The Seattle Kraken have finally done it; they beat the Vancouver Canucks for the first time in franchise history with a dominant 6-1 win. The victory came on the heels of a Canucks back-to-back as new head coach Rick Tocchet’s tenure behind the bench gets underway.
The Kraken continue to impress with their speed and tenacity on the forecheck, and this victory has them tied for first in the Pacific Division with the Vegas Golden Knights with two games in hand. It’s like they don’t “hear the noise” regarding some of their underlying numbers, because they will themselves to win.
Matty Beniers left the game and didn’t return shortly after taking a big hit from Tyler Myers in the second period, who got two minutes in the penalty box for interference. The Kraken controlled the game from start to finish, and it’s about time I break it down, so here we go.
Kraken’s Offensive Depth Continues To Shine
Many teams have that one superstar or go-to player who is going to have a point-per-game season, maybe they’re a lock for 30-plus goals, etc. The Kraken don’t have that, but they win by committee. Their victory over the Canucks saw five different goal scorers, 10 different players earn a point and six multi-point nights.
Let me break down some team highlights real quick:
- 14 players with at least 20 points
- Six players with at least 32 points
- Seven players with at least 18 assists
- Seven players with at least 10 goals
- 11 players with at least nine goals
The Kraken don’t have a stereotypical fourth line and it is really proving to be beneficial. Morgan Geekie, Brandon Tanev, and Daniel Sprong mostly make up the fourth line, and they all played at least 12 minutes against the Canucks. They didn’t score, but their forechecking limited Vancouver’s ability to get anything going offensively, while Geekie won 69.2% of his faceoffs to lead the team.
I recently argued that Bo Horvat is a potential trade target for the Kraken, but they have a good thing going. If their offensive depth can remain consistent, and they can get a little bit more from their top guys, they may not feel the need to pull the trigger on an acquisition of that magnitude.
The Kraken Penalty Kill… Killed!
At the beginning of January, I also argued that fixing the Kraken’s penalty kill should be on their list of New Year’s resolutions. With this win against the Canucks, they’ve now gone five straight games without allowing a power-play goal. The last time they had a meaningful penalty-killing streak was from Oct. 29 to Nov. 11, when they killed all 16 penalties, outscored their opponents 20-9, and went 5-1.
Related: Kraken Primed for Playoff Push in Second Half of 2022-23 Season
While they gave the Canucks five chances on the power play, they killed all five. During this five-game streak, they’re now 2-2-1 and killed all 13 penalties. While the record leaves a bit to be desired, their losses came in a back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers and a shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Given that they have a decent cushion in their conference with games in hand over several teams, I think trading a few losses to good teams for some (finally) consistent penalty-killing is a good deal.
The Best Defense Is a Dominant Offense
The Kraken dominated at 5-on-5 against the Canucks. It looked like the Kraken were bees swarming a picnic for most of the game. Here were the Kraken’s Corsi-for ratings at 5-on-5:
| 1st Period | 68.57% |
| 2nd Period | 58.33% |
| 3rd Period | 60% |
| Overall | 62.64% |
Seattle ranks fourth in the NHL, averaging 3.66 goals-for per game. While they’re in the middle of the pack in terms of goals-against, averaging 3.04 per game, they are third in the NHL in shots-against per game, as they only allow 27.9. That says a few things.
The first is that the team’s defense has really grown, and a lot of that should be credited to Adam Larsson as the leader on the blue line. It’s relatively the same defensive corps, but they have a year’s worth of chemistry under their belt and it’s starting to show.
The other thing is that the goaltending needs to be just slightly better than it is now. I’m not saying that Martin Jones or Philipp Grubauer need to emerge as Vezina candidates during the second half, but they need to start making maybe one or two more saves on shots they’ve let slip by. Despite it being a talking point throughout the season, their goaltending hasn’t been as bad as it could be. Given the team’s scoring rate and the fact that it could be anyone from Jared McCann to Daniel Sprong to big Jamie Oleksiak, just one or two more saves could really go a long way, especially in the postseason.
Seattle Shoutouts
Ryan Donato, aka the “Donfather,” gets my first shoutout as he’s on a three-game goal-scoring streak that has seen him score four goals and five points. Earlier this season, he had a four-game goal-scoring streak that led to a stretch of five goals and seven points in eight games. He’s hot and cold at times, but when he’s hot, he’s red hot.
Will Borgen; I’m really proud of this guy. He earned his spot in the lineup and set career highs last season. Then, he sets new ones this season and has worked his way up to the second defensive pair, filling in for an injured Justin Schultz and finished this game with a hit, a block, and 19:11 of ice time, including 3:58 on the penalty kill. While he’s in the top four due to an injury, I’d say he earned the opportunity, and he’s making good on it.
Kraken Look To Extinguish the Flame(s)
Will Borgen; I’m really proud of this guy. He earned his spot in the lineup and set career highs last season. Then, he sets new ones this season and has worked his way up to the second defensive pair, filling in for an injured Justin Schultz and finished this game with a hit, a block, and 19:11 of ice time, including 3:58 on the penalty kill. While he’s in the top four due to an injury, I’d say he earned the opportunity, and he’s making good on it.
Kraken Look To Extinguish the Flame(s)
The Kraken are back in action against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 27 at Climate Pledge Arena. The Flames will be on the second half of a back-to-back, and the Kraken should look to capitalize on a divisional foe that is fighting to hold onto a wild-card spot. They’re trailed by the Minnesota Wild, who have two games in hand, and the Nashville Predators, who like the Kraken have one. I’d hesitate to call this a must-win, but a win would go a long way.