Seattle sends fans home happy on “Kraken Day” with 4-3 win over Predators
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – On the day that the city of Seattle declared the second of March “Kraken Day,” the Seattle Kraken sent home their fans home happy with a thrilling win over the Nashville Predators. The Kraken snapped their seven-game losing streak, having not won since their February 11th matchup in Anaheim. Four different skaters scored for Seattle.
The best part of this game for the Kraken would be the two minute and thirty-eight second time frame in the second period where Seattle scored three goals. The offensive explosion was much needed, as in the seven-game losing streak, the Kraken had been outscored 29 to 13 by their opponents. Seattle’s inability to score has hurt them several times this season, but the Kraken were able to bring the fight to Nashville in this one. Centerman Alex Wennberg reflected on what it took for Seattle to pull this one out.
“It’s a great feeling, obviously. There’s three different lines that helped us score; I feel like that’s good for the team. You have everyone chipping in, doing their part. That was the key today, it was a team effort. Everyone was working hard; everyone was doing their part. To get rewarded and to get a win like this, that’s great. Obviously, there are parts of our game we need to work on, but right now we’ll take this win and take the best out of this. There’s a lot of good things to build from this,” Wennberg remarked.
The area to build on in the win is once again defensive miscues. Nashville’s goals came off of Seattle’s inability to clear the puck out of their defensive zone as well as getting caught in an odd man rush. These are mistakes that have plagued the Kraken all season. The difference in this game being that Seattle was able to hang in this game despite being down two goals early. The team dug in and overcame the deficit. Head coach Dave Hakstol spoke about his team’s defensive performance.
“We did a real good job throughout the game on five on five… We did a good job. Driedgs (Chris Driedger) was solid, and our penalty kill was outstanding in front of him,” Hakstol stated. When asked about the teams fight and about how they could have packed it in after going down early, Hakstol said “I don’t think our team has packed it in one time this year.”
What Hakstol said in that last quote is true. Outside of perhaps a game or two, the Kraken have always battled till the end of the game in all of their losses. Seattle always seems to stick around, and never seem to “pack it in.” With general manager Ron Francis saying that the team will be active in free agency, and the high probability of Matty Beniers joining the squad at some point next season, the Kraken should be competitive in the 2022-2023 campaign. There are players that have shown that they should stick around, and there have been nights like this game that show this team has the potential, they just need to solidify their defensive consistency.
The Kraken head on the road for their next set of games, starting on the fifth of March against the Washington Capitals with a 4PM PST