One: Hooked on a Feeling
The Kraken are playing “playoff hockey” right now – where every single game and every single point matters. And when it comes to what can help fuel the group to find success, it goes beyond the X’s and O’s. After the 6-2 win in Buffalo, head coach Dan Bylsma said that what the team needs to take from that comeback effort is “the feeling of digging in, the feeling of competing and winning a hockey game. Being able to believe in each other, believe in the group, and believe if you keep playing the right way you can, you can come back in games. We got the result… that's how you have to play each and every night to try to have success….” What does that mean for execution? It’s about how the Kraken played in the final 40 minutes versus Buffalo with energy and direct play supported by the work to get bodies net front. There were Kraken bodies around “the blue” on the goals from Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Kaapo Kakko’s second. It also means having better starts. “We keep having to find our way back,” Bjorkstrand said. “It has to come from hard work. We have to be ready from the start.”
Two: Improving Defense
Two games ago, Seattle wasn’t happy with their defensive play that led to goals against. Bylsma post-game made the important observation that the objective is not to simply out-score the opposition, it’s to “win the hockey game with more goals than they have” and that means no defensive lapses. The Kraken held Buffalo well below the four-goals-per-game average they’d generated over the past eight contests. And considering the offensive weapons that the Sabres had, the defensive effort was particularly solid. “I thought that probably the best part of our game was in the second period, how we defended,” Bylsma said. The team played well as a unit of five in Bylsma’s estimation: blocking shots and defending all over the zone. That will need to be a continued focus point for the Kraken.
Three: Know the Foe
Detroit currently sits at seventh in the Atlantic with a record of 19-18-4, but it would be wrong to judge them on that alone. Right after the holidays, the organization made a coaching change, bringing in Todd McLellan to replace Derek Lalonde, and the results have been coming quickly. While the team lost the first game with their new bench boss, they have strung together six wins since and have an improved penalty kill that had hurt them early in the season as one of the weakest in the League. They are also 10-for-20 on the power play under McLellan. When it comes to their scoring threats, the Red Wings have the dynamic Alex DeBrincat, who leads his team in goals (18, top 25 in the NHL) and Lucas Raymond, who has a team-best 27 assists and 44 points. But, they are also without goaltender Alex Lyon, who has played 16 games this season, and defender Jeff Petry is not expected to play on Sunday.