Bobservations: Fortunate Sons

NEW YORK-When thinking about the Kraken's dramatic win in Pittsburgh Thursday night -- and what fan doesn't want to re-live it? -- the mythical and too-often random hockey gods leap to mind.
With exactly four minutes left in regulation, Jordan Eberle takes a puck-to-tape pass from linemate Jared McCann to break cleanly and solo to the Penguins' net. Only a highlight-reel save by Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry keeps Eberle (looking for his first goal in 19 games) and the Kraken from tying the 1-0 game.

McCann, the ex-Penguin, is readying for the ensuing faceoff prompted by Jarry's fast-glove-and-freeze-the-puck save. He is thinking, "we're gonna get one, we're due."
The Kraken center wins the faceoff, sending it back toward Marcus Johansson. The veteran winger "helps win the faceoff," says coach Dave Hakstol during the post-game media scrum. Johansson controls the puck and moves back to Vince Dunn at the blue line.
Dunn sidesteps a defender by stickhandling to the left, which also sets him up for a quick-release wrist shot from his natural left-handed side. The puck threads past home-team defenders and off the stick blade of former home-team guy McCann, who's now unequivocally a major ventricle in the heartbeat of the Kraken.

In summary, McCann ties the game against the storied franchise that "brought my career back to life" but then traded him to Toronto last summer so the Maple Leafs could leave him unprotected in hopes the Kraken would pick "Canner" instead of fellow forward Alex Kerfoot.
Johansson gets an assist and balances out the goalie interference call on him that enabled Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin to break a scoreless tie mid-third period-though even the Penguins telecast questioned whether it was interference on "Jojo" or instead a rugged, relentless, puck-smart player trying to score on the rush.
Dunn, who received high praise from McCann and Hakstol ("simple but real good play by 'Dunner,'" said Hakstol) for his deke and quick-release shot, gets hockey's version of goal-post karma. He clanged iron earlier in the third period on a similar shot, this time from the left point inside the blue line. All karmic debts repaid.
For his part, alternate captain Eberle raised his stick in goal-celebration as high as anyone. Maybe his karmic moment comes Saturday when he and Seattle face the New York Islanders in their brand-new arena. Eberle starred for NYI over three postseasons, most memorably scoring clutch goals against these same Penguins in this same building.
As Hakstol said earlier Thursday, Eberle is continuing to get Grade-A scoring chances or "looks, which hockey parlance for if you get the chances, the goals will come." Hey, hockey gods, you can jump in here for "Ebs" anytime.
The Nickname Game
Hockey reporters don't lean into nicknames while describing actions or evaluating a player's performance. There's a time and place and this day is that. Fans might notice that Dave Hakstol calls pretty much every player by his nickname as given by teammates.
Many of those nicknames, such as "Turbo" for Brandon Tanev (he was missed by fans in Pittsburgh and announced during the in-arena game presentation even though he didn't travel East with the Kraken) originate from other NHL stops before Kraken players were drafted, acquired or signed.

Players tend to embrace the nickname. Case in point, Kraken fans riding the Monorail (90-second ride from Westlake Center and its lower price of parking) to home games will hear Seattle players welcoming them to game day and encouraging supports to "get loud, Seattle". The Kraken's first-ever refers to himself as "Ebs" when introducing himself over the loudspeaker.
It will be a treat in the years ahead to hear the nicknames given to players like top prospects Matty Beniers and Ryker Evans. For now, one of more fun nickname bump-ups is that teammates and the coaching staff might have two players respond to "Donny" in forwards Joonas Donskoi and Ryan Donato.
Rather than fret, the two teammates embarked on two frequently hilarious "Donny and Donny" videos of our "Kraken Jokes" series you can watch on our website, app or social channels.

Shifting the Narrative
Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson averages the most minutes of any Kraken skater game in and game out, a time-on-ice measure that significantly increases when comparing five-on-five or full-strength play.
Larsson is the only Seattle player to appear in every game this season. On Tuesday, he notched two straight shifts of two-plus minutes each during the second period of the home game against Nashville.
Alex Wennberg played the most minutes of any Kraken forward in Thursday's big win. During a nail-biting late second-period sequence in which Pittsburgh controlled the puck in the Kraken defensive zone, Wennberg logged an astronomical shift of 2 minutes 50 seconds because there is a "long change" due to the bench being farther away with the switch of ends. The typical hockey shift is 40ish seconds for forwards and high-40s/low-50s for defensemen.

As a center, Wennberg's position entails working deeper (toward goal line) in the Kraken end. If Wennberg were to leave that part of the zone to end his shift, the Penguins would have enjoyed too many seconds of what effectively would be a 5-on-4 advantage.
But, without a doubt, Wennberg and Larsson were both happy and willing to get the call for even more ice time during the three-on-three overtime. With Wennberg and Calle Jarnkrok on the ice already, Larsson joined the fray as Jarnkrok regrouped in the neutral or middle zone to get the puck to Wennberg to enter the Penguins defensive zone.
Wennberg used his skating speed to quickly move on the attack, then showed off his skating agility by circling and looking for a play. Pittsburgh had made a shift change and none of its three skaters marked Larsson.
The rest is Kraken history, baby (borrowing from the incomparable John Forslund). Larsson, 29, the back-end stalwart who annually ranks high among NHL defensemen for making the least amount of mistakes in his team's goal-end, scores the first-ever Seattle overtime winning goal. Larsson is now one goal from setting a NHL career season-high in goals.