Seattle sings the shootout blues: Kraken get point against Blues, but no more than that
By Charles Hamaker
St. Louis, MO – The Seattle Kraken were able to secure their first standings point of the season, though it came in a shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues, closing out their season opening road trip on a dismal note. Once again, as has been the case in the previous two games, the Kraken displayed a strong offensive presence in terms of shot volume and quality but were only able to muster a singular goal. Getting his first start in net this season, Seattle’s Joey Daccord looked sharp, but his skaters failed to provide him enough support to get the victory as the Blues were able to send their fans at the Enterprise Center off happy in their home opener.
Hot starts continue
As has been the case in the first two games of the season in Vegas and Nashville, the Kraken came out of the gate hot for the first period and almost immediately put Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington on notice as the teams fourth line was buzzing along once again. Tye Kartye’s shot required a Binnington save to prevent an early lead for Seattle, just under five minutes into the opening frame. Considering how defensive minded the Kraken’s fourth line is now, it’s been interesting to see shifts where they buzz around offensively and create danger in the opposing teams’ zone. Seattle would have had the first goal of the night, with 7:24 to play before the first intermission, as a Vince Dunn rocket with Jared McCann creating traffic in front got past Binnington, but St. Louis challenged for goaltender interference. Upon official review, the blade of McCann’s stick lightly grazes Binnigton’s blocker on his right hand, but oddly the Blues goaltender goes down as if his legs had been swept out from under him. St. Louis won the challenge, taking the goal off the board. Later into the frame McCann had a shot ring off the pipe, another cruel tease as to how close the Kraken have gotten to scoring.
Second period shake up
The second period of this game arguably saw the most action, as the only two goals in regulation were scored in this frame. Seattle was finally able to get on the board, following the overturned goal after the “goaltender interference,” as Jaden Schwartz’s redirected a puck on net from teammate Oliver Bjorkstrand with the man advantage for the first Kraken power play of the season. Schwartz, the former Blues player, was able to redirect Bjorkstrand’s slap shot from the right flanker position and help Seattle capitalize after having the attacking advantage over St. Louis to that point in the game. At this point and carrying through the large part of the second period, momentum was flowing on the side of the Kraken as second year center Matty Beniers tried to capitalize on a two-on-one situation, but his shot was turned away by Binnington. Beniers was momentarily able to retrieve the puck, but his quick pass attempt in the direction of teammate Jared McCann was intercepted by St. Louis. The Blues were then able to mount their own odd-man rush, as Jordan Kyrou’s snipe from the top of the high danger area caught Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord in an awkward position to tie the game up with 12:11 to play in the second period. A game of rushes at that point was taken advantage of by the Blues, and the Kraken didn’t exactly look ready to find a go-ahead goal given their finishing struggles so far in this early period of the season.
Failing to find the winner
Down the stretch, there were a few notable opportunities for the Kraken to bury the game winning goal in the back of the net. The two biggest instances that stick out were Oliver Bjorkstrand hitting a pipe in the third period, and defenseman Adam Larsson getting stuffed by Jordan Binnington’s left pad with less than a minute in the overtime period. Seattle had made strong, meaningful offensive pushes at the end of the regulation and overtime periods, but they weren’t able to get the puck past Binnington to secure the two points and a happy flight home ahead of their home opener on Tuesday. Instead, they went into the shootout looking to reverse the bad fortunes of last year when they failed to win a single game in that situation and did so with a few new faces as their shooters. Matty Beniers, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Jordan Eberle were all unsuccessful in their attempts on Binnington. While St. Louis’ first two skaters failed to beat Daccord in net, their third and final attempt in Robert Thomas snuck the puck in to earn the victory and send Seattle back home having lost all three games on their season opening road trip.
Quick notes
Attendance at the Enterprise Center for the Seattle Kraken loss at the St. Louis Blues was 18,096, which is full capacity for that arena.
The three stars of the night, per the NHL, were
1: Blues G Jordan Binnington
2: Kraken G Joey Daccord
3: Blues C Robert Thomas
Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz’s goal in the second period was the team's first power play goal of the season.
This goal was also his first goal against his former team, where he spent 10 seasons before joining Seattle.
Seattle’s opponents on this road trip (Las Vegas, Nashville, and St. Louis) all beat the Kraken in their respective home openers.
Seattle is 0-5 in shootout situations (0-4 last season, 0-1 so far this season) dating back to the inaugural year, when they when 3-1 when having to go into a shootout.
What’s next?
Following a rough three-game road trip to open the 2023-24 season, the Seattle Kraken will get a few days before their next game, which is their home opener. Seattle returns home for a practice on Monday before their home opener on Tuesday, October 17th against the Colorado Avalanche with a puck drop of 7PM PST. The two teams that battled hard in their first round Stanley Cup playoffs matchup last year that saw the Kraken prevail will do battle for the first time since then, as Seattle still is seeking their first win on the season while Colorado looks to win their third straight game to open their year. This game will not be on the local Root sports broadcast, and rather will be on ESPN.
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Check out our previous Seattle Kraken articles here
Cover photo by Scott Kane
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here