Fourth (Line) and Goals

This homestand is looking up. After just one standings point in the first three games, which included an overtime game and two one-goal, tightly contested losses, Seattle followed up a 4-0 win over Eastern Conference standout Florida Tuesday with a torrent of goals against lowly Chicago Thursday. The final was 7-1 but the game was effectively over after two periods, a true laugher. Joey Daccord gets another win on the same day Dave Hakstol said Philipp Grubauer is out week-to-week and, for now, doubtful to suit up the New Year’s Day Winter Classic.

The Kraken’s fourth line notched three goals and the Yanni Gourde line, the home squad’s most consistent forward trio from opening night puck drop until now, added two goals, one each from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen.

There were more goals (Tye Kartye’s sixth of the his rookie year and Jared McCann’s 14th) but perhaps just as impressive—and foundational to a homestand recovery and a chance to make up ground in the Pacific Division with games with LA in the next six days – were two assists each for defensemen Will Borgen and Ryker Evans. Borgen now has four assists in the last two games and Evans has three in two games and five defensively responsible performances in his first five-ever NHL games. Vince Dunn is team leader in assists but other D-men posting such points is nothing but a good thing as Seattle looks wipe out the memory of the recent 0-6-2 skid.

Larsson in ... Bangs?

Bjorkstrand racked up a three-point night, adding assists on Tolvanen’s goal and Jared McCann’s power play score. The unassuming Dane is now knotted with Vince Dunn as the Kraken’s leading scorer with 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) and Dunn kept pace with his 20th assist of the season to go with four goals.

Bjorkstand’s understated ways continued post-game standing at his locker with a black t-shirt adorned with defenseman and alternate captain Adam Larsson’s face with, well, not his usual style of haircut. Instead, Larsson sported bangs cut straight across in the old-school and perennially ridiculous bowl-cut style (kids, look it up or ask your uncles). Reporters were smiling and not just because questions are easier to ask when the team you cover scores seven goals. Finally, the query, what’s the story behind the shirt.

No clue, said Bjorkstrand with a straight face. Said he just wore it because it was at his locker stall. When Kailer Yamamoto wearing the t-shirt was done talking about scoring twice and guys on the bench discussing how to get Yamamoto the hat trick, he fielded “what’s behind the t-shirt” question. Saying he didn’t want to “throw anybody under the bus” but identified Matty Beniers as the likely t-shirt creator. Unconfirmed, but apparently Larsson started it with some practical joke.

It will be fun (at least for us) to see where it journeys from here, but let’s be clear: Beniers respects Larsson and no doubt understands as the No. 1 D-man goes, so goes the squad in a lot

of ways (same could be said for Yanni Gourde and his wings). As early proof, fans might not recall but when it was Beniers’ turn to award the Davy Jones hat in the wonderful 10-game late 2021-22 season debut by Beniers (he had won it in the previous win), Beniers bypassed goal scorers and mentioned how Larsson and his fellow defenseman had supplied “all those big hits.” Under the radar but a smart observation and follow-through by a young guy just off an NCAA campus.

As for Ryker Evans, the third Kraken player to meet the media scrum, he was wearing a standard issue Kraken hoodie while discussing his first two-point NHL in just his fifth game and first as a 22-year-old (Wednesday birthday). Evans showed his sense of hockey IQ on the ice during the game and all of this homestand and the wisdom continued by deciding not to join in the laughs (at least not yet) with a teammate who will no doubt double as a mentor.

Deep Thinking on Depth Scoring

Don’t look now, well, actually look all you want, Kraken fans but it appears the depth scoring much needed from this season’s roster is roaring into gear in recent games and especially this week. Dave Hakstol said Saturday (after a tough overtime loss) that he actually thought his team “turned a corner” in the 2-1 loss to New Jersey that opened this six-game homestand, which concludes Saturday with the Los Angeles Kings in town.

With Jared McCann entrenched as top scorer with 14 to date (he scored on the power play Thursday) and veteran Jaden Schwartz stuck at eight until his return from injury, Oliver Bjorkstrand picked up his ninth goal of the year to make it 3-1 and help his teammates regain a two-goal lead just 79 seconds after Chicago erased the juicy prospect of back-to-back shutouts by Joey Daccord. Tye Kartye scored his sixth goal of the season with an assist from Will Borgen (who matched his two assists Tuesday with another two “apples” against the Blackhawks).

Kailer Yamamoto, praised along his fourth-line mates in other paragraphers of this story, is now up to six goals himself with a two-score night. Just to put more teeth into the depth-scoring storyline in development, Eeli Tolvanen took a textbook-how-to-do-it cross-ice pass from Yanni Gourde to notch his eighth goal of the year and 24th since joining the Kraken as a waivers last Dec. 12.

There are a gaggle of players with four SEA goals this season. Yamamoto broke out of the tiee-with-four pack like a NASCAR driver on the far turn, but there is no reason to think Yanni Gourde or Vince Dunn or Alex Wennberg or Matty Beniers will be next. Best guess here: Look for a hot streak from Gourde and/or Beniers. Gourde’s career shooting percentage is 13.9 and he was at 6.3 going into Thursday night. Beniers is also bagging just 7.1 percent of his shots on goal during 2023-24 with career percentage of 14 percent (yes, granted, not same career length as alternate captain and fellow center Gourde).

Oh Yeah, Yamamoto

Kraken forward Kailer Yamamoto has now started the scoring in three home games, the first one at the home opener and the last two this week, Tuesday in the win over Florida and then an encore goal in Thursday’s victory over Chicago.

Speaking of encores, Yamamoto scored another goal later in the first period to mark six on the year and four goals in last two wins for the Kraken’s fourth line that also features Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Devin Shore, all newcomers who are fitting nicely, thank you. Bellemare scored Tuesday (on a gorgeous assist by Ryker Evans, the latter’s first-ever NHL point soon to followed by a pair of helpers here Thursday for No. 39, whose number used to be 41, which now belongs to Bellemare, who, btw, was first credited with what later turned out to be Yamamoto’s score).

For his part, Shore works hard in all zones and gets a healthy share of scoring chances in the fewer minutes typically allotted to fourth-liners. Dave Hakstol forecasted this fourth would stay together for more than a game or two and why not?