Calming the Flames in Calgary: Kraken pick up big win against Pacific Division rival to extend point streak to seven games
By Charles Hamaker
Calgary, AB, Canada – For a while, with the number of “loser points” that the Seattle Kraken were taking from overtime losses combined with the quotes coming from the players and head coach Dave Hakstol, it appeared that the mindset of the team was “just keep swimming.” Seattle had been doing a lot of good in the games where it seemed nearly impossible for them to do anything but lose, but it appears as though the Kraken have finally found some form of progress as we near the new calendar year. In the first game following the holiday break, Seattle put together a gritty one-goal victory over the Calgary Flames, as their 2-1 win is only the second time ever that the Kraken have beaten this Pacific Division opponent. There were a few main storylines to follow, but none bigger than that of goaltender Chris Driedger returning to action and playing out of his mind.
Continuing the hot starts, but now in Calgary
The Flames started this game out aggressively getting to the Kraken net, making sure to test Chris Driedger between the pipes right away as the Seattle netminder made his first NHL start since May 1st of 2022, at the tail end of the team's inaugural season. Driedger was up to the test early, warding off Calgary’s somewhat errant attempts on net, and the ability to mitigate those chances from the Flames ultimately paid off for Seattle on the scoreboard. After Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson had blocked a Calgary shot out in front of Driedger, the puck went off into the corner to the netminder’s left for Vince Dunn to retrieve. With a Flames player coming in to lay a hit on him, Dunn sent a stretch pass up to a streaking Kailer Yamamoto, who had found just enough space to get through Calgary and force a breakaway situation on goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Some stickhandling out in front was enough to distract the veteran netminder before Yamamoto went low blocker side to open the scoring and burn Calgary for their over aggressive ways.
“It’s always good to play with a lead. We’ve chased a lot of games, that’s not a successful formula. When you get out to a lead, that’s a good formula.”
Making a mistake, but atoning in order to gain two points
While it was Seattle who took advantage of Calgary’s aggressive play first, the Flames were able to do the same to equalize, just in a different iteration. Just seven seconds into a power play created thanks to a delay of game penalty on Kraken defenseman Brian Dumoulin, Calgary struck as they capitalized on another Seattle mistake. After Driedger had made a save that resulted in the puck falling just outside of his crease, Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak had tried to send the puck up the ice for Brandon Tanev on what could’ve been a shorthanded opportunity. Instead of a potential shorty, Oleksiak’s pass was intercepted by Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich, who was able to get Chris Driedger to come out of his crease so that all he had to do was skate past him before he found teammate Nazem Kadri to put it home. Calgary was back into this game, making the most out of the opportunity that Seattle had delivered to them on a platter.
After the tying goal from the Flames, the Kraken had more than a few chances to be able to regain the lead and even go ahead of Calgary firmly, but failed to take advantage of goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who didn’t look like a worldbeater in this contest. While the Seattle offense struggled to help out in the goal support category, the Flames put some pressure on, but it thankfully wasn’t anything that was too much for Chis Driedger to be able to handle even despite how long it had been since his last start in the NHL. While there was a lot of dragging along after the first two goals of the game, it felt as though there was going to be a breaking point, it was going to come down to who found what it was first. Thankfully for Seattle, it was the Kraken who found that area of space needed to regain the lead.
As Seattle broke the puck out of their own zone, two quick passes were all it took to cut through Calgary’s skaters and find the necessary room for the Kraken to get the puck in the net. Bringing the puck up out of his own zone, Will Borgen came through the neutral zone and found Jared McCann on the left faceoff circle in the Flames zone. With two skaters bearing down on him, McCann saw that linemate Alex Wennberg had free space ahead of him as he came in from the neutral zone, and a lead pass was sent his way. Wennberg, who has become infamous for shying away from shooting the puck, sniped a shot through the smallest hole over Markstrom’s right shoulder to give Seattle the lead once again. A few quick passes were all that they needed, and now it was up to the Kraken to maintain the defensive fortitude that they’d had for nearly the entire game. The Flames made a push late, with only a few chances really challenging Seattle, but Chris Driedger’s storybook night saw things through and the Kraken locked up the two points.
“To come out and finally get back in, it felt pretty great. Especially here in Calgary, logged a few minutes in this barn in my junior days, it was really incredible. A long process, do the rehab, start this year in the minors... lots of adversity.”
Remaining cautious, but that corner sure looks turned...
This wasn’t a pretty win, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter, just as Alex Wennberg said to media postgame. It’s now safe to say that the current stretch (primarily the current seven-game point streak) has been the most productive part of the season for this team in terms of finding their rhythm and playing closer to the best version of themselves that can be offered during the current campaign. Consider that and the success that the Kraken are currently having, and then remember that they’re playing without forwards Andre Burakovsky, Jaden Schwartz, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Seattle’s depth as an organization has been tested, but the tightness of the locker room and some big performances have ensured that this team could get back to the surface after previously sinking during that brutal eight-game losing streak.
While there will always be areas of their game that can seek improvement, the Kraken are playing better hockey and getting strong performances throughout the lineup, similar to how things worked for them last season as they shocked the league. They aren’t on the same trajectory as that team, especially not offensively, but they’re finding a different way to win each night and that’s all they really need to be doing at this current moment. There’s no magic way to collect more than the possible two points each game, so by taking things game by game and approaching them with the correct mindset, Seattle is climbing back into the playoff picture (still working their way to get there, currently sitting three points behind Nashville for the second Wild Card) and building momentum as we approach the calendar year of 2024. Oh, and the Winter Classic swiftly approaches as well.
Quick notes
Attendance at the Scotiabank Saddledome for the Seattle Kraken road win over the Calgary Flames tonight was 18,881
That’s 98% capacity of the Saddledome
This is only the second win ever for the Kraken against the Flames
The Kraken are currently on a seven-game point streak, and a three-game winning streak
It’s their first three-game winning streak of the season
This is the longest point streak since they won a franchise-best eight consecutive games from Jan. 1 to 14, 2023.
Seattle has also earned at least a point in 8 of their last 9 division matchups.
The Kraken now have a winning record in games following a win, going 5-4-3 when winning their previous matchup.
Each of the last 5 Kraken games have been decided by 1 goal. The Kraken have earned a point in each, going 3-0-2 in that span, and winning each of the last 3.
Kraken forward Kailer Yamamoto scored his 7th goal of the season tonight, opening the scoring, and his 4th of this month.
Through 36 games last year with the Edmonton Oilers, Yamamoto only scored 4 goals.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn leads the NHL in successful stretch passes for a second straight year, at this current point in the season, in 5v5 play.
His assist to Kailer Yamamoto was his 107th of the season.
Dunn has seven points (one goals, six assists) in his last seven games played and has four points (one goal, three assists) in his last three games against the Flames.
Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger denied 3.39 more goals than expected.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s Seattle Kraken road victory over the Calgary Flames in a Pacific Division contest, the Kraken will return home for one final game ahead of the Winter Classic. After a day of practice on the 28th, at least that’s what’s currently scheduled, Seattle will play host to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, December 29th at Climate Pledge Arena. With a puck drop of 7PM PST, being broadcast on Root Sports Northwest within their market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on ESPN+/NHLPP nationwide. Philadelphia comes into town having won eight of the last ten, and sitting at third in the Metropolitan division, as they’ll be playing the Kraken on the latter half of a back-to-back considering their game against the Canucks in Vancouver tomorrow night.
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Cover photo of this article by Sergei Belski
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here