One: Keep the top line producing – It’s no secret the Kraken need their top trio of Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers and Jared McCann to keep putting up goals and points if they are going to make the playoffs. With 23 games to play, Eberle already has a team-leading 22 goals at age 35 in what’s been a revival season for him.
Against the Canucks on Saturday night, Eberle had a pair of goals and an assist while Beniers had a goal and McCann an assist. That’s five points between the three. When your top trio does that, it’s pretty tough to lose.
“It’s just creating some energy, getting some momentum – a little bit more passion,” Eberle said after. “I thought we did that tonight.”
Of course, hockey being a team game and all it takes all four lines to generate that energy and momentum. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see Ryan Winterton a healthy scratch and Jacob Melanson re-inserted back into the fourth trio. It wasn’t about anything Winterton did or didn’t do on the trip. More about needing somebody to stir the pot and wake up a team that could not afford to sleepwalk through a third consecutive game.
But a team needs its finishers. Scoring one goal per game in Dallas and St. Louis wasn’t going to get it done no matter how much energy they used to create chances.
Not that the energy was a bad thing. It was desperately needed. But so are guys who can score.
“I liked it a lot,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “It was nice to see us putting some pucks in the net and getting rewarded. We talked about a ‘shot mentality’ a little bit and I still think we can do a better job of that. I think we have to do a better job of that.”
Two: Keep up that Saskatchewan flair – Boyhood chums Chandler Stephenson and Jaden Schwartz, from the Saskatchewan communities of Saskatoon and Medford, were back on the same second line Saturday after being together most of the season’s first two dozen games. The combination, with Eeli Tolvanen completing the trio, seemed to work as Stephenson came away with a goal and two assists while Schwartz had an assist.
Lambert referred to the trio as the team’s “shutdown line” and with the ability to make the last change at home and create desired matchups, that’s what he went with. He added that there was nothing wrong with the original teaming of the pair earlier in the season, only that things needed to change once Schwartz got hurt and missed more than a month.
For what’s it’s worth, the three linemates were a combined plus-five on the night, meaning they were on the ice for five more goals scored by the Kraken than against.
Three: Know the foe – Well, all these happy vibes could go out the window in a hurry if the Kraken bring anything less than their A-game on Monday night against a Carolina Hurricanes squad with the best record in the Eastern Conference and second-best mark in the entire league.
The Hurricanes have won five in a row, seven of eight and 14 of 18 and also are riding a 12-game points streak. How’s that for a setup intro? While everybody was paying attention to the Colorado Avalanche, these guys sneaked over and have arguably been the league’s best team going on two months. They’re also a very impressive 15-7-4 on the road, so the Kraken need to come out flying like they did against Vancouver and not let up.
Sebastian Aho, fresh off the Winter Olympics with Finland, leads the Canes with 59 points and is second in goals with 22 behind the 26 by formidable centerman Seth Jarvis. Andrei Svechnikov and Danish Olympian Nikolaj Ehlers are two more forwards worth keeping an eye on at all times.
Carolina has been doing this all season without goalie Pyotr Kochetkov, who got injured in preseason and underwent surgery two months ago that ended his campaign before it ever got started. He’d been expected to share the goaltending load with veteran Frederik Andersen, another member of Denmark’s Olympic team.
But instead, collegiate hockey and AHL veteran Brandon Bussi has become the story of Carolina’s netminding this season with a team-high 28 games played and a record of 24-3-1 with a 2.23 goals against average and .906 save percentage. That’s earned the onetime waiver wire pickup an in-season three-year, $5.7 million contract extension. It’s his first NHL season, but at age 27, he isn’t eligible for Calder Trophy consideration as top rookie.
No matter. He’s got the Hurricanes on-track to lock down home ice advantage throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
Projected lineup (not official):
McCann - Beniers - Eberle
Schwartz - Stephenson - Tolvanen
Catton - Wright - Kakko
Meyers - Gaudreau - Melanson
Dunn - Larsson
Oleksiak - Montour
Evans - Fleury
Grubauer
