Kraken sail through rough waves early to ground Jets in 3-2 victory
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – To begin a quick two game homestand ahead of the Christmas break, the Seattle Kraken were able to overcome two opening goals by the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Seattle emerged victorious by the same score from the last time these teams met, back on November 18th. A penalty committed in the final seconds ultimately cost the Kraken that game. While Seattle did see two penalties result in goals for the Jets, the home team buckled down to score three unanswered goals and secure the teams first win in franchise history against Winnipeg. Timely saves by Philipp Grubauer locked down the Seattle net outside of the Jets power play goals, stopping the bleeding to prevent things from getting out of hand. The first two periods seemed headed in a similar direction that the three losses on the teams previous road trip went, but Grubauer's play in net and Seattle's persistent offensive attack were key in securing two points.
A Kraken shot deflects off of Jets goaltender David Rattich (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Regular residents in the "Sin bin"
A reoccurring issue for this Kraken team has been trying to stay out of the penalty box. It’s clear that Seattle has issues on the penalty kill, as their penalty kill unit ranks third worst in the entire NHL, but it also doesn’t help that the Kraken cannot stay out of the box in the first place. Seattle was building offensive flow to start the game, but it all came to a halt when two quick penalties by Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn created a five-on-three situation. Winnipeg scored just four ticks into the two man advantage, washing away any momentum Seattle had built. In the second period, Will Borgen was pegged with a “holding the stick” penalty that, which the Jets took advantage of. Winnipeg scored 25 seconds into their power play, as Kyle Connor's shot rebounded and was never cleared right in front of Kraken starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Adam Larsson was too late to get to the sliding puck, as Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois tapped home the juicy rebound.
Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele taps home a pass, left all alone on the power play (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Seattle's issues on specialty teams, including a power play that continues to suffer (Kraken are 2 for 22 on the PP in December so far), display a big area for growth. As I've stated several times before when recapping this hockey teams games, wins and losses, that this Kraken team can very well make the playoffs. The current roster has displayed that it has what it takes to not only make the playoffs this season, but stake claim as one of the best teams in the league. If the Kraken can keep both of their special teams units around league average (the power play already sits at 16th, while the penalty kill sits at 29th), then Seattle could push Las Vegas for the divisional lead as they nearly had done last month. As teams continue to see this Seattle team more on film, adjustments will be made and the Kraken will have to make changes as well. As scoring goes down league wide this time of the season, an improved penalty kill helps Seattle out immensely. Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol spoke about how different "December hockey" is to the media, postgame.
“That’s the league at this time of year. We went through a stretch a couple weeks ago where there were some crazy scores, all over the league. In general the league gets tight. I talked about it after the first ten games, as you get towards the middle portion of the season, we gotta be comfortable in games like this, winning one goal games... the offense doesn’t come easy, the goals don’t come easy, we fought for what we got tonight. Everybody tightens up in their structure, the intensity of the league elevates at this time of year”
Adam Larsson looks to clear the puck as Philipp Grubauer gets in his stance, just in case he needs to face a shot (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Jordan Eberle once again displays the powers of "Dad strength"
Despite a two goal deficit early into the second period, Seattle’s offensive attack continued to take things shift by shift. The Kraken attack had seen it's momentum run aground due to those two Winnipeg power play goals, but each line came out and contributed towards chipping away at Jets starting goaltender David Rittich. Seattle had been finding passing lanes and dictating the games pace against a Jets team that was tired from playing in the second game of a back-to-back. Seattle just needed the extra push to get the ball (or puck) rolling, and a veteran leader took charge in doing so. The Kraken were able to finally break through the ice a little over halfway through the second period thanks to a back-handed bar down goal from alternate captain Jordan Eberle. The highlight reel goal sparked Seattle’s attack, as the Kraken scored the next two goals of the game to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The 32-year old veteran winger continued to feel it throughout the night after the exciting goal, accounting for a little over 28% of Seattle's expected goals while slamming five shots towards net. Eberle's teammates that also found the back of the net, Ryan Donato and Jared McCann, discussed the goal that's gained plenty of attention online.
“That is vintage Jordan Eberle, that’s what I grew up watching. Thats gonna make him sound a little older than he is but he’s been a leader for our team from the beginning, a guy that we rely on a lot and it’s good to see him score”
“It was disgusting. I always joke with him about his backhander, but after that it’s hard to give him a hard time about it. It was a pretty nice backhand for sure”
Hold the line (or change it, if you're coach Hakstol)
An interesting note on this Kraken gameday was the announced starting lines prior to puck drop. Seattle held an optional morning skate ahead of their matchup with Winnipeg, and only five players in total spent time on the ice. Martin Jones got some work in net, while Cale Fleury, Eeli Tolvanen, Justin Schultz and Matty Beniers all skated and got different work done. Because head coach Dave Hakstol did not speak to the media until a little under two hours before game time and the return of Schultz and Oleksiak from injury and suspension (respectively) seemed highly likely, we generally had an idea of what the lineup was going to look like. Schultz seemed to be getting extra work in ahead of his return, Tolvanen doesn't have enough time with the team to contribute enough quite yet, Jones getting work in pointed to Grubauer starting, and Fleury became the seventh defensemen considering the return of Oleksiak-Schultz. That, plus Matty Beniers seems to continue to work to be the best player he can be as his young career progresses and grows.
Forward Eeli Tolvanen continues to practice with his new team (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Come an hour prior to game time, the projected starting lineup saw some interesting movement among the forward lines. The McCann-Beniers-Eberle line that had been slated as the second line took over the top spot. Jaden Schwartz and Alex Wennberg were now joined by Oliver Bjorkstrand, as that line took the second spot. That prior swap sent Andre Burakovsky down to the third line to join Ryan Donato and Yanni Gourde in the third line, rounding out the lineup. The new third line Burakovsky-Gourde-Donato generated the highest On-ice xGoals for percentage at .595, while the new first line of McCann-Beniers-Eberle was on the ice for the most goals with two. The new second line of Schwartz-Wennberg-Bjorkstrand fired off the most shot attempts with 14, just one more than the first line. All in all, it makes sense to have the McCann-Beniers-Eberle line as your top line. The moves of Bjorkstrand and Burakovsky to their new lines is interesting, but as you can tell generated promising numbers.
Andre Burakovsky looks to make a pass (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Are there some reinforcements potentially on the way?
I want to put out a sort of warning/notice that this information does not meant that either player will immediately return to the practice rink or that a move is imminent to see their return to the lineup. These are just pieces of information that I have put together while at the team facilities, and I feel that it may be a failure to not at least put out the possibility that they may be getting close to a return. The two players that I am talking about are obviously Chris Driedger and Joonas Donskoi.
Driedger has been getting in early, early work prior to morning skates in full gear and doing full work. 195 days after he tore his ACL in the third period of the IIHF World Championship for his native Canada, it appears that the netminder may be working his way back to participating with the team. We saw the same sort of thing happen with Philipp Grubauer when he was working back to returning, early work prior to morning skates, but obviously the injury situations are different. His gear now sits in a locker in between Grubauers and Martin Jones at Kraken Community Iceplex, beautiful pads and all. This started earlier in the month and I found it interesting then considering that specific locker sat empty after Magnus Hellberg had been claimed off of waivers. Now, this work before morning skates leads me to believe that we can somewhat speculate that Driedger will be ready sooner rather than later. What happens when Driedger returns and we have a goalie triad of Driedger-Jones-Grubauer, is a whole different discussion for a whole different article.
Could Chris Driedger be returning sooner rather than later for our Kraken? (Photo by Megan Connelly)
Donskoi is a more unique and puzzling case, as there has been essentially no information on his "upper body" injury since he was placed on injured reserve on October 9th. Suffering an injury during training camp, Donskoi has been playing his own version of "Where's Waldo" for months now. Head coach Dave Hakstol has given no information on the Finnish forward, most recently answering "no change on his status" when Seattle Times reporter Kate Shefte asked for an update on him. I've seen him a few times in the depths of Climate Pledge Arena, walking the tunnels like all the scratches do after a game, but a new development happened postgame that peaked my curiosity. Amongst the lockers in the Kraken locker room, Joonas Donskoi's nameplate was in a locker for the first time this regular season. Ironically enough, it's the same locker that Shane Wright had prior to being sent down to AHL, and I knew THAT move was happening because his locker was oddly empty compared to everyone else. Using our "locker clues," Driedger started doing on-ice work after his nameplate and equipment was placed in a locker. Shane Wright was sent to Coachella Valley after it was noticed that his locker was cleaned out. Now, will Donskoi start getting some work in after his nameplate was placed in a locker? We'll have to see, but I believe so. What happens to Donskoi's place in this roster, just like Driedger, is another discussion for another article.
Could Chris Driedger be returning sooner rather than later for our Kraken? (Photo by Megan Connelly)
Take a moment to hit pause and assess
Similar to the way that we have often discussed the teams special teams issues throughout this season, the reasons for feeling positive about this team continue to arise as we continue on our course through the 2022-23 regular season. Outside of the two avoidable mistakes of the penalties that the Kraken gave up, Seattle played well defensively in terms of it's skaters and it's goaltender. Philipp Grubauer was put in tough position twice, being left out to dry on those Winnipeg power play goals. In five-on-five player, Grubauer was excellent and posted a 0.91 goals saved above expected to continue his great form since returning from his last injury. In terms of skaters, no forward line or defensemen pairing allowed over .500 on-ice goals against percentage. Some of Seattle's primary scoring threats put on a show in Eberle and McCann. Ryan Donato tied his career long streak of games with a goal at three. The new forward lines had exciting numbers and can improve with more time spent together. Getting the defensemen pairing of Oleksiak and Schultz back gives Seattle their professional D-lines back after essentially sending out an AHL level D-pair. All of those things and more are reasons for positivity with this Kraken team, and we still have 52 games to play. Enjoy the wins like this, so that you can appreciate when this team reaches the postseason. With that being said, I'll leave you with a quote from Jared McCann about the potential of this team.
“Tonight’s something to build on... in terms of building off of the end of that Carolina game, that’s the way we should play for 60 minutes. If we can do that, we know that we’re one of the best teams in the league. We need to find that every night”
Philipp Grubauer pounces on a loose puck (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
Ryan Donato tied a career-best goal streak tonight, after netting his third goal in three consecutive games. He has reached this on two other occasions.
Jared McCann's third-period goal is his fourteenth of the season and his first game-winning goal this season.
His 14 goals lead the team (14 goals, six assists) and since the Kraken entered the NHL, he leads the team in cumulative goals, with 41 (the next is Eberle, with 29).
Of the Beniers-Eberle-McCann line, at least one of the skaters has scored in 13 of the last 15 games the Kraken have played, dating back to Nov. 13 when Seattle last played Winnipeg.
Jordan Eberle netted the tenth point in his last nine games against the Jets. This also marks his second goal in as many games against Winnipeg, having also scored the Kraken's first goal of the night in Seattle's first matchup with Winnipeg of the season on Nov. 13.
According to NHL Stats, Eberle leads all current Kraken players in goals, assists and points versus the Jets, with 7-9—16 in 22 career games. The next closest is Jaden Schwartz (6-9—15 in 26 GP).
Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn's assists on Eberle's goal mark the defensive pairing's 27th goal of the season when on the ice together during five-on-five play, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Their pairing ranks third in the NHL in goals for, led only by New Jersey's Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler (30) and San Jose’s Erik Karlsson and Jayson Megna (28).
Yanni Gourde reaches six points (one goal, five assists) in his last six games dating back to Dec. 6 vs. Montreal with his assist on Donato's goal.
For the first time in his career, he has an assist in four consecutive games.
With his assist on Donato's goal, Andre Burakovsky now has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last eight games against the Jets.
Brandon Tanev is the only Kraken player to have previously played for the Jets. After signing with the team as an undrafted free agent, Tanev totaled 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) in 195 regular-season games and added eight points (five goals, three assists) in 22 playoff games.
What's next?
The Kraken will get a day of practice following this win, before they get back to action as they host the St. Louis Blues. The two teams will have a rematch of their mid-October contest, battling it out on Tuesday, December 20th with a puck drop of 7PM PST. The Blues will enter Climate Pledge Arena on the second game of a back-to-back, potentially bringing a four-game winning streak into Seattle if St. Louis leaves Vancouver victorious. The Blues are certainly keeping their games interesting, having played extra hockey (two overtime games and a shootout) in three of their last four games.