Kraken continue to climb, tighten up before Playoffs with 7-3 rout of Chicago
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – A game off their playoff berth clinching victory, the Seattle Kraken sought out to continue their positive momentum in the final four games of the regular season. Seattle, with some hiccups along the way that they’ll want back, pummeled Chicago and were able to keep the good vibes pushing as their winning streak now rests at four games. With the Kraken win, the two points they gain secures their spot as the top Wild Card team in the Western Conference at very minimum, as they still have a shot at overtaking the third seed in the Pacific Division. Seattle must continue their winning ways and the Los Angeles Kings need to drop a few more games, which won’t be an easy road for the Kraken as after they face the Arizona Coyotes on Monday, take on the Las Vegas Golden Knights twice to round out the season.
Death by Depth scoring
The Kraken’s success story this season has primarily been because of their depth in their four forward lines, and in another key victory, that shown through in this win. Seattle had 12 different skaters tally a point in the victory, while all four of Seattle’s forward lines recorded a point in the game and two of the three defenseman pairings got in on the fun with a point. The Kraken have been able to do this sort of thing all season long, and it’s arguably the biggest reason why they have been so successful in just their second year as a franchise. Getting this level of production all year long at this time of year is crucial for Seattle to start clicking at the right time as they head into their first ever postseason.
“Yeah, that’s kind of been the message all year or sorry, our strength all year is our depth and just every line, it seems like we’re getting contributions these nights from different guys, different lines, defense pairings, whatever it may be. So that’s obviously a big skill to have going into the playoffs and something that stuff to beat.”
“I think we have four lines that score, six D that like to join the rush. And that’s kind of part of our offensive system.”
Seattle’s scoring, like their forward lines, came in waves in this win (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Ding Dong, enter Daniel Sprong
Seattle forward Daniel Sprong has had an up and down year, at one point becoming a consistent healthy scratch for this team as they rode with Morgan Geekie, Jesper Froden, or John Hayden as opposed to Sprong. With an injury to Hayden and Froden being scratched in favor of Sprong, the only Dutch player in the National Hockey League has been taking advantage of his minutes. With his three-point night tonight, Sprong continues to show his offensive ability as he logged two assists on the game and logged a goal as Chicago failed to clear the puck in their own zone. It’s great to see Sprong have this success with a team finally, as he may have finally found a consistent home.
Areas to address defensively
Kraken defenseman and alternate captain Adam Larsson, jubilant about his breakaway goal scored in the second period, noted that the team needed to address some things on their end as Chicago tallied three goals in the contest and could’ve had a fourth if it hadn’t been for a video review overturning it. Seattle’s defensive play had its typical issues, turning over the puck in their own zone and allowing persistent pressure throughout the course of the game to a Blackhawks team that has struggled all season as the second to worst team in the NHL. The vibe and general feeling of this game was unique, as the Kraken dominated the matchup, but the Blackhawks hung around and snuck in their shots when they found them.
It wasn’t as if Seattle was doing anything different or like Chicago’s offensive attack was something special, the Kraken were sloppy in their own zone and turned the puck over like they were trying to. The passing lanes were relatively open for the Blackhawks, the Kraken turned the puck over twice in their defensive zone, and Seattle generally played a bit down to their opponents' level in the game following their playoff berth clinching victory. If there is one area of their game that I would change or improve about the Kraken, it easily would be their defensive play. With a rock-solid defensive effort game in and game out, Seattle could be unstoppable.
“Yeah, they eat up a lot of minutes, obviously. Power play, penalty kill, top lines on other teams. They’re a big reason of why we are where we’re at, so they’ll be a huge part of this team going down the stretch as well. ”
Seattle’s defensive struggles and mishaps allowed for Chicago to hang around in this game (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
An odd vibe in this one, but Seattle’s winning ways keep pushing
This game had a unique vibe to it, with the Kraken having already secured their playoff berth and having only postseason positioning on the line to decide. Once Seattle scored the first goal, we were off and running. When Chicago immediately answered with Seth Jones’ goal, there was not a ton of worry that factored in. After goals like Jordan Eberle’s where Jamie Oleksiak just flung the puck back up towards the net from the blue line and hit clanged off Eberle’s skate and in, the teams alternate captain didn’t even celebrate much. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Seattle was in control for the game even when the Blackhawks could have brought the game within one but the goal they had was overturned upon review. The Kraken pushed forward and went on to add goals five through seven, collecting the two points in what felt like cruise control.
“No, honestly, I can’t really remember what happened. It was just laughing at how it went off both my feet and in, so sometimes it’s just nice to get a bounce.. ”
“It’s a little bit different than you’ve had up to this point. Yeah, I think the biggest thing is you’ve just got to be prepared. It’s all about execution sometimes. Maybe your lack of focus drops a little bit, and any team can beat any team in this league, and it doesn’t matter who it is, if you don’t come prepared to play, you’re going to lose. It’s pretty much that simple. So, I thought we had a little bit of lack and maybe in the second period of touch when we gave them quite a few chances, [Martin] Jones, especially early on, bailed us out. They could have been up a few, but I thought we got back on the rails in the third and found a way to close it out.”
Seattle 1st and 2nd stars of the night Jamie Oleksiak and Jared McCann skate off the ice after Yeeting the Fish, while Philipp Grubauer (Relieved Martin Jones, injury) skates off the ice after the win (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Quick notes
The Kraken have scored four or more goals in eight of the last eleven games, dating back to March 18 against Edmonton, outscoring opponents 47 to 30 during that span. They have also scored seven or more goals in three of the games during that span.
The Kraken have scored seven goals in a game for the seventh time this season, which is tied with the Oilers for the most among all teams, according to NHL PR.
The Kraken have scored a power-play goal in six of the last eight games with Yanni Gourde's power-play goal tonight.
With his three assists tonight, Jamie Oleksiak recorded his second career three-point game and tied a single-game career high for assists, set on Jan. 3, 2015 while he played for Dallas.
This is also his third multi-point game of the season (Mar. 18, 2023 vs. Edmonton; Feb. 23 vs. Boston) and fifth as a Kraken.
With his goal and two assists tonight, Daniel Sprong now has six points (one goal, five assists) in his last four games, and tallied his second multi-point effort during that span tonight.
His three points match a single-game career-high which he has reached on two other occasions (Oct. 25, 2022 with the Kraken and Jan. 5, 2018 with the Penguins).
Jordan Eberle's goal marks his 20th of the season. He becomes the fifth 20-goal scorer on the Kraken this season, joining McCann, Beniers, Sprong and Schwartz.
With his goal, the Kraken became the eighth franchise to feature five or more 20-goal scorers in either their first or second season, according to NHL PR.
Eberle now has goals in four consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 4 to 11, 2021, along with eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last four games played.
His two points (one goal, one assist) tonight brought his season's point total to 63, matching his record for third most of his career. This is the first time he has reached this point total since 2014-15.
He has also tallied seven points (two goals, five assists) in the six games he has played against the Blackhawks as a member of the Kraken.
Adam Larsson matched his career high for goals in a season (8) with his second-period goal, tying the record he set last year in the Kraken's inaugural season.
Jared McCann netted his 39th goal of the season, now within one of becoming the first Kraken player to score 40 goals in a season.
He has 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in his last nine games against the Blackhawks.
Gourde's goal tonight gives him two goals in the last three games.
He now has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in his last 15 games against Chicago.
Vince Dunn played in his 79th game of the season tonight, setting a career high.
The OL Reign were in attendance for this game, presenting tonight’s “Hero of the Deep,” University of Washington student athlete Rosalie Fish (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
What’s next?
The Kraken continue their final steps to the postseason, now with just three games left before they take on their first ever playoff opponent. That opponent still must be determined and will be sorted out of their next three games, which begin on Monday, April 10th inside of the infamous Mullett Arena when the team battles the Arizona Coyotes for the third and final time this season. Puck drop for the battle in the desert is at 7PM PST, and the Kraken will need to be careful about the trouble that the Coyotes may get into considering the number of fights that Arizona started in the past two games the teams played last season.