Kraken once more display mental fortitude despite 3-2 loss to Wild

The Seattle Kraken fall short in overtime, but a valiant comeback from two goals down at least extends their points streak to 10 games.

The Kraken have been on a tear of late in winning eight of their past nine games, but Thursday night was expected to be a significant test of just how good they actually are. The Minnesota Wild are considered one of the elite teams in the NHL so far this season, averaging the second-fewest goals per contest and with a tremendous 12-7-3 record on their travels entering the contest.

The Wild would subsequently live up to the hype and leave Climate Pledge Arena with two points, but the manner in which it was achieved offered plenty of reason for optimism for the Kraken and their fans. The home team took a while to get going, but managed to recover in the third period with two goals before having a potential win taken away from them in overtime.

Seriously, the way the Kraken played in the opening 20 minutes made it seem as if the Wild were going to put them away with little trouble. The visitors ended the period with a 2-0 lead thanks to Ryan Hartman and Brock Faber, and it was all set up to be a tough and long night at the office for Seattle.

Philip Grubauer continues to excel for the Kraken

However, the play of Philip Grubauer between the pipes stopped the Kraken falling further behind and he would eventually go on to be named the Third Star of the Game. We had wondered if he should get the nod ahead of Joey Daccord to face the Wild given how he has played this season — especially of late — and his performance more than justified head coach Lane Lambert’s faith, as he stopped 31 of 34 shots on the night.

Another player deserving of praise is Vince Dunn, who had assists on both of the Kraken’s goals in the third period and was awarded the Second Star of the Night after helping his team secure a precious point. Adam Larsson pulled the Kraken to within 2-1 just 3:13 into the third period, followed by Matty Beniers making it four goals in five games just before the midway point.

This was one of those strange situations where a loss didn’t really feel much like a loss, as the Kraken extended their points streak to 10 games. And they might have even stolen the win if they hadn’t been stopped on an odd-man rush just prior to Mats Zucca rello scoring at the other end of the ice 2:09 into overtime to clinch a 3-2 win for the Wild.

Points streak kept alive thanks to never quitting

Postgame, Dunn was certainly optimistic and taking things in their stride when speaking to the media. As per Geoff Baker of NHL.com, the defenseman said:

“It was a big comeback to push for the point. And I think, just the atmosphere in here after the game, you can see a lot of heads not hanging, which is nice to see. … We competed tonight. It was obviously not perfect throughout the game. There (were) a lot of mistakes, but you learn from those and you move on.”

As is often the case with Lambert in not getting too carried away with results either way, he equally praised and critiqued his players. He said:

“Give our guys credit. They did a great job to come back. It’s a huge point for us. But again, the disappointment for me is that the game started slow for us. And we can’t do that. … You have to play 60 minutes.”

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More positives than negatives overall

Dunn knows what it takes to win after claiming the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues back in 2018-19, and was in full agreement with his head coach about needing to start out stronger. He said:

“The first period was awful, and our execution was probably the biggest part of that. It’s just tough when you’re chasing the game a little bit to start the game.”

Overall though, the 29-year-old wanted to focus more on the positives of the night. He said:

“We kind of set ourselves up for the second period to come out and play the right way and I thought as the game went on, we got a lot better. And I thought it was a pretty competitive game both ways. A lot of chances both ways.”

With the point the Kraken remain in third place in the Pacific Division and just two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers for top spot. They now embark on a five-game road trip which will begin in Carolina on Saturday evening versus a Hurricanes team which leads the Metropolitan division.

There’s no denying the Kraken now face a challenging schedule with their upcoming five-game road trip. What is your prediction for how many points they will collect before returning to Seattle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.