SEA at DET | Recap

DETROIT, MI - Oliver Bjorkstrand has been at the forefront of the fight for the Kraken – sometimes literally. After the third bout in his NHL career served as a catalyst for a comeback win in Buffalo, it was the Maestro who battled to finally get the Kraken on the board. And while Matty Beniers would also score – making him the first player to debut with the Kraken and score 50 goals – it wasn’t enough.

Bjorkstrand’s goal came on the power play, but Detroit’s special teams were equally lethal. A three-for-five conversion rate with the extra skater contributed to a six-goal start for the home team that became insurmountable for the Kraken, who fell 6-2 in Motor City.

“We weren’t ready,” Jaden Schwartz said. “It's unacceptable, and there's no one to blame but ourselves. No one's feeling sorry for us. We have to figure this out collectively and figure it out fast.”

Formidable Foe

Heading into Little Caesars Arena for the second game of a back-to-back, the Kraken knew they had a tough test in front of them. Since making a coaching change on Dec. 26, the Red Wings improved defensively and on both sides of special teams. As a result, they’ve put together a 6-1-0 record, with all six of those wins strung together in their most recent games. And when the puck dropped, Detroit showed up as advertised.

While Kraken have shown that they can come back in games, Detroit made it awfully hard on them. Less than three minutes into the game, the Red Wings scored a pair of quick-strike goals eleven seconds apart. And after Adam Larsson was put in the penalty box for a high stick, a power play that has produced in seven straight games made quick work of the opportunity when Alex Debrincat scored quickly to make it 3-0.

Joey Daccord came into the game in relief of Philipp Grubauer after that, but missed assignments created a 3-on-1 where Vince Dunn was the lone Kraken defender back. Patrick Kane was able to convert a cross-slot pass for the fourth goal of the period.

“We didn’t look ready, we weren’t ready,” Adam Larsson said. “We made some not smart decisions out there and then we got too far behind in the game. Starts like that…it’s going to be a tough time winning games.”

The Kraken did get their chances, generating 16 shot attempts (one less than Detroit) and 12 shots on goal (one more than their opponent) - including three from Jaden Schwartz - but they were unable to beat Cam Talbot in the opening 20.

Two More Power Play Strikes

The third-best power play in the league stayed effective. The score went to 5-0 when, less than five minutes into the middle period, Erik Gustafsson’s shot from the point bounced off the bodies that were in front of Daccord, changing the angle and going in the net. Dylan Larkin added to Detroit’s total, also on the power play with 4:39 to go.

“I don’t know if frustration kicks in, and we start taking penalties,” Adam Larsson said. “And they have a good power play too.”

Cue the Maestro

The Kraken didn’t convert on their first power play that came in the first period, but they found a way in period two. With less than ten seconds remaining with the skater advantage, Daccord tapped the puck to Vince Dunn, who started the breakout with a perfectly placed pass to Jaden Schwartz in the neutral zone, who next skated across the blue line and connected with Bjorkstrand to erase the zero by the Kraken’s name from the scoreboard.

SEA@DET: Bjorkstrand scores PPG against Cam Talbot

“We want to be a team that's deep throughout our lineup and get contributions from everybody on a night-to-night basis,” Dan Bylsma said. “Oliver in the Buffalo game, and now this game is a guy that we're looking to get us into the match, and that's the type of player Oliver is, and we all have to join in.”

Keep Fighting

The Kraken weren’t going to stop fighting, and the Matty Beniers line – which has been so effective at tilting the ice for their team, found the back of the net. Seven minutes into the final frame, Seattle was plus-1 in shot attempts over the Red Wings when Adam Larsson won a board battle, and then Kappo Kakko won another battle low in the attack zone before getting the puck to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz sent another pinpoint perfect pass from below the goal line to the slot where Beniers was waiting to finish.

SEA@DET: Beniers scores goal against Cam Talbot

The penalty kill also righted itself. While the Kraken took an uncharacteristically high six penalties in the game (coming into this game, they rank fourth best in rate of penalties taken with 2.4), they were able to kill off the final two power play opportunities for Detroit.

By the Numbers:

  • In 5-on-5 play, the Kraken created 48.2 percent of all shot volume, which equaled 59.7 percent of all shot quality. The majority of the Kraken’s advantage came in the second and third periods, with the final 20 minutes being their strongest.
  • The line of Chandler Stephenson, Andre Burakovsky, and Bjorkstrand created the most shot quality and also were plus-9 in shot attempts (5-on-5 play).
  • Jaden Schwartz earned the highest Game Score of any player in the game, according to HockeyStatCards.com (2.67), and the second-highest Kraken player was Matty Beniers (1.87).
  • Bjorkstrand led his team in individual shot quality and shots from the slot.
  • Burakovsky led all skaters in controlled entries (8) and was second among Seattle players in controlled exits (9), which was still two more than the highest total for any Detroit player.
  • In all strengths, The Red Wings doubled up the Kraken in shot quality (3.20 expected goals), with a little under half of that (1.41) coming on the power play.

Here’s a look at our data-driven Instant Analysis from Sportlogiq (Click HERE for how to read this graphic):

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