Kraken ring in 2023 with focused, fundamental 4-1 win over Islanders
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Shaking off any sort of aftereffects from celebrating the New Year, the Seattle Kraken displayed a complete team effort to beat the New York Islanders. Eeli Tolvanen, making his Kraken debut, exemplified the hard working win as he blocked several shots and made a noticeable effort to check in addition to his power play goal. Despite the Islanders tying the game in the first period on a somewhat easy attempt by former Seattle Thunderbird Mathew Barzal, the Kraken remained locked in and did not let the goal snowball into a bigger issue. The win sets the Kraken on the right foot as they begin a tough month of January. Seattle is now sitting at fourth in the division, as they are now embarking on a nearly two-week road trip.
Adam Larsson celebrates his first period goal with teammates, Andre Burakovsky, Vince Dunn, and Daniel Sprong (Photo by Liv Lyons)
New Years resolution: Play sound hockey for 60 minutes
Seattle’s ugly, embarrassing blowout loss to the Edmonton Oilers two days ago was a master class on all the things not to do in a hockey game, at least if they were attempting to win. The embarrassment of that result, and mounting issues that the needed to correct led to a practice session that got back to basics, and challenged the team to raise their play. While there are coaching tweaks that could be made, Seattle needed to dig within to find the next gear in order to regain the form that they had shown earlier in the season. Following the conclusion of the practice session, it sounded like Seattle was aiming to get back to "lunch pail hockey." A more collaborative, selfless type of hockey like that is what the Kraken need if they are to stack points and hang around in the Western Conference playoff race. We got a glimpse of what that might look like for Seattle in tonight's win.
A noticeable change in effort was seen in the New Years day win over the Islanders, as the Kraken defensemen kept their heads on a swivel, sticks were active all game, the forecheck and backcheck were far better, and Seattle was able to control the neutral zone. Seattle stayed true to their structure defensively and on the penalty kill, two additional factors that saw complete 180's from the last few games. It was exactly the sort of tough, gritty, smart hockey that the Kraken need to play if they want to continue their season into the month of May. A few days ago, Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol had challenged the team to kick things into a higher level of play to show that they belong. Hakstol discussed this, and his teams effort to the local media, postgame.
“It’s not as much about yesterday’s practice, it’s more so about the mentality that the players brought to practice, and what they left with because that did carry over today. That’s not a momentum thing, it’s simply a mentality and a determination that comes from our older guys and filters through everybody else in here... we faltered, two nights ago was an embarrassing night. That’s a hard one to play in this building. Yet, we were able to recover from that today and get an important two points. The realization in this room that we belong in this fight, and we belong where we are in the standings, and now you have to add the determination and the competitiveness to do it as play in this league elevates.”
Seattle looks to clear a puck near in the trapezoid (Photo by Liv Lyons)
A new sharpshooter enters the fold
Young forward Eeli Tolvanen was slotted don a Kraken jersey very first time, as part of Dave Hakstol's lineup changes following the brutal loss to Edmonton. Tolvanen, having spent weeks as a healthy scratch with the team, made sure he grabbed his moment firmly. His powerful shot resulted in a power play goal while adding two hits, and three blocks on the night. Seattle’s depth has been a positive all season long, from all four forward lines to the defensemen pairs that have been able to chip in offensively. It seems that Tolvanen adds another notch in the woodwork of Seattle's depth and makes lineup decisions going forward a little more interesting. With a heavy shot, and a selfless mindset, Tolvanen could find himself in the lineup often as the rest of the season progresses. Tolvanen discussed his first start in a Seattle uniform with the Seattle media, postgame.
“It felt really good, it’s been a while since I’ve played my last game so it’s always nice to get the first goal out of the way in the first game... Dunner told me to shoot it as soon as I got it, and that’s what I did... I kinda blacked out for a bit there... I felt really good since I last hopped on the ice.”
Eeli Tolvanen played a good game in his Kraken debut (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Focused, active defense strands Islanders at Sea
I piled heavy criticism upon Seattle's defensemen after the embarrassing shellacking suffered to the Edmonton Oilers back on Friday, and not without good reason. Seattle's D-pairings had shown complete incompetence when it came to protecting the crease, maintaining the blue line, and keeping structure. It was obvious that there were issues that needed to be addressed, and it seems like the message given at the December 31st practice helped get that point across. The Kraken saw their D-pairings stick true to their own structure while also remaining active enough to prevent cross ice passes and derail New York's two power play opportunities. Even on those two opportunities, Seattle kept the Islanders chances to ones that failed to make goaltender Martin Jones break much of a sweat. The Kraken need to see consistent play similar to this in order for them to climb back into a playoff spot and KEEP that spot.
Adam Larsson clears the puck up the ice (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Reflect before a 13-day stretch without home hockey
While it’s just one game following an ugly three game stretch, Seattle showed great improvements in the areas that they needed to improve upon. Willingness to sacrifice the body by checking and blocking shots showed that Seattle can be a selfless team. More alert, aware, focused defensemen limited New York to a goal that was essentially let in by Martin Jones and a handful of potentially dangerous opportunities. Specialty teams looked improved, as the power play showed improved strategy in large part to the team shooting the puck instead of trying to get too fancy. If the Kraken are able to continue this performance and turn those individuals notes into characteristics, this team is well suited for a strong January run.
Oliver Bjorkstrand celebrates his second period goal to put Seattle up 3-1 (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
With his goal tonight, Adam Larsson notches a point in six consecutive games for the first time in his career (four goals, 11 assists). This streak ties Justin Schultz's franchise record for longest point streak by a defenseman, set November 17-29 of this season.
He now has points in five straight home games for the first time in his career.
With his assist on Larsson's goal, Ryan Donato has recorded a point in five consecutive home games for the first time in his career, dating back to Dec. 18 vs. Winnipeg.
He has also tallied a point in seven of his last eight games, making this the most productive seven-game stretch he's had as a Kraken.
With his empty-net goal, Brandon Tanev now has five points (three goals, two assists) in his last five games played.
Eeli Tolvanen’s second-period goal makes him the seventh player in franchise history to score in his first game as a Kraken. He joins Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andre Burakovsky (both October 12, 2022), Daniel Sprong (March 22, 2022) and Ryan Donato, Morgan Geekie and Jared McCann (all Oct. 12, 2021).
Matty Beniers' four hits tonight ties his record for most hits in a game. He had two four-hit games in December, on the 3rd vs. Florida and on the 9th vs. Washington.
Daniel Sprong now has five points (four goals, one assist) in as many games.
Vince Dunn's assists on Tolvanen and Tanev's goals get him his 21st point of the season, which leads all Seattle defensemen.
Oliver Bjorkstrand notched his fifth point (two goals, three assists) in his last five games against the Islanders with his second-period goal.
With his assist on Oliver Bjorkstrand's goal, this is the second year in a row that Yanni Gourde has recorded a point in a New Year's Day game.
Ryan Donato of the Kraken and Ilyah Sorokin of the Islanders look on as Adam Larsson’s first period goal finds the back of the net (Photo by Liv Lyons)
What's next?
Seattle will now spend 13 days away from Climate Pledge Arena, playing seven games over that time. The Kraken begin the tough road trip with a January 3rd rematch against the Edmonton Oilers. Seattle will head to Rogers Place, looking to avenge the 7-2 loss when they drop the puck against Edmonton at 6PM PST. Connor McDavid is expected to have teammate Leon Draisaitl back with him, making Edmonton even more dangerous than when these two teams met on December 30th. As both teams currently sit at 42 points, the winner of the game will move into the third place spot in the Pacific Division.