Kraken Head Home Singing the Blues, Lose in Shootout

The Seattle Kraken ‘leave this place singing the Blues’ (loose Adventures in Babysitting reference). Good teams win the games that they should, and this was a game the Kraken should have won. Right now, we aren’t very good.

The first period was interesting. We did not see any goals, but did see a lot of Kraken scoring chances. The team moved the puck exceptionally well. Seattle outshot the Blues 9-4. Vince Dunn had a nifty perimeter goal reversed after a St. Louis coach’s challenge for goaltender interference.

Not to sound like a homer, but that call could have gone both ways (plus they embellished just a tad). Kraken goalie Joey Daccord looked solid, even though he only faced 4 shots. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was amazing on the penalty kill, making a potential game saving soccer style play, clearing the puck from the defensive zone without a stick.

The biggest take away from the first was the complete lack of anything from the Kraken power play (again). We ended the first on the man advantage and could barely enter the zone. It looked ugly.

What appeared to be more of the same, quickly changed when the second period began. The Kraken power play goal drought ended. Finally. Jaden Schwartz tipped one in, assisted by Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Vince Dunn. We called it, Schwartz was going to score. The second period was much more exciting. Daccord was tested frequently by the Blues and Jordan Kyrou buried one midway through the period.

The teams entered the third period tied up at 1 goal a piece, and both teams settled defensively. Neither team really took many chances. Daccord had a lot of beer league goalie moves going (covering pucks on the side and back of the net). After a ton of back and forth and sloppy hockey, the teams went to overtime.

Overtime was another super sloppy period of hockey. Too many bad turnovers, and strange decision making when pressured by the Blues. Goalie Jordan Binnington made the save of the game and then overtime was finished.

The shootout was highlighted by 2 awesome saves by Daccord, and 2 blown chances by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Matty Beniers. Kraken lose a shootout, not a hockey game. Bummer.

Negatives

• The power play sputtered in the first. The zone entry was hideous, as in actually painful to watch. We have got to fix this.
• Too many soft scoring opportunities were given to St. Louis. They are not a very good team, we let them back in this one in the second. We need to keep our foot on the gas moving forward.
• Too many turnovers in the defensive zone.
• We still can’t score
• Too many penalties
• St. Louis won.

Positives

• Jamie Oleksiak and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare were incredible on the penalty kill.
• The power play finally scored a goal. Not to continue to throw shade at the Kraken coaching staff (they are NHL coaches, I am not), but it was nice to see the team make some adjustments and find success.
• Joey Daccord was great when he had to be. So far, he looks like an upgrade over Martin Jones.
• Vince Dunn seems to have found his game. He had a goal taken away, then cam right back and got the assist on the power play. Great game.
• We lost a shootout, not a hockey game.

Final Takeaways

The Kraken lost again, though we did get a point in this one. We lost a shootout, not the hockey game. Plain and simple. The Kraken have a lot of work to do prior to Tuesday night’s game. Things just are not clicking right now. The boys played a game where at times they looked great, only to play large chunks of sloppy, mistake prone hockey. Need to put together a solid full-game.

Joey Daccord played great. He is an upgrade over Martin Jones from last year. This is a good thing. In one offseason we seem to have shored up our goaltending issues, in house. Our next game is Tuesday at home against the Colorado Avalanche. I can’t wait!

Fear the deep!