One: Hope is Where the Homestand Is
After a slow start at Climate Pledge Arena this season, the Kraken have upped their home record to 11-9-4. The upcoming homestand is a prime opportunity to improve that mark and chase down Los Angeles and/or St. Louis for a wild-card position in the Western Conference playoff standings. The six-game home schedule will feature a direct competitor for a wild-card spot, Minnesota, on Saturday along with Pacific Division first-place squad Vancouver on Thursday, but begins with Detroit in Monday’s Presidents Day matinee. Detroit, like Seattle, is a fifth-place team in need of two points and, similar to the Kraken going into a triumph night in Boston, the Red Wings will be out to even their record on this road trip at two wins/two losses.
“There’s no flipping a magical switch,” said coach Dave Hakstol about the upcoming homestand and “next 60 days” in the playoffs hunt. “The reality is we have to be consistent and the reality is we will have to go on a run of consistent wins here.”
Next week, the homestand schedule doesn’t ease up with a return matchup with Eastern Conference leader Boston next Monday, then Pittsburgh and Edmonton to finish out the half-dozen home games to finish out February. Monday is the start and a good chance to keep the momentum rolling after the big win in Boston last Thursday.
Two: Beniers Rising
The Kraken skater to watch Monday is no doubt Matty Beniers, who has scored highlight-reel goals in his last two games, punctuated by a three-point night in his hometown Boston. Watching every shift in both Long Island and Boston, the second-year center, who has been a premier performer in the defensive zone all season long, has revved up his offensive prowess. He has effectively been skating, er, flying up the ice. Expect more of the same on Monday.
“Let’s go back to the goal on the Island [in Tuesday's win over NYI],” said Hakstol Saturday. “You look at that goal scored there. “We've seen that goal from him quite often, not as much this year, but we've seen [Matty] score that type of goal with a shooting mentality."
“Then we see an identical type of goal scored the very next game. Those are good signs. I think that speaks probably to a little bit of his confidence in terms of scoring mentality He's played pretty good hockey for us. It's nice to see him have some success offensively. Our team needs that.”
Three: Know the Foe: Detroit 5-4-1 Last 10 Games
Detroit executive VP and general manager Steve Yzerman has been open about modeling his Red Wings roster to be deep in scoring, similar to what fellow Hall of Fame player and Kraken EVP-GM Ron Francis has been building in Seattle. Yzerman, who built the bones of a Stanley Cup championship roster in Tampa in concert with Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke, signed former Kraken winger Daniel Sprong as part of the Detroit master plan. It’s been working so far: Sprong has 14 goals and 20 assists in 54 games and playing about 13 minutes per game as a fourth line.
Detroit captain Dylan Larking leads the Wings with 48 points (24 goals, 24 assists) while Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane, signed mid-season once his hip was surgically repaired, has 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 22 games. Detroit is three points out of a playoff spot and hungry to regain early-season form. It should not be lost that the Red Wings are eight games over NHL .500.
