First-Period Hops
Four minutes in this third-ever home opener, fans were wowed by a point-blank chance for Jaden Schwartz four minutes into the game on a heads-up feed from defenseman Will Borgen, who continues to flash his offensive skills (including a late-first period laser on net) to accompany an already rock-solid defensive game. Schwartz was patient and all alone net-front, working a quick but unsuccessful deke on Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev
On the other end, Philipp Grubauer, the ex-Colorado No. 1 goaltender, was answering with his own impressive early saves during the 4-on-4 play prompted by Jordan Eberle trading punches with Colorado’s Logan O’Connor. He made three key saves in 35 seconds during the game’s sixth minute to keep it scoreless.
The first save was off a tip-in attempt by superstar Nathan MacKinnon. Nine seconds later, fueled by a Mikko Rantanen takeaway, Fredrik Olofsson was stopped by Grubauer. The visitors kept the puck in the Kraken zone during the ensuing faceoff and Andrew Cogliano couldn’t solve Grubauer with a third shot in the flurry. Seattle finished the period with 16 shots on goal and one goal to show for it.
Yamamoto Livin’ the PNW Dream
The fourth line showed some early-shift moves with Kailer Yamamoto and Tye Kartye pushing the play. Kartye intercepted a pass and generated a scoring chance and, basically, seemed to be hassling any Colorado puck carrier in his vicinity throughout the night.
Yamamoto, a Spokane native playing in front of an XXL travel party of family and friends here to witness a young Washingtonian living his dream, continues to show he has eyes and the stick to go with it to create excellent shot locations for his linemates. With Brandon Tanev out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury sustained last Tuesday in the season opener at Vegas, Yamamoto and Kartye will have a huge opportunity to build chemistry with fellow newcomer but long-time veteran Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
By the first period’s finish, with Yamamoto realizing his dream of playing for a home-state NHL franchise (“I never imagined it as a kid,” said Yamamoto in pre-training camp conversation), the two fourth-line wings teamed up for the Kraken’s first home goal of the season with Kartye setting up the scoring play, D-man Vince Dunn getting the primary assist and Yamamoto beating Avs standout goalie Alexandar Georgiev with a deep-angle wrist he wired top of net.
Dave Hakstol liked what he saw from the fourth line, which figures to be intact for a month or more with Brandon Tanev sidelined.
“It was nice to see him get on the board. That group has played well over the last couple of games. You can see a little bit more chemistry gelling there. They had some good opportunities in St. Louis [Saturday]. I think ‘Karts’ hit the crossbar [Tuesday], have to look at the replay on it.”
Hakstol enjoyed seeing Yamamoto score in front of his family and friends: “I like that he settled that puck, found a spot and he made no mistake. [The fourth line] gave us a ton of ton of life and ton of energy in the building.”
Eberle Inspires
Alternate captain Jordan Eberle went out of character to rev up his teammates and the home opener crowd just 80 seconds into the game. The veteran forward squared off with Colorado fourth-line wing Logan O’Connor. Both got in some punches and strong tugs before on-ice officials pulled the two apart and sent them both to the penalty box with five-minute majors for fighting. Book it, Kraken players, and likely Dave Hakstol will compliment the first-liner for his wake-up/shake-up call.
‘Special’ Report
The middle period of this rematch between 2023 Stanley Cup Playoff foes was most decidedly not top-heavy in 5-on-5 play. Four penalties were called, resulting in eight minutes of man-advantage, four minutes each for the Kraken and the Avs.
Kraken penalty-kill units, despite the loss of PK stalwart Brandon Tanev, turned away Colorado power play personnel that includes Mikko Rantanen, the roundly-booed Cale Makar, and Nathan MacKinnon (who committed one of the penalties only to see teammate Logan O’Connor score a shorthanded goal). Yanni Gourde, per usual, was strong on the PK and free-agent signed Pierre-Edouard Bellemelle shined and seemed as fresh at end-of-PK shifts as his stride. Matty Beniers earned more PK time (something he talked about wanting to do during training camp) with Tanev out and looked natural, mustering a shot on goal.
But Colorado was the shorthanded team that scored and pushed this game to 2-1 for the bad guys. The Kraken actually had three power plays in the second period, the first one carried a minute and 47 seconds of time from a late-first period drawn by Kraken newcomer defenseman Brian Dumoulin. That first chance didn’t generate much of a threat but the next powerplay featured more possession and puck movement. The final SEA power play during the 20 minutes turned sour with the Colorado shorthanded score.
After the “shorty” from fourth-liner Logan O’Connor on a breakaway that got past Vince Dunn, Philipp Grubauer staved off full disaster when he saved another man-down attempt from Colorado. A couple shifts later, Grubauer was rejecting a choice shot from Cale Makar, and then with 2:35 left in the period, Grubauer stood his ground on a wide-open attempt from Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard.
The Boos are Back in Town
When Colorado stepped on the ice at Climate Pledge Arena before playing Game 6 of last spring’s first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the boos directed at Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar started. They went full-throat each time Makar carried or even touched the puck during the rousing Seattle victory that sent the series back to Denver.
Makar, of course, was facing a hockey jury that found him guilty of a dirty hit on Kraken regular-season leading scorer Jared McCann, which knocked McCann out of the rest of the Colorado series and three games in the second round against Dallas. Tuesday night, Kraken fans didn’t miss a shift or any reason to boo Makar each and every time he touched the puck. Consider it tradition after just two games. Colorado is back in town on November 13.
