Kraken, Daccord Stop Just Enough For Huge Win

Kraken netminder Joey Daccord admitted in an upbeat postgame locker room that he’d expected a kitchen sink or two to come flying towards him in the dying seconds of a huge victory.

The visiting Carolina Hurricanes are known for sending all they’ve got in the direction of the opposing net — be they pucks, appliances, or anything else they can put a stick on. But the Kraken and Daccord nonetheless nailed down a 2-1 win over the NHL’s No. 2 team Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena largely because they either blocked the dangerous stuff or let their goalie have a clear line of sight to the rest.

“They had a lot of shots, but they probably didn’t have a ton of chances, like high-danger chances,” Daccord said after a 35-save performance. “So, the boys did unreal. I mean, there were so many different blocks and sticks and great plays.”

The Kraken managed to block 23 shots in this game, three of them by one-man wrecking crew Jamie Oleksiak. When he wasn’t getting his 6-foot-7, 255-pound body in front of pucks, the defenseman was laying it into people to the tune of 11 hits – one shy of Jacob Melanson’s recent club record.

Kaapo Kakko and Ben Meyers scored second period goals for all the offense their team needed, though a late marker that frame by Nikolaj Ehlers seemed to wake the visitors up. But the Kraken, despite being outshot 36-15 and playing shorthanded at 6-on-4 in the closing minutes with the opposing netminder pulled, held on and snapped Carolina’s win streak at five and points streak at 12.

They secured a critical two points in the process and put five points of distance between themselves and the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators, the two closest teams trying to catch them for a final playoff spot. Not only that, but the Kraken also leapfrogged the Edmonton Oilers into third spot in the Pacific Division – which is important as the top three teams in each division gain automatic postseason berths regardless of their standing in the rest of the conference.

The Kraken are now 23-0-0 when taking a multi-goal lead at any point in the game, something they did by pouncing on Carolina with a bunch of opening period hits and then outskating them when it mattered in the middle frame.

And when the Hurricanes poured it on the final 20 minutes, Daccord was there to make sure things didn’t come apart. And heaping praise afterwards on the defenders in front of him, including the hulking Oleksiak. 

“He’s outstanding,” Daccord said. “I mean, he’s just such a beast. He’s an absolute beast. He’s a warrior blocking shots. I thought he had a great stick tonight and made so many good plays. And obviously, he was just burying guys too.”

Kakko buried a shot behind goalie Frederik Andersen for a key goal just more than three minutes into the middle period. Racing in 2-on-1 with Berkly Catton to his left, Kakko thought about passing but saw a defender there and instead fired a right circle wrist shot that sneaked by Andersen under his armpit to open the scoring.

The Kraken had said coming in they knew they’d need to make the most of any opportunities and Kakko didn’t miss. Kakko appeared to help add a second goal two minutes later when he fed Jaden Schwartz at the doorstep, but the preceding zone entry was challenged for offside by Carolina and the scoring play overturned.

But Meyers made that right not long after, banging in his own rebound at the doorstep with a defender draped over him. Melanson had made a strong defensive play off the wall in his own end to get things started, funneling the puck to Adam Larsson who started a rush the other way with Meyers and Freddy Gaudreau.

“Mel made a great play on the wall, got it to Lars in the middle and just moved it quick to me and I gave it to Freddy and just drove to the net,” Meyers said. “And I was able to put it home after a great pass from Freddy.”

Meyers said that between Melanson causing his usual physical disruption and Oleksiak “just banging bodies” around, the Kraken were able to keep pace with their speedy opponents.

“I think our skating was huge tonight,” Meyers said. “We didn’t give them much time when they had the puck. And also, we were just pushing it up the ice pretty quick and I think it puts the pressure on them.”

Kraken head coach Lane Lambert had warned earlier in the day that his team needed to skate hard and play hard against a Hurricanes team everybody knew was going to run up the shot count in a hurry.

“They come as advertised,” Lambert said. “They throw absolutely everything to the net. So, they’re looking to beat you to the net and get rebounds and things like that. I thought we did a pretty good job of maintaining our structure and then we transitioned when we could.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to get opportunities, and you’ve got to capitalize on them,” Lambert added. “Kaapo’s 2-on-1 was a huge goal for us.”

Huge for Daccord as well. The Kraken goalie said things can go one of two ways against a high shot volume team.

“If they score a couple early, then it’s tough,” he said. “Because then there’s a million shots coming at you and you’re kind of fighting it a little bit. But if you can make some saves early, it helps you get into a rhythm really quickly.”

And once staked to the lead, Daccord’s confidence grew as the Kraken allowed him to see the pucks they didn’t block and he made the requisite stops. In fact, the hardest time he had all night was with the Kraken two men down in the final two minutes and the Hurricanes positioning an extra skater right in front of him so he couldn’t see a thing.

“So, I needed a lot of help from the guys,” he said of his shot-blocking, rebound gathering teammates. “And they were outstanding tonight.”