Looking to tame Smashville: previewing the Kraken hosting the Predators, November 20th, 2024
By Silvia Leija-Rosas and Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The Seattle Kraken face off against the Nashville Predators at Climate Pledge Arena, Wednesday, November 20th with a puck drop time of 7PM PST, being broadcast nationally on TNT, truTV, and MAX. This isn’t necessarily the biggest matchup for the Kraken, as the Predators have been a disappointing team to begin the season despite the big time free agent signings that Nashville made this past offseason, but that doesn’t matter as Seattle’s priority must remain as stacking points if they want to be in a playoff position by the time that Thanksgiving comes around, typically a marker of teams that eventually do end up making the Stanley Cup playoffs. This game wraps up a successful homestand for the Kraken, having won four out of five games so far, but the team has been without star defenseman Vince Dunn and team captain Jordan Eberle for almost all of the current home set. Kraken writer Silvia Leija-Rosas and CSS editor in chief Charles Hamaker walk you through a game preview for Predators at Kraken, November 20th, 2024.
A look at the teams
The Kraken are coming off an 0-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday, who broke Seattle’s four-game win streak in the second game of a back-to-back for the home side as they hosted both teams that have “New York” in their name over the weekend at Climate Pledge Arena. Tonight’s showing against the Predators marks Seattle’s final home game for this season long six-game home stretch and the end of Nashville’s five-game road trip. The Kraken had had a successful homestand already through five games, winning four of those with that lone loss coming in shutout fashion to the Rangers on Sunday, and the goal of stacking points remains as we approach the mark in the season where teams in a playoff position on Thanksgiving tend to make the postseason later in the year. It’ll most likely be a low-scoring game, but if the Kraken can get their offense going early and keep a sustained defensive performance then they’ll head to Los Angeles for their game against the Kings with another check in the win column.
After a blockbuster offseason that resulted in some intriguing trades and expensive free agent signings, Smashville has had a less than stellar start. The Predators are coming to Seattle with a record of 6-10-3 on the season and while they’ve found their stride when it comes to puck possession, they aren’t finishing the way you would expect a team with that kind of star power. Nashville currently sits 30th in offense and 19th in defense league-wide, far less notable than they’d ideally like to be. That’s not to say the Kraken will have it easy, because they rarely do and Juuse Saros is still a top end goaltender. Heading into this game, the Predators are coming off a big victory where they scored five goals against the Canucks up in Vancouver on Sunday. Steven Stamkos–part of the aforementioned starpower acquired in the offseason–had a strong game with two goals and Saros stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced. The Kraken need to take advantage of the Predator’s inconsistencies because while Smashville is averaging 2.42 goals offensively, their defense is giving up 3.21 goals per game.
Last time out for the Kraken
The last game for the Kraken was Sunday, November 17th when Seattle hosted the New York Rangers, the second game of a back-to-back after beating the New York Islanders in regulation the day before in a matinee start. Seattle got a result fitting for a team in the second leg of a back-to-back, but certainly played well enough for 40 minutes to earn a better fate than that, especially better than being shutout by the Rangers. New York had the “ageless wonder” Jonathan Quick in goal, and while he did make key saves in key moments, the Kraken generated a lot of good looks on goal in a variety of ways, even without Eberle and Dunn. Given the circumstances of a back-to-back, playing a cup contender in the Rangers, and being without two of their top performers, you’d have thought that this was a disaster in the making for Seattle, but that wasn’t the case and New York got two goals on a wide open Alexis Lafrenière back door that the Kraken seemed to forget in living him wide open, then a somewhat soft goal against Philipp Grubauer as Zac Jones had a shot sneak in on his near side late. Given the offensive potential that was shown and how strong Grubauer looked for the vast majority of the game, this was a game that instilled more encouragement than anything else despite the result.
Head to head matchup between Seattle and Nashville
In head to head competition, the Kraken hold a 6-3-1 record all-time against the Nashville Predators, including a 3-2-0 mark at Climate Pledge Arena. With a 7-3 victory at Nashville on October 15th, Seattle scored seven goals in a game for the 13th time since joining the NHL in 2021-22 – the fifth most among all teams (excluding shootout-deciding goals) over that span behind the Avalanche (17), Maple Leafs (16), Oilers (16) and Panthers (15). The Kraken got their first ever win as a franchise against the Predators in Nashville, a 4-3 victory as Brandon Tanev scored an empty net goal that ended up being the game winner, as Mikael Granlund scored almost 40 seconds later to make it a one-goal game. Current Kraken Eeli Tolvanen scored for the Predators at the time, a wrist shot that was the opening goal of the game. Jared McCann, Alex Wennberg, and Brandon Tanev (Twice) all scored in that game, while Philipp Grubauer saved 27 of 30 shots on the night to log his first victory as a Seattle goaltender.
Seattle lineup notes and injury updates
Following today’s optional morning skate, where Vince Dunn was a participant with the main group and not before that main group came out as he previously had been doing, Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma stated that while it is a positive progression in his rehab process that he was on the ice with the main group and not in a red non-contact jersey, the star Seattle defenseman is still at least 14 days out of returning to game action and is unlikely to play on the teams upcoming road trip as a result of that timeline. Bylsma did not have any sort of update on captain Jordan Eberle, as he’s still being evaluated by doctors following a “major traumatic crash into the boards,” and CSS saw Eberle on crutches after the teams win against the Islanders, so unfortunately it seems that Seattle may be without their captain for a decent amount of time as opposed to getting an immediate return. We imagine that the players in the lineup will be the same as the game against the Rangers, but there should be some changes to the lines and pairings themselves considering how things looked in practice on Monday: McCann-Beniers-Burakovsky, Schwartz-Stephenson-Sprong, Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand, and Kartye-Wright/Meyers-Tanev at the forward lines while things look the same in the defenseman pairings with Evans-Larsson, Oleksiak-Montour, and Mahura-Borgen. Shane Wright was getting shots on the ice with Vince Dunn after today’s optional morning skate, so we imagine that he’s a healthy scratch again like he was against the Rangers.
“As the games have gone along here, I think Shane’s game has been trending in not the best direction... Really the message is: Take a reset, watch the game tonight, which he did, and get back focused on playing the way you can play.”
Starting goaltender matchup
We saw Joey Daccord head over to rink two (Smartsheet) to work with Seattle goaltender coach Steve Briere this morning at the optional skate, and he came off the ice first of the two goaltenders, both great indicators typically of the Kraken starting goaltender. Joey Daccord is 1-0-1 with a 1.92 GAA and .930 SV% in two career appearances against the Predators, including the last contest between the two teams. Scott Wedgewood was still on the ice here at Climate Pledge Arena for Nashville’s morning skate, indicating that Juuse Saros came off the ice first and he is our projected starter for the Predators against the Kraken. Juuse Saros has a record of 4-6-0 in 10 games with a goals against average of 3.47 and a save percentage of .884 versus the Kraken in his career, including starting the October 15th game against Seattle.
Players to Watch
You can’t go wrong with Jared McCann, who continues to be another strong offensive performer for Seattle throughout his career as a Kraken. The winger has scored nine goals and added 12 assists this season, currently leading the team in points. McCann has six goals and 12 points (Six goals, six assists) in 18 career contests against the Predators. McCann enters tonight’s game with seven points (Four goals, three assists) in his last six games, including two multi-point efforts. Even when Seattle isn’t performing at its best, McCann is looking for opportunities to find the back of the net and the numbers consistently prove that, with “Canner” consistently ranking near the top of the “Hockeystatcards.” Another option to look at is winger Daniel Sprong, recently acquired via trade with the Vancouver Canucks where he recorded three points (One goal, two assists) in nine games with the team. Sprong has five points (Four goals, one assist) in nine career games against Nashville, and could provide the sort of offensive punch that Seattle needs on a consistent basis.
Former long-time Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos isn’t having the best season, but when the man locks in, boy does he have a game. It’s obvious he is still adjusting to a new team and new system but watching flashes of what he can do alongside stars like Roman Josi, Jonathan Marchessault and Filip Forsberg shows the Preds are a team that even now, shouldn’t be taken lightly. Speaking of Josi, Roman is another player on the Predators that you could keep an eye on in this game against the Kraken. Josi enters tonight’s game after netting a goal and assists in Nashville's game on November 17th against the Vancouver Canucks; his 699th and 700th career points. His 700 points (183 goals, 517 assists) rank 30th among all NHL defensemen in league history, overtaking Hall-of-Famer Chris Pronger who had 698. Josi has seven points (One goal, six assists) in his last six games played and seven points (Four goals, three assists) in eight career games against Seattle.
How to tune in to this game
For those who aren’t able to join us live from Climate Pledge Arena, this game is viewable on TNT, truTV, and MAX as this is a nationally televised game. 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?
Following this sixth and final game of the season-long homestand for our Seattle Kraken, they’ll have two days of practice (at least that are currently scheduled) before they head out on the road for two Pacific division games and a stretch that includes five games against divisional opponents in total. That next game, the first of two on the road, comes on Saturday, November 23rd, 2024 against the Los Angeles Kings with a puck drop time of 1PM PST at Crypto.com Arena. This game will be broadcast live on the Kraken Hockey Network and Kong for those watching locally, while going live over the airwaves locally on Seattle KJR 93.3 FM (Flagship station), and you can find other radio options by clicking here. The Kings are off to a good start so far this season, currently holding a record of 10-6-3 and sitting in second place in the Pacific division at the time of this article coming out. This will be the third divisional game that the Kraken have played so far early into the 2024-25 season, having won in overtime against both the Calgary Flames and Las Vegas Golden Knights in games played at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle will still be on the press to stack points ahead of the Thanksgiving mark of the season, and especially so against teams within their own division as the Kraken are currently in the sixth spot in the Pacific. This game against the Kings begins a stretch of games for Seattle that goes as follows, with every team being a Pacific division opponent: away against the Kings, away against the Anaheim Ducks, home against the Ducks, away against the San Jose Sharks, and then home against the Sharks.
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