship teams in 2009-10, 2012-13, 2014-15. Kane, a future Hall-of-Famer, is on the last year of his contract and there’s speculation that if Chicago’s struggling they’ll try and trade Kane to a contender later in the season.
Scoring Summary
First Period
S- Jared McCann (Morgan Geekie, Karson Kuhlman) 5:46. S- Andrei Burakovsky (Jordan Eberle) 7:31. C- Jujhar Khatra (Colin Blackwell) SH 17:04 C- Tyler Johnson (Seth Jones, Patrick Kane) PPG 19:18.
Second Period
C- Max Domi (Johnson) PPG :32. S- Matty Beniers (Jaden Schwartz, Carson Soucy) :56. S- Vince Dunn (Eberle) 10:43.
Third Period
C- Johnson (Kane, Taylor Raddish) 12:57. C- Jason Dickinson (Sam Lafferty) 13:10.
Shots on Goal- Seattle 34, Chicago 27.
Penalty minutes- Seattle 6, Chicago 8.
Referees- Justin St. Pierre, Steve Kozari. Linesmen- Derek Nanson, C.J. Murray
