Seattle Kraken even the season series with Los Angeles Kings behind Joey Daccord’s 42 save night
By Callaghan Bluechel, edited by Charles Hamaker
Los Angeles, CA – The Seattle Kraken got revenge on the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory. The Kraken won on the back of goaltender Joey Daccord, who put together an almost perfect performance in net, saving 42 out of 43 shots on goal while the defense only became stronger as the game went on. On offense, forwards Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle both scored a goal each, which proved just enough to get Seattle over the hump.
Seattle starts off shakily
The first period saw pressure applied constantly by the Kings, as the Kraken had trouble putting together a good shift in the first fifteen minutes of the period, giving the puck away in the offensive zone. Over the final five minutes of the first, they got their act together, but were still unable to score. The Kraken’s best opportunities of the period, however, were in the early part of the period, but fell apart because of the lack of puck control. Almost six minutes in, Brandon Tanev got a breakaway, but started kicking the puck around and squandered the chance. Around eight minutes in, Vince Dunn sent a pass to Kailer Yamamoto, who was right next to the net, but Yamamoto failed to get control of the puck in time to get a shot off.
“I don’t think we had the greatest of first period as group, but sometimes that’s how things go and it’s a great two points in victory for our group. I think we came in the second and third and understood what we weren’t doing right in the first, wasn’t making us successful, and we turned that around. We didn’t make it easy for us at the end of the game, but good teams find a way to win and we’re glad we got two points.”
The Seattle defense, for the most part, did a good job of protecting the house, and the team checked well enough to prevent disastrous breakaways, but the star of the first period for the Kraken was Joey Daccord. He faced a total of twenty shots on goal during the period and kept the Kings off the board the whole time. The best chance that Los Angeles had came in the last minute of the period, as the Kings got an appetizing 2-on-1. Kings defenseman Matt Roy had an excellent shot, but Daccord deflected it off the crossbar using the handle of his stick.
Kraken organize themselves
In the second period, the Kraken offense largely kept it together. They got several excellent opportunities, including a power play almost perfectly congruent with the final two minutes of the period, but only managed one goal: Just over five minutes in, Tanev got the puck off of a face-off and sunk it into the net. Tanev almost doubled up the lead, as he had a chance to knock in another puck that had found its way behind Kings goaltender Cam Talbot, but Talbot got his glove down behind the puck just in time to prevent a second goal.
“It was nice I mean, it’s been a while since I got one but again, great chances and keep working hard and going to the right places, the puck will find you. At the end of the day, as long as the team’s getting two points that’s all you really care about.”
Meanwhile, Daccord continued his excellent performance, facing sixteen shots and again saving all of them. Again, most of the Kings’ shots were long, as again, Seattle’s defense protected the house well. The Kraken entered the third period with a 1-0 lead.
Seattle expanded the lead in the third period. Around six and a half minutes into the period, the Kings gave the puck away to Matty Beniers, who passed it up the rink to Eberle, who broke away and shot a goal. Seattle had a 2-0 lead. The Kraken had the opportunity around a minute later to go up even further with a power play, but a bad bounce after the Kings had cleared the puck led to an easy goal for Blake Lizotte, making the game 2-1.'
Penalty-killing streak continues as defense excels
After that, the defense went from solid to ironclad. The Kings had two power plays in the rest of the period, but the Kraken turned the house into a fortress, letting no shots reach Daccord for either of the penalties, an especially impressive feat considering that the Kings pulled their goalie for the final power play to make it a 6-on-4. In total, the Kraken killed four penalties, though one of them was a 4-on-4 for most of its duration.
Los Angeles could not put anything together on offense for the entire period, despite getting their one lucky shorthanded goal. Such was the strength of the Seattle Kraken defense in a game that in many ways was the reverse of their success strategy from last season.
Stats
Seattle Kraken:
Goals: Brandon Tanev (3), Jordan Eberle (4)
Assists: Matty Beniers (11), Will Borgen (12).
Shots on goal: 30
Los Angeles Kings:
Goals: Blake Lizotte (5)
Assists: None
Shots on goal: 43
What’s Next?
This win brings Seattle to 31 standings points on the season, their 11th victory on the year. Even though this ties them with the Calgary Flames in points, the Flames have more wins, meaning that Seattle is still in 5th place in the Pacific Division, behind Vegas, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Calgary.
Seattle will continue the road trip for two more games. The first is against the Anaheim Ducks on December 23rd, and the second is against the Calgary Flames on December 27th. After that, the Kraken will return to Climate Pledge Arena on December 29 for a game against the Philadelphia Flyers in the last game they’ll play ahead of the Winter Classic at T-Mobile Park against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on January 1st, 2024.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Kraken articles here
Check out our previous articles with photos by Liz Wolter here, and her portfolio here
Check out articles by Callaghan Bluechel here