A tough test on a back-to-back: previewing the Kraken hosting the Rangers, November 17th, 2024
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Coming off their tight regulation win over the New York Islanders yesterday, our Seattle Kraken continue their season long six-game homestand with the second game of a back-to-back this weekend, as the New York Rangers are in town. It’s another out of the normal start time for the Kraken, as puck drop is at 6PM PST tonight inside of Climate Pledge Arena with yesterday’s game starting at the early time of 1PM. The Kraken have won four straight games, all during the current homestand, and have done so without Vince Dunn for all of those and with Jordan Eberle missing from the Islanders win after crashing into the boards against Chicago. Considering this is a back-to-back, Seattle won’t get Eberle in the lineup just yet and will likely continue forward with the same lineup they rolled out yesterday, just with Philipp Grubauer in goal after Joey Daccord’s solid effort yesterday. It’s a Sunday night showdown against one of the best teams in NHL and without two of your best players, but with the way that the Kraken have been building confidence and with how they’ve shown an ability to remain in games with some of the best in the league, don’t completely count Seattle out of this one.
The Kraken enter this game feeling bad, off the tight win yesterday against the New York Islanders as two goals in the third period ultimately saw Seattle secure the two points against an Islanders team that’s seen numerous players lost to injury lately. The Kraken are riding a four-game win streak, all of those games coming during the current homestand, and it comes at a great time for Seattle considering they had an ugly road trip that saw them lose four of five contests. While it had been boom or bust for the Kraken offense on that road trip and really before this homestand, Seattle seems to be finding some form of consistency with their attack and a big factor in that has been the ability to drive to the net. Two of the Kraken goals yesterday saw either someone in the blue paint (Yanni Gourde getting credit for a goal thanks to Brandon Tanev’s shot hitting him in the chest and going in) or some form of traffic in front (Jamie Oleksiak shooting a puck through traffic that leaked through Ilya Sorokin) as Brandon Tanev was right around Sorokin. This sort of grinding mentality is something that’s been preached since training camp, and seeing it somewhat come to fruition is a beautiful thing. There are still areas where they need vast improvement, as their special teams units could both use work and they still haven’t been spotless defensively, but they’re putting wins together and that’s really all that matters at this current point: stacking those victories.
The Rangers have continued their winning ways of late, with three victories over their past five games although those two losses have seen them given up six goals in each as they fell to the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets. This game in Seattle against our Kraken begins a four-game road trip for New York, as they’ll battle four Pacific Division teams with contests against the Canucks, Flames, and Oilers after tonight’s battle at Climate Pledge Arena. With Igor Shersterkin in goal and several stars in Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, and Chris Kreider, New York continues to be a contending team that’s looking to build a strong foundation in these early months of the season before playoff time approaches.
Players to watch
Our main Kraken player to keep an eye on in this one would be Brandon Tanev specifically, and we’ll talk about a few other players additionally. The man they call “Turbo” enters tomorrow's game riding a four-game point streak dating back to the teams November 8th overtime win vs Las Vegas. He has recorded six points (Four goals and two assists) in that span. Tanev scored two consecutive goals, marking his eighth career game with two or more goals, in that overtime win against the Golden Knights and really helped Seattle get back into that game as they trailed by two goals in the first period. That same game, Tanev registered six shots to match his single-game career high. Tanev has always been a high energy, fast paced player that’s been valuable on the penalty kill but largely struggles offensively, but that’s changed during this homestand as Brandon has seemingly found an offensive punch to his game that largely looks unsustainable. You could argue that the entire “Chaos line” of Tanev, Yanni Gourde, and Tye Kartye is a group to largely keep an eye on and especially so considering that the Kraken will be playing a Rangers that that is far better than them on paper. If you need one more name to look for, Jared McCann is riding a five-game point streak, having recorded seven points (Four goals and three assists) in that span. “Canner” shares first in goals (Eight) and ranks third in points (14) in 24 career games versus the Rangers, with five of his eight goals coming on the power play, a team-high.
For the Rangers, keep an eye on Artemi Panarin. “Bread,” as New York and NHL fans call him, enters tonight’s game with points in six straight games (Four goals and four assists) and at least one point in 14 of 15 games this year. He has ten goals in 15 games and was the fastest Rangers player to reach the ten-goal mark (14 GP). Panarin has 23 points (Ten goals and 13 assists) this season and is tied for tenth in goals and eleventh in points in the NHL. New York has seen their stars perform in terms of Panarin, defenseman Adam Fox, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin, but haven’t seen the sort of star production they’ve expected from Mika Zibanejad and recently extended Alexis Lafrenière. Regardless, the Rangers are a consistently top performing team and they will be one of the toughest tests of the season for Seattle. Keep an eye on the bread man.
How to tune in if you aren’t attending
For those who aren’t able to join us live from Climate Pledge Arena, this game is viewable on the Kraken Hockey Network, KONG, as well as ESPN+ for those who are not in the local market. For those in the state of the Washington, here’s the list of Seattle Kraken audio network affiliates: Seattle KJR 93.3 FM (Flagship station), Spokane KIX 99.3 FM, Tri-Cities KJOX 1340 AM, Mount Vernon KAPS 660 AM and 102.1 FM, Port Angeles KONP 1450 AM and 101.7 FM, Forks KBDB 96.7 FM, Olympia KAYO 96.9 FM/KGY 95.3 FM, Bellingham KPUG 1170AM or KGMI 790 AM, Yakima KBBO 1390 AM, Shelton KMAS 1030 AM/103.3 FM, Colfax KRAO 102.5 FM, Ellensburg KXLE 95.3 FM, and Aberdeen KSWW 102.1 FM. For those in the state of Oregon: Portland KPOJ 620 AM, Astoria KCRX 102.3 FM, Hood River/The Dalles KIHR 1340 AM and 98.3 FM, Corvallis KEJO 1240 AM. For those in Alaska: Anchorage KTZN 550 AM, Juneau KTKU 105.1 FM, Ketchikan KTKN 930 AM and 95.7 FM, Kenai KSRM 920 AM, Sitka KIFW 1230 AM, Kodiak Is. KVOK 560 AM/98.7 FM, and Fairbanks KKED 104.7 FM. For those in Idaho, you can find it on St Maries KOFE 1240 AM and those in Montana can find it on Missoula KKVU 102.9 FM. If you want to watch the game alongside other Kraken fans or just be out of the house, you can click here for a list of Anchor Alliance bars including the home of Circling Seattle Sports, Rough & Tumble Pub!
What’s next after this game?
After this game, the second of a back-to-back against the teams that have New York in their name and the fifth contest of this season long six-game homestand, our Seattle Kraken will have a day off followed by a day of practice before they host the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, November 20th to close out this home set. This game, which has a 7PM PST puck drop time, will be available to watch on the Kraken Hockey Network, as well as ESPN+ for those not within the local market. Seattle has done well to start stacking some points during this home stretch by winning the first four games, but they’ll face another difficult test as the Rangers come to town and especially so considering that Seattle is playing in the second game of a back-to-back. Looking ahead to Nashville, it’ll be interesting to see if the Kraken will have captain Jordan Eberle back by then, as after the teams practice the morning following the game that he got injured in, against the Chicago Blackhawks, head coach Dan Bylsma told local media that we could see Ebs back “early next week,” which would include this game against the Predators. Considering that Bylsma said he suffered a “major traumatic crash into the boards,” and that there was a “lot of reaction going on in his mid-body right now,” plus the fact that we saw Eberle on crutches leaving the arena after yesterday’s win over the Islanders, I’m not entirely sure that we’ll see the veteran forward by the time the puck drops for Predators vs Kraken. Nashville has been disappointing this season after what was considered the best free agency in the league, currently sitting at the bottom of the Central division, and things haven’t gotten much better for them in the past ten games as they’ve lost eight of those. Seattle holds a 6-3-1 record in head-to-head play against the Predators all-time, with the games relatively going back and forth outside of two of their games in 2022 when the Kraken won back-to-back.
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