Kraken fans got a firsthand introduction to their team’s newest dimension when a long, first period puck clearance out of the defensive zone became a signature home opening moment.
That’s when Mackie Samoskevich revved his engines, took off like a rocket and sped on by stumbling defenseman Kevin Bahl as the air-lifted puck came back down at the Calgary Flames blue line. Samoskevich raced in alone, deked goalie Dustin Wolf for his first of two goals in this one and the Kraken were truly off and running to a 6-1 victory in this season’s Climate Pledge Arena debut.
The first Kraken goal by Samoskevich, the speed demon winger acquired this past summer from the Florida Panthers, came only minutes after Berkly Catton had opened the home team’s scoring. It was followed only minutes later by a goal from Bobby McMann, another elite speedster picked up at the trade deadline last March.
Shane Wright added a fourth Kraken goal in the middle frame and then Samoskevich struck again later that period on a right circle wrister to cap a tic-tac-toe passing play with linemates Matty Beniers and Jared McCann. Joey Daccord turned aside 32 shots and came 5:35 from notching a shutout before Morgan Frost scored a power play marker that deflected in off a skate in front.
Jordan Eberle then capped the night’s scoring less than a minute later.
But beyond more stats-piling against the Flames for a second time in four days, the Kraken helped enthused home fans recognize this was a speed element they haven’t really seen before. Between goal-scorers Samoskevich and McMann, not to mention Ryan Winterton, Brandon Montour, Beniers, Chandler Stephenson and others, the Kraken now have a track meet quality unseen in the franchise’s brief history.
Samoskevich and McMann are a cut above the pack in terms of elite burners. Kraken fans had already seen glimpses of what McMann was capable of as he went about scoring 10 goals in 18 games after coming over from Toronto.
There was a late March game in Buffalo in which McMann made Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin look like a discarded pylon as he said goodbye to him at center ice and raced in alone down the right side for a Kraken goal that left the opposing crowd in shocked disbelief. Sunday’s turbo display by Samoskevich had similar eye-opening quality in that it was obvious a flat-footed Bahl was in deep trouble well before gravity had pulled the puck completely to ice level.
Not every highlight reel goal decides a hockey game. But the way this contest was shaping up, with both teams having lost and traveled the night before, it was clear which team had the winning legs early.
Samoskevich’s goal seemed to signify it would be that kind of night for onetime Everett Silvertips netminder Wolf. He’d already surrendered Catton’s first goal of the season barely two minutes into the contest on a wrist shot from the left circle.
After that, a McMann turnover forced Daccord to make a pair of huge stops ahead of Samoskevich turning on the jets and altering the game’s outcome for good.
