The good, the bad, and the ugly: Notes from the Seattle Kraken win over the Florida Panthers

By Charles Hamaker 

Seattle, WA – Insert the Shawshank Redemption rain scene GIF. The Seattle Kraken have snapped their eight-game losing streak, just a game off from tying their franchise worst skid, with a shutout victory over the Florida Panthers in the fourth contest of a six-game homestand. Seattle played one of their better games all season, remaining structured and focused defensively to ensure that Joey Daccord (Who also played EXCELLENT) locked down his first NHL shutout, and got strong performances (With two goals from their fourth line, a group that’s garnered plenty of criticism) from their forward lines. A complete, 60-minute effort was the sort of performance that got them out of their rough skid, not quite the greasy one that defenseman Adam Larsson had thought it would be when media spoke with him after the loss to the Wild two days ago.  

The three stars of the game, Seattle’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Kailer Yamamoto, and Joey Daccord, “Yeet the fish” following the Seattle Kraken win over the Florida Panthers at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, December 12th, 2023. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

The good: Joey Daccord, 4th line production 

As they have been back in Coachella Valley last season and at some points during the current season, the “JO-EY, JO-EY” chants for Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord have been well earned. Daccord has long answered any sorts of questions regarding whether or not he can sustain the strong play that he showed last season at both AHL and NHL levels and is taking on a bigger role the normal currently considering that starter Philipp Grubauer is day-to-day with a groin injury. Daccord faced 43 unblocked attempts in tonight’s win and saved 2.7 goals above expected (Per moneypuck), securing another victory this season and tallying his first career NHL shutout. The only sort of criticism you could give Joey following this game was the fact that his fish throw ended up back on the ice, requiring a second attempt to yeet the thing into the crowd. Kraken fans should feel great about the way Daccord is playing.  

The Seattle Kraken fourth line (Made up of Devin Shore, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Kailer Yamamoto) played arguably their best game of the season in the teams 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, December 12th, 2023. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

The current fourth line for the Kraken has received lots of criticism, whether it be that intentional or not, because many believe that group replaced a far superior trio that left via free agency in Ryan Donato, Morgan Geekie, and Daniel Sprong. While those latter three undoubtedly have better scoring touch overall, the numbers through the same number of games this and last season see an exact match in points generated by Seattle’s different fourth lines. Irregardless, the bottom three for the Kraken haven’t produced enough like the rest of the forward lines on this team as they’ve struggled to actually get pucks to go in, but that wasn’t the case tonight. Spokane’s finest, Kailer Yamamoto, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the first two goals of this game to put the Kraken ahead all while handling their defensive responsibilities properly. 

The bad: Hardly any pressure in the first period 

As I’ll note in the “ugly” part of the article here, there wasn’t a lot to particularly be mad at Seattle about in this game, but if we are picking things and looking for areas that the team can improve in, the first frame of this contest was lacking. The Panthers were able to get some decent but not great opportunities on Daccord in net, and the Kraken themselves failed to do much of anything as they generated just three shots on goal. None of those three shots on goal looked very dangerous at all, and it didn’t seem like the best sort of indication for where this game could go for Seattle. You do have to give credit to Florida, they’re a good team with a good goaltender, so the lack of offensive explosion early isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. Considering that they’ve talked about it recently and that it would help them with the ways that they’ve struggled this season, starting out with a goal or so early would certainly help this team, but thankfully tonight it wasn’t a big factor.  

While the Florida Panthers generated the most shot quantity in this game, their quality was ultimately lacking in comparison to the Seattle Kraken. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

And the ugly: Taking this long to snap their streak? 

There really wasn’t a sort of “ugly” aspect to this game. The Kraken played smart, structured defense in front of Joey Daccord, who was excellent in his own right, to earn the shutout win over a Panthers team that’s one of the best in the Eastern Conference. Florida’s shots, while many came through unblocked, weren’t very dangerous and didn’t challenge Daccord that often, and the Kraken defensemen didn’t lose structure hardly ever in this game and were able to get back and find focus if they did. The attack got the necessary production from the fourth line to be their dangerous self as a unit, and you were able to get bodies to the net as you’ve discussed before. There isn’t much to complain about with this game or be upset about, really. It’ll be big to see if Seattle is able to take this performance and build upon it moving forward, as this is the sort of true form from them that we have expected to see all season long, but it has to be a major relief for the Kraken to earn a victory such as this.  

Player profiles and collision photos from the Seattle Kraken 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, December 12th, 2023. (Photos by Rio Giancarlo)

What’s next? 

Following tonight’s Seattle Kraken shutout victory over the Florida Panthers, the Kraken continue their six-game homestand in two days when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. There’s an “optional” morning skate that’s likely scheduled tomorrow for Seattle following tonight’s victory, and the day after that they’ll play the fifth of six games in the current homestand when Connor Bedard and Chicago come to town. The Kraken are looking to build off tonight’s victory against Florida, while the Blackhawks have lost their past two contests, including a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Chicago and Seattle will battle on Thursday, December 14th at Climate Pledge Arena with a 7PM PST puck drop, being broadcast in the Root Sports market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on ESPN+/NHLPP nationwide.   

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Check out our previous Seattle Kraken articles here

Check out previous articles with photos by Rio Giancarlo here, and his portfolio here. Cover photo of this article by Rio.

Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here