Kraken can’t stand the heat in loss to Flames

By Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA – The Seattle Kraken lost to the Pacific Division leading
Calgary Flames, 3 – 1 in their April 9th matchup. On the day
where the Kraken held their pride night, things started out hot. After
the Flames scored just under four minutes in, the Kraken answered
with a goal of their own a minute later. Calgary took hold of the game
with two unanswered goals, and never looked back.

The Kraken power play negatively factored into this loss, as Seattle
simply couldn’t do anything with the advantage play. Seattle went zero
for five on the power play in the loss, and even had a five on three
advantage in the second period. Seattle has had issues with their
power play unit all season, and it isn’t something that has been fixed.
The Kraken sit at 29th in the league, and it often seems more like a
hinderance as opposed to any real advantage. Seattle head coach
Dave Hakstol spoke about the unit’s performance in the post-game
press conference.

“Our power play was good, other than the fact that we didn’t cash in
tonight. Their goaltender became the difference in the second half of
that hockey game, especially on specialty teams. Our execution was
good, we had good looks… he made saves through traffic. He was the
difference in those situations,” Hakstol would state, referring to Flames
goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

Perhaps the lone bright spot in the loss was Karson Kuhlman’s
response goal five minutes into the game. Kuhlman has been a2
bundle of energy all season for Seattle, and his play as of late has
been a positive. Kuhlman, who was claimed off of waivers by the
Kraken back on January 17th, has now recorded three points in
Seattle’s last two home games. Kuhlman is currently set to become a
restricted free agent this offseason, and his play only makes a case
for him to be brought back in some capacity. The young forward would
reflect on his play in the post-game press conference.

“Sitting out whenever you’re injured, watching the game a little bit is
helpful from time to time. We did a good job rehabbing, and I’ve been
feeling more comfortable by the day,” Kuhlman would remark.

This loss was your classic example of how the Kraken have looked for
the majority of their inaugural season. A poor power play, an offensive
attack that has a tough time finding ways to score, and an inability to
answer goals. Seattle has been able to turn that around for a solid part
of this latter half of the season, but not for sustained periods of time. In
their quest to establish an identity in the last month of the season,
Seattle will have the chance to do so against some good teams, many
of them headed to the playoffs. Hopefully the Kraken can find a way to
establish their identity and play spoiler to some playoff teams before
the inaugural season ends.

The Kraken will play their first home and home series ever as their
next matchup is against these Calgary Flames, but on the road. On
April 12th, Seattle will take on Johnny Gaudreau and the Flames at the
Scotiabank Saddledome with a 6PM PST puck drop.