Flames (7-8-0) vs. Kraken (8-5-1) | 7:00 p.m

One: Get the newcomer integrated – The Kraken had newcomer Matthew Wood on a line with Chandler Stephenson and Freddy Gaudreau art practice Tuesday morning. Wood was playing right wing, as expected, having come over from Nashville on Sunday in exchange for similar-handed winger Shane Wright.

Wood said Sunday’s trade caught him off-guard, though he’s happy to be in Seattle – especially having grown up in Nanaimo, British Columbia, part of Vancouver Island.

“Obviously, I’m super grateful to you know be here,” Wood said. “It’s obviously a great organization and you know it's a bonus to be close to home and maybe see family a bit more.  

“It’s my first day and I'm loving it and super excited to get to work with everyone and everyone's been super welcoming, super kind. So, I'm really fortunate.”

Wood was asked what part of his game he is most proud of.

“I think I'm a pretty good offensive player,” he said. “I like to score goals. That's kind of my goal. And obviously, the defensive side of the puck is super important, and I have enjoyed working on that side of my game the past couple of years. 

“I love to improve all parts of my game. And I think this is a great place to do that.”

Kraken head coach Lane Lambert said he paired Wood with the two veteran forwards initially so he could have help as he tries to catch up on finer details of the team’s system.

“He's with a couple of other guys here to try and make that transition easier,” Lambert said. “There was a sense of communication. And because we do things just a little bit differently than they did there, to help him along with that is a great, great help, I think, for him.”

The Kraken entered Tuesday tied with Carolina for the most players having scored multiple goals, with 14 apiece. That balance has helped the Kraken maintain the NHL’s seventh best offense at 3.57 goals per game. 

Fueling some of that was the “kid” line of Berkly Catton, Kaapo Kakko and the now-traded Wright, who had three goals and one assist. But the last 10 games, Wright had been held to a lone goal as his only point so there is hope Wood can acclimate quickly and provide an additional offensive injection.

Mackie Samoskevich was in Wright’s spot on that trio in Tuesday’s practice. 

The Kraken got some additional good news Tuesday as Jacob Melanson was back out on the ice skating in a no-contract red jersey. Melanson suffered a serious chest injury on opening night just more than a month ago. Lambert said there is not yet a definitive timetable for his return.

Two: Keep skating for three periods – Not to dwell on last Friday’s loss in Calgary, but the Kraken need to do a better job of skating and competing than they did the final two periods. The good news is, the Kraken know this to a man. And even if they didn’t, Lambert would have been there to remind them. He made sure to drill that message home when he had the Kraken out doing wind sprints from blue line to blue line at the tail end of Sunday’s practice.

The Kraken won only 38% of puck battles against the Flames in that game and that’s often a byproduct of not moving your feet and arriving late to the puck. The team looked out of position all game long, which is atypical to how they’d performed in getting off to the best start in franchise history while taking down some potential playoff squads in Washington, Utah and Toronto, while snagging an overtime loss point versus Tampa Bay. 

Three: Know your foe – Clearly, the Flames are no longer the same team that lost their first five games and scored only a goal apiece in each of their first three contests. 

Calgary has now won seven of their last 10 games, while their offense has steadily improved to where they’re scoring roughly three or four goals per contest. As the Kraken learned last Friday, they must stay out of the penalty box. The Flames scored on both their power play opportunities against a Kraken penalty kill that’s now down to second-worst in the league at 64.1% efficiency.

The Flames’ power play, conversely, is now ranked No. 5 in the NHL at 30.6%.

Considering how poorly the Flames began the season offensively, that’s a unit that’s functioned at around 35% the past 10 games. So, they are absolutely to be avoided with the man advantage. 

Joel Farabee leads the Flames with 15 points, having picked up three of them Friday against the Kraken with a goal and two assists. Matt Coronato is second with 14 points, having notched a four-spot versus the Kraken with a goal and three assists. 

Farabee, Coronato and Morgan Frost have been keys to the power play and made the Kraken pay big on Friday.

But it’s the goals allowed where the Flames have even more impressively improved. They were allowing 5.40 goals per contest the first five games, but ever since have cut that in half to 2.60 the last 10 matchups.

A lot of that stems from cutting down on high-danger chances against, despite allowing a higher shot volume.

We’ll likely see former Everett Silvertips netminder Dustin Wolf for the fourth time this season as Devin Cooley remains week-to-week on injured reserve. This will be the final game between the teams this season, barring a playoff matchup, with the Kraken holding a 2-1 edge. 

Projected lines (not official)
McMann-Beniers-Eberle
Stephenson-Gaudreau-Wood
Kakko-Catton-Samoskevich
Nyman-Meyers-Winterton

Dunn-Larsson
Evans-Montour
Mahura-Fleury 

Daccord