Kraken get singed by Flames in 5-2 loss
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Things appeared to be backwards in Friday’s divisional game matchup between the visiting Calgary Flames and the hosting Seattle Kraken. Instead of Seattle coming out and taking advantage of a Calgary team playing in the second game of a back-to-back, the Flames took the fight to the Kraken. After Seattle’s John Hayden scored the first goal of the game, Calgary went on to score three unanswered while stymying the Kraken offensive attack in the process. An Eeli Tolvanen goal in the third period brought Seattle within a score, but a response goal by Calgary’s Noah Hanifin (Who has the third most points ever by a player against Seattle), which essentially put things to rest. With the loss and Los Angeles Kings win, Seattle falls to second place in the Pacific Division.
Kraken forward Yanni Gourde took a shot right off of the inside of his foot, having to leave the game and go down the tunnel. He eventually did gut it out and return to the game (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Hayden’s hot start
Kraken forward John Hayden had two near miss chances against the Colorado Avalanche last Saturday and seemed like he had brought good energy to Seattle. After a few games as a healthy scratch, Hayden came back into the lineup and instantly impacted the game for the Kraken, tipping in a Will Borgen shot to beat Calgary goaltender Dan Vladar. A heads up play by someone that is very well just filling in while forwards Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers are injured, Hayden made the most out of his second start this year for Seattle and did so early on. Hayden, in his now two games as Kraken, has filled in well and been a consummate professional. Great in the locker room, big smile around the team whether he’s a scratch or actually getting time on the ice. Getting the goal is a nice note for him, but rather than talk about his personal achievement, Hayden discussed the team's struggles postgame with the media.
“I just think that it was an incomplete effort. Lost too much of the game, missing out on the fundamentals. This team’s had a ton of success in January, and this just seems like an anomaly”
John Hayden celebrates his first period goal with teammate Will Borgen (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Top D-Pair can’t withstand the heat
Seattle’s top defenseman pairing of Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson has been excellent nearly all year long, so it makes sense for them to have a few “off nights” mixed into the 82-game season. Tonight’s matchup happened to be one of those off nights, as the top pairing had an uncharacteristically bad night. The first mistake occurred on the first Flames goal of the night, as Adam Larsson pinched high as Calgary entered the zone, allowing Elias Lindholm to walk by him and beat Martin Jones. The second incident occurred on Calgary’s fourth goal, the nail in Seattle’s coffin, as both Dunn and Larsson pinched on the Flames skater that entered the zone, leaving Noah Hanifin wide open to slam a shot past Jones.
Dunn and Larsson have been excellent all season long, receiving the most ice time as a defensive pairing by far for this Kraken team. 6 and 29 lead the team in expected goals, goals, shots attempts, and unblocked shots attempts. Vince Dunn has been on a career best pace, totaling the most points in a season so far despite just now reaching the All-Star break. Adam Larsson has been rock solid as his partner on the back end, continuing the trend of that pairing as the top dawgs from late last season. They’re going to be fine, but a bad game against a team like Calgary gives Seattle a far lower chance to win as opposed to if they Dunn and Larsson had played better, obviously. As stated previously, they will be fine. Just unfortunate that they’re mess ups came today.
Adam Larsson looks to clear the puck from the high danger area (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Through the fire and the flames, Seattle has room to grow
Often times last season, I stated that the Kraken were actually finding ways to LOSE games, contrary to the saying about how good teams find ways to win games. That Seattle team, in their inaugural season, had lots and lots that they needed to improve in the games where they essentially just self imploded. This years team has far less games like that if any, but there is a common theme in some of their losses. Seven losses throughout this season, eight if you include this game. On the dates of November 11th and 13th, December 9th, 15th, 28th, and January 16th, and 21st: the Kraken have come out flat offensively and have made key mistakes defensively, usually resulting in a low scoring loss. In these games, Seattle ran into a good team (all of those losses have been to teams in the top 17 in the NHL in points), failed to generate any real offensive chances, and held up mostly on the defensive end. That mostly part is key, because the small margin where they slip up has been where the opposing team takes advantage. In those sorts of games, players must step up to put the Kraken over the top and find ways to win. See what I did there? Full circle. Seattle is a good team, but they must find a way to put themselves over the top to pull out the tight games.
In this game there may have been more than a few mess ups, but it fits that “offense gets gummed up, defensive mistakes get taken advantage of in low scoring game” mold. Given that Martin Jones should have had a few of those Calgary goals as his inconsistencies continue to show and the Kraken defensemen got lapped, Seattle did remain in this game for the majority of the 60 minutes. Seattle has had some trouble winning close games, and as mentioned previously, they need to find a way internally to fix that. Granted in this game that Justin Schultz, Matty Beniers, and Jaden Schwartz were all out due to injury, the Kraken lost this game due to issues they could have prevented. Head coach Dave Hakstol reflected on his teams play in the postgame press conference.
“We weren’t very good tonight, that’s all. Our group wasn’t good. Especially the middle portion of the game, we had no energy. Top to bottom, it’s all of us... We didn’t make it real hard on them. I’m not taking anything away from them, believe me. We didn’t have any pace to our game, our puck play was sloppy. Anything that we put into the zone on the forecheck we had very little speed onto. Like I said, we weren’t very good tonight, bottom line”
Ryan Donato battles net front and celebrates Eeli Tolvanen’s third period goal (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
The Kraken have not allowed a power-play goal for six consecutive games. With tonight's 2-for-2 performance, Seattle ties the franchise record for consecutive games without allowing a power-play goal. The team previously went six straight games from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11 without allowing a power-play goal.
Only the Kraken and Washington Capitals have remained perfect on the penalty kill since Jan. 16, the start of the Kraken’s streak.
John Hayden's first-period goal marks his first goal as a Kraken. He was called up from the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Jan. 24 and his first game with the Kraken was on Jan. 21 against Colorado.
With his third-period goal, Eeli Tolvanen has notched two goals in as many games. This is his second goal streak with the Kraken since his debut game with the Kraken on Jan. 1. This is also his first career goal against the Flames.
Brandon Tanev had three blocked shots, which matches a season high he has reached on four other occasions, most recently on the Dec. 20 matchup against the Blues.
With three hits tonight, Ryan Donato matched a season high. He has reached it on four other occasions this season, mostly recently Dec. 3 vs. Florida.
What’s next?
Seattle won’t have any time to get their breath after this one, as they play the second game of a back-to-back tomorrow, Saturday January 28th, against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Puck drop is at 7PM PST as Seattle will face off against one of the teams in the “Connor Bedard race,” aka the hunt to get the number one overall selection in the upcoming NHL draft. It will be Matty Beniers bobblehead night at Climate Pledge Arena, but unfortunately Beniers will be unable to play due to a head injury.