‘Wright’ Start, Grubi in the Groove

The Shane Wright Late-Season Tour moved to the Pacific Northwest Tuesday with more entertainment and energy. Wright, recalled to the Kraken roster last week, scored his fourth goal in the four NHL games he has played in the eight nights. He added an assist in the Friday win at Anaheim to notch his first three-point night of his budding NHL career.

Teammates Andre Burakovsky and Justin Schultz added pile-on goals with Matty Beniers posting assists on both goals. Brandon Tanev added a fourth goal in the third period, shooting into a gaping net thanks to a signature look-one-way, send-puck-the-other-way pass from Yanni Gourde. The high-energy linemates didn’t rub it in the visitors’ noses with a celebration but did seem happy with themselves during post-goal, mid-ice circling together and hug.

By mid-third period, Will Borgen, with a feed from defensive partner Jamie Olekiak, high-fived the fans (and set in motion a 32 percent discount on Alaska Airlines airfares for Kraken fans to Hawaii) to make it 5-0.

The only remaining drama was getting Philipp Grubauer his shutout. This time around, there were no Arizona comebacks (let’s not talk about those), with Philipp Grubauer stopping all 39 shots on goal and, per Natural Stat Trick, a whopping 19 Grade-A scoring chances with a dozen in the second period alone. It’s Grubauer’s second shutout of the year, fourth with Seattle and 22nd of his NHL career with previous stops in Washington and Colorado.

“Grubi is the story of the second period,” said Dave Hakstol post-game. “We got off to a really good start. It's what you want to do at home ... we scored the third goal in the second period and we stopped playing a little bit. That’s where Grubi was really good. He stood tall for everybody and got us through the second period. We were able to turn it around a little bit better in front of him in the third period.”

For his part, Grubauer credited his shot-blocking teammates, which included the likes of D-man Jamie Oleksiak, rookie Logan Morrison (limping a bit because of it post-game) and the veteran Burakovsky among others.

“The guys played incredible in front of me,” said Grubauer, who is 3-1 in four straight starts. “Jamie had two massive blocks in the slot in the second. ... Burky had one in the slot. Those are like key moments, key blocks. It means a lot. You don't have too many home games left, so you want to make sure that we finish this homestand strong.”

Future Stock

The aforementioned Beniers now has four goals and four assists in the last seven games, doing his part to shore up fans about future seasons for the young guys and valuable veterans wearing the “S” on their jerseys. Dave Hakstol rolled an all-kid line at Monday’s practice and the trio of Logan Morrison centering Tye Kartye and Ryan Winterton picked up many shifts together Tuesday. With Ryker Evans appearing in his 31^st NHL game, the kid stuff has been good stuff in recent weeks.

Wright On ... Time and Goal

When the Kraken called up 2022 first-round draft choice Wright (No. 4 overall) last week, fans had to tune into ROOT Sports to watch the young center who has excelled with American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley this season. Well, on Friday night, hundreds of AHL Firebirds fans made the 90-minute drive north to see Wright score two goals in Anaheim.

With the squad back in town for two final home games Tuesday and Thursday, Kraken faithful seized the opportunity to check in on Wright’s game since he last appeared at the NHL level for a trio of games in November. Those fans didn’t have to wait long to find reason to cheer and feel quite good, thank you, about the future state of the franchise.

That’s because the 20-year-old scored on his first shift here at Climate Pledge Arena, taking a pass from linemate Jordan Eberle and quickly backhanding a shot (wait a minute, isn’t that Eberle’s signature move?) that eluded Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka. It’s another close-in successful attempt for Wright, who was facing the Kraken and a quick loft from a sharp angle not far from the goalie, caught Vejmelka by surprise.

Wright, out there again with Eberle and nearly scored again on a great pass from his once and likely future (for the playoffs) teammate and rookie defenseman Ryker Evans, who is developing quickly at a position that often requires an extra year or two than forwards.

Wright is ticketed to return to his American Hockey League Coachella Valley squad to help the Firebirds look to build another long run in the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs. He has impressed his teammates in the last week and, no doubt, all comers in the Kraken hockey operations group and those sitting in the stands at Climate Pledge Arena. Along with the welcome contributions on offense, teammates pointed out Wright’s lay-out-his-body blocked shot in the third period of a close game Friday, and Wright continued the all-zones play with solid and disruptive forechecking Tuesday night.

Greatest Hits

For a long stretch of the season, Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen was leading his team in hits. In recent weeks, rookie center-winger Tye Kartye has taken the top spot with a head-turning seven hits in Anaheim on the final game of the recent trip. After 40 minutes Tuesday, Tolvanen had nudged a bit closer to this rookie “competitor” with five hits to three for Kartye. Tolvanen busted through the 200 mark and now has 202 hits, while Kartye regained his lead with two more hits in the final period (five on the game) for 207 on the year.