Kraken continue to march forward with newfound offensive momentum, beat Chicago with emphatic 7-1 scoreline
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – It’s far too early to put a complete thought on this team and its current form being completely back, but damnit if the Seattle Kraken don’t look as though they’re finding the sort of performance that they were able to put out often during their record setting 2022-23 campaign. Seattle took care of business, as they should have, against a Chicago team that’s currently banged up and was never expected to perform at a high level in the first place, as the Kraken saw 14 different skaters tally points en route to scoring seven goals in tonight’s victory. With their fourth line making a big impact yet again, with three goals tonight, and Seattle largely limiting rookie phenom Connor Bedard and the rest of the Chicago roster, the Kraken are stacking the sort of momentum that could get them heading into the right direction as we swiftly approach the Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park on New Years day.
Seattle Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger got to meet Eddie Vedder prior to the game. Vedder is featured on Driedgers mask. (Photo by Nate Koppelman)
Fourth line continues to find a way
As mentioned during the recap of the Kraken win over the Panthers two nights ago, the teams current fourth line that replaced the likes of Ryan Donato (making his Seattle return tonight), Morgan Geekie, and Daniel Sprong has seen plenty of criticism to this point of the season. While not as offensively skilled as those three, this year's fourth line for Seattle has brought their own aspects of play to the team, and they’ve seen a boost in scoring over the past two games which could be a positive sign for them in that department moving forward. Early into the first frame, Kailer Yamamoto got his second goal in as many days as the Kraken remained active in trying to hem Chicago into their own zone, with Jamie Oleksiak cutting off a pass in the neutral zone. The Big Rig quickly found Kailer Yamamoto who button hooked and headed back towards the Blackhawks goal, cutting through a few flatfooted Chicago skaters before firing a quick shot on netminder Arvid Söderblom that seemed to catch him off guard and beat him stick side. For a second straight game, Seattle had scored first, and it had come off the stick of Spokane’s finest: Kailer Yamamoto.
Seattle Kraken forward Kailer Yamamoto scored the first goal of the game against the Chicago Blackhawks, scoring the opener for the second consecutive game. (Photos by Nate Koppelman)
Chicago was nearly able to respond to Seattle’s goal later into the first frame, with their first sort of dangerous attempt on net, as Nick Foligno tried to tuck the puck in around the left leg of Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord. Instead of tying this game up, Foligno found a bunch of netting as his attempt jammed against the side of the goal. That’s all that the Blackhawks would really be able to do, in terms of dangerous chances, through the first 20 minutes, but Seattle wasn’t quite down yet. With a little over two minutes left before we headed to the first intermission, the Kraken saw Vince Dunn send the puck towards the net, having it leak off a blocked shot attempt by Nikia Zaitsev and fall right in front of both Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Yamamoto. Both players swung at it, and initially Bellemare was credited with scoring the puck as Söderblom was unprepared for that chance considering the block. After reviewing through the intermission, it was determined that it was Yamamoto’s goal, his second of the night. Seattle was taking care of business against a bad and bruised Chicago team, and it had Climate Pledge Arena buzzing.
While initially given to Seattle Kraken forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (as both players sticks appeared to hit the puck as seen in the photo), Kailer Yamamoto scored the second goal of this game as well. (Photos by Nate Koppelman)
Pulling away, with the kind of Kraken hockey we saw last season
Seattle was in full control of this game throughout the remaining forty minutes of the contest, outside of the lone goal that the Blackhawks got to cut the Kraken lead in half. Seattle had been trying to reset play within their own zone, and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak somewhat lackadaisically sent a puck in the general direction of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Kailer Yamamoto, getting picked off by Anthony Beauvillier. Beauvillier entered the Kraken zone, drawing in Oleksiak and Bellemare, which left Taylor Raddysh all alone to snipe a shot nearside on Daccord and get the Blackhawks on the board. It was a sloppy play, and one that has hurt this team throughout the early part of this season, but not tonight. Seattle went on to score the next five unanswered goals and looked dominant in doing so against this Chicago team.
Even though the Chicago Blackhawks scored the first goal of the second period, as seen in the first photo by forward Taylor Raddysh, the Seattle Kraken went on to score the final five goals of this game. (Photos by Nate Koppelman)
The first of those five goals was puck luck, something that the Kraken have not had this season. Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand was trying to send a pass through the slot to find Yanni Gourde on the backdoor, but instead the puck went off the skate of Jason Dickinson, catching Söderblom off-guard and going into the net to give Seattle their two-goal lead back. That sort of bounce showed the way that this night was going for the Kraken and how it would ultimately finish out, as Tye Kartye, Eeli Tolvanen, Jared McCann (Power play), and Pierre-Edoaurd Bellemare all scored to finish this game out and ultimately leave the final score at 7-1. To build off their impressive victory over the Florida Panthers, Seattle had handled business and taken care of the Chicago Blackhawks with a six-goal differential in the win.
Other game action sights and scenes as the Seattle Kraken defeated the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 7-1 at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday, December 14th, 2023. (Photos by Nate Koppelman)
Building real momentum?
Yes, I understand that it’s a blowout against a Chicago team that very well could be hurtling towards another top choice in the upcoming entry draft. Yes, I understand that it’s only two games and there’s still a lot of work for them to do moving forward. With that being considered and taken into account, the Kraken very well could use this sort of effort as a launch when combined with Tuesday night's win over the Florida Panthers. Getting production like we’ve seen lately from the fourth line would be big towards that, while it’s obviously just nice for this Seattle offensive attack to see pucks go in as opposed to the bizarre sort of bad luck that they’ve gotten throughout the first 29 games of the season. These sorts of games do help the Kraken and the individual players as they get through the course of the season and especially as we quickly approach the Winter Classic and all the sort of flair that comes with that game.
For the longest time during the current season, it’s felt as though Seattle was just on the cusp of bursting through and finding some good fortune as they had the pucks bounce the wrong way and had their games that were largely statistically in their favor go the other way, through a rough bounce or just a mistake late. I’ll continue to say it because I’m worried that the bad man (aka another losing streak) may be listening, but these wins must be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, the Kraken have done a lot right in their game to see results such as these and to finally get both points for a victory instead of the loser point from an overtime loss. But also, there must be some fear that they won’t be able to sustain the high scoring that they’ve gotten the past two games considering how heavily this unit struggled through the first 29 games of the season. There is definite reason to feel optimistic right now but considering that I have been hurt several times already this year by this time, you have to understand why I’m being cautious.
Postgame celebrations photos following the Seattle Kraken blowout win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, December 14th, 2023, at Climate Pledge Arena, including Ryker Evans’ first ever fish yeet. (Photos by Nate Koppelman)
Quick notes
With goals tonight, Kailer Yamamoto (2), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Eeli Tolvanen all have scored goals in consecutive games.
This is the first time as a member of the Kraken that Bellemare and Yamamoto have scored in consecutive games.
Tolvanen last scored goals in consecutive games on Nov. 4 and Nov. 7, 2023. Tonight's goal puts him two points within 100 career points.
Tonight is Yamamoto's first multi-goal game as a Kraken. The last time he scored multiple goals in a game was March 3, 2023.
Will Borgen now has five assists in his last four games and had points in consecutive games for just the second time in his career, having previously done so from Dec. 20 to 22, 2022.
Tonight is Borgen's fourth multi-point point game of the season, a career-high for the defenseman, only trailing Vince Dunn and Jared McCann who both have five multi-point games each this season for the team lead.
Ryker Evans' two assists give him the first multi-point game of his NHL career.
Evans now has points in consecutive games.
Tonight Tye Kaytre scored his sixth goal of the season, which is tied for fourth in goals among all rookies in the NHL rookies this season.
With three points (one goal, two assists), Oliver Bjorkstrand now has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) this season, tying him with Vince Dunn for the team lead in scoring.
With an assist on Eeli Tolvanen's goal, Yanni Gourde now has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 22 career games against the Blackhawks.
His 20 points against Chicago are his most against a single opponent.
Gourde is five points away from 300 career points.
With an assist on Kailer Yamamoto's second first-period goal, Adam Larsson has an assist in each of his last five games against Chicago.
The Kraken have not allowed a power-play goal against in the last seven games they have played at Climate Pledge Arena, going 15-for-15 on the penalty kill during that span.
The Kraken have scored seven goals in a game for the third time this season (also on Oct. 19 vs. Carolina and Nov. 22 vs. San Jose) — the most of any team in the league according to NHL stats.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s blowout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Seattle Kraken will close out this lengthy roller coaster ride of a homestand when they host a Pacific Division battle against the Los Angeles Kings. That tussle against a titan of a Kings team (at least to begin the current season) will take place on Saturday, December 16th at Climate Pledge Arena with a puck drop of 7PM PST, being broadcast in the Root Sports market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on ESPN+/NHLPP nationwide. Los Angeles has been on a tear through this point of the season, currently sitting with the sixth most points in the NHL and the third most in a somewhat loaded Pacific Division. The Kraken will get their first peak at the Kings and what they’re capable of this season when they meet for a Saturday night showdown.
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Cover photo of this article by Nate Koppelman, you can find his portfolio here
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here