Kraken (31-29-5) at Lightning (44-21-5) | 4:00 p.m

One: Score some goals before falling behind by three – This isn’t meant as a shot, just stating the obvious here. The Kraken players said they generally felt the process of getting “looks” and chances wasn’t bad the first two periods on Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers. Problem is, they didn’t score any goals as a result. Same thing happened in Columbus, albeit in different fashion as the Blue Jackets scored three in the first and had the Kraken chasing all game long.

Not the same in Florida, where the Kraken again fell behind 3-0, then 4-1, but with most of those goals coming in the third period. So, they stayed in that game a lot longer before putting themselves in a real hole. 

Either way doesn’t work.

The Kraken have yet to win a single game this season when trailing by three or more goals. They’ve won only three games when trailing by two goals. The most any NHL team has won this season when facing a three-goal deficit is twice.

So, end of story. The Kraken need to find a way to score earlier on so they aren’t already down three when it happens. And it shouldn’t take a Ryker Evans shot that caroms off the end boards and in off the goalie’s skate. The Kraken did give themselves some looks earlier on against the Panthers. Facing the Lightning on Thursday, they need to pop a couple early if they do get chances because Tampa Bay does not allow a bundle of those.

The Kraken on Wednesday sent Jani Nyman back to the AHL and recalled Oscar Fisker Molgaard, who should slot in on the fourth line. Don’t expect the Kraken to go with only 11 forwards and an extra defenseman again as they did Tuesday because Nyman hadn’t been productive and engaged enough. Should be back to normal in this one. 

Two: Seize the momentum – Look, for all the grief given about not scoring early enough, the Kraken sure made up for it in the “scoring late” department. They nearly pulled off another miracle comeback win similar to what they did in Vancouver last season when they scored three times in the final 4:45 of regulation to erase a 4-1 deficit and go on to win 5-4 in overtime.

The game in Florida saw them erase the 4-1 deficit with 5:43 to go with much higher stakes involved. Alas, they couldn’t replicate their breakaway success in regulation play with breakaways in the shootout round and went on to lose 5-4 and dropped a standings point to Nashville in the playoff race.

In doing so, the Kraken left themselves very little room for error with a dozen games to play. They must seize upon the momentum of their late comeback and find a way to parlay it to where their game gets taken to a higher level. Sometimes, teams don’t realize that level still exists until they surprise themselves.

Style points count little from here. Real points matter most. The Kraken need to start picking them up in bunches and surprising folks by snagging two points in Tampa Bay would be a good start.

Three: Know the foe – The “surprise” part of snagging two points in Tampa Bay would be due to the fact the Kraken have only beaten the Lightning once in their history and have never beaten them in regulation. The good news is that their only prior victory over the Lightning came Oct. 30, 2023, right here in Tampa Bay when Jared McCann scored the overtime winner. Mind you, the Kraken blew a multi-goal lead in that game – they actually blew a multi-goal lead in every game that four-city trip and yet somehow won twice – but we wouldn’t recommend a repeat on that given how scarce goals have been for the team lately.

The Kraken are now 1-6-1 lifetime against the Lightning, losing to them 6-2 at Climate Pledge Arena just last week. The Lightning prior to that had been scuffling a bit but they’ve now won four of five and just took down the powerful Minnesota Wild to serve notice they remain a bonafide Stanley Cup contender fighting neck and neck with Buffalo for Atlantic Division supremacy.

The Kraken won’t have to face Lightning captain Victor Hedman, as it was announced Wednesday he is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. Tampa Bay otherwise hasn’t changed at all since that game last week, where Nikita Kucherov had a hat trick and a five-point night. Kucherov was leading the NHL in scoring with 120 points as of Wednesday, while also sitting third with 40 goals. Brandon Hagel is third on the Lightning with 69 points while Anthony Cirelli is fifth with 48. All three did a number points wise against the Kraken last week, so they cannot afford to let them start passing the puck around at will.

The Kraken made too many mistakes in that game with those three players in particular on the ice, Kucherov especially. They don’t miss when given chances.

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn’t gotten any worse since last week, still leading the league with 34 wins while sitting second in goals against average at 2.30 and fourth in save percentage at .914. So, yes, the Kraken need to get to him early if they can and can’t afford to miss any chances he allows them. 

Projected lineups (not official)
Catton - Beniers - Eberle
McMann - Stephenson - Kakko
Tolvanen - Wright - Gaudreau
Melanson - Meyers - Molgaard

Dunn - Larsson
Lindgren - Montour
Oleksiak - Evans

Grubauer