One: Jump on the Winter Olympics advantage – No, we aren’t talking about the experience that Eeli Tolvanen, Kaapo Kakko and Philipp Grubauer gained by going up against the best in the world at Milan. This is about the hangover effect from those games. Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said he’d gauge by gametime Wednesday – including after some one-on-one discussions with his two Team Finland players – how ready they’ll be to play given jet lag and fatigue. After that, he’s decided to scratch Kakko from this game.
But the Stars, meanwhile, aren’t even giving their coach that opportunity. There are six Stars players that made the Winter Olympic semifinals and at least three of them are not expected to play against the Kraken. And they’re no slouches, either. Finnish star forward Mikko Rantanen is out with a lower body injury, while centerman Roope Hintz is said to be ill. Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger skipped a Team USA invitation to the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night in Washington, DC and instead returned home to Dallas but will still only be the Casey DeSmith’s backup in this game.
Throw in the fatigue factor for additional Finnish forward Esa Lindell and Team Canada defenseman Thomas Harley and the Kraken certainly have an edge in the body count department.
And they’ll need it. They’ve never won in this building in regulation. They secured a March 2023 overtime victory for their only regular season win at American Airlines Center and then also won in OT in Game 1 of their second-round playoff matchup with Dallas two months later.
The Kraken are just 2-10-2 all-time against the Stars and have dropped eight straight regular season games to them since that Adam Larsson overtime goal three years ago next month. They’ve also lost 11 of 12 to them overall, but who’s counting?
This could be an excellent chance to end that skid.
Two: Plenty of rest for the weary – Look, there’s no easy way to say this: That three-week Winter Olympic break came at a great time for the Kraken. They play a high-energy style that’s akin to playoff intensity when they’re going well and let’s face it, no team can do that for 82 regular season games without paying a price.
The Kraken got beat up a ton in going 15-6-3 ahead of the break, including when they survived an NHL record gauntlet of 17 games in 31 days in January. But right now, everybody is back and relatively healthy. Kraken coach Lambert said after Tuesday’s practice he expects overall NHL play to be a bit “sloppy” at first as teams resume games following a three-week layoff. But the Kraken really need to be less sloppy than others. They’re in a tenuous playoff position as it stands, tied for third in the Pacific Division with the tiebreaker nod over Anaheim and just three points up on Los Angeles for the postseason dividing line. The Kings suffered a huge loss at the Winter Olympics when top forward Kevin Fiala was lost for the season with leg fractures while playing for Team Switzerland. That was before prized Kings trade acquisition Artemi Panarin had even played a single game for them after coming over from the New York Rangers just 24 hours before the break. That’s deflating.
The Kraken need to come out of this break strong. They’re rested up, healthy and need to put some standings distance between themselves and the teams chasing them. What they can’t do is spend a half dozen games getting back up to speed. No reason for that. Yeah, Tolvanen and Kakko might need to catch their breath for a spell but do it quick and get done. Kakko, Jared McCann and Matty Beniers were the major reasons the Kraken did so well in January. They need Kakko to take that next step forward if the postseason is going to become a reality.
Three: Know the foe – Oettinger has been a thorn or 10 in the Kraken’s hide since the franchise was born, so him not playing could have a big impact on this game. He’d gone 7-1-1 in nine regular season games facing the Kraken with a 2.11 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
DeSmith isn’t exactly a slouch against the Kraken either, posting a 4-1-0 record and 1.00 goals against average with a .967 save percentage. It’s a “pick your poison” scenario with him and Oettinger, but DeSmith has a smaller sample size on his resume so let’s see where that leads.
While they may be down some bodies in this game, the Stars have won six in a row and have plenty of motivation to keep on winning. That’s because they not only need to catch runaway division leader Colorado, but the Minnesota Wild have also passed them in the standings by a point courtesy of five consecutive victories.
Jason Robertson, as usual, leads the team with 36 goals and is only three points behind team leader Rantanen – whose absence is a huge break for the Kraken. Then you’ve got Wyatt Johnston, who played so well as a rookie against the Kraken in the playoffs, sitting third in team points with 59 and second in goals with 29.
Miro Heiskanen played for Finland and should be a little fatigued on that stellar Dallas defense, as might be Harley.
The Stars are always dangerous. The Kraken must hope they’re a little less so this time.
Projected Lineup (not official)
McCann-Beniers-Eberle
Catton-Stephenson-Tolvanen
Schwartz-Wright-Gaudreau
Winterton-Meyers-Melanson
Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Montour
Lindgren-Evans
Daccord
