Final Buzzer: Fleury, Wild Shut Out Kraken

Five times you win, some time you lose. The Kraken dropped a 1-0 affair to Minnesota Friday night, ending a five-game winning streak at the hands of Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who just over a week ago surrendered four goals to Seattle.
Fleury's victory, a 28-save shutout, marks the 28th NHL opponent he has shut out in his illustrious career, setting an NHL record on his way to matching Martin Jones' shutout in Saint Paul. Jones could not be faulted this night. He made the big saves at key moments that coach Dave Hakstol asks of his goaltenders, plus the ones he was supposed to make. He finished with 20 saves and the only goal against was fluky, scored on a random ricochet off a side wall in the Kraken defensive zone.

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On the Rebounds

By mid-game Friday, both teams had logged just 12 shots on goal. If you were thinking this game was more slogging than that styling, you would not be wrong. If you were thinking, gee, it looked like future Hall of Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was giving up prime rebound opportunities (at least three in the first period alone and one mid-third period just there for the taking) with the Kraken not catching up with even one of those second-chance shots, you would not be wrong.
"There was definitely a lot of outside play," said Yanni Gourde matter-of-factly in the post-game media scrum. "We've got to find seconds, find rebounds. We've got to be out front [to screen Fleury]. If that goalie sees the puck, most likely he's gonna make the save. We've got to do a better job of making his game a little bit harder ... and of finding the open guy."
In his post-game comments, coach Dave Hakstol said there were a few too many pucks "thrown to the net with nobody within 30 feet of the net [for rebound chances]."

PK Streak Reaches 16 Straight

In some ways, the Kraken coaching staff was likely satisfied to enter the third period only down one goal, with the Wild afforded four minutes of power play time in the final eight minutes of the second period. Seattle penalty killers snuffed out both, making it 16 straight fruitless outings for opponents.
Minnesota young star Kirill Kraprizov, who has 10 goals on the year, scored two power-play goals in the Wild's 4-1 at Anaheim Wednesday. Makes the PK effort even more admirable. For any fans wondering, new-this-season assistant Dave Lowry has been running the PK.

Power Play Struggles to Score

Hakstol said, "put this one on the power play [units]," which have scored two goals in the last 16 tries, including four no-goal man opportunities against Minnesota. He offered, "it's that kind of night you've got to get a score off 5-on-5" or even-strength play."
The Kraken power play went 0-for-2 in the first period. The Kraken started the second period with a power play opportunity when Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba was called for high-sticking at the 20-minute mark. More zeros during the third power play for Seattle.
Seattle's power play got a fourth power-play opportunity early third period, generating offensive-zone time and puck movement but no Grade-A scoring chances nor a goal. The best chance was actually a shorthanded breakaway by MIN forward Mason Shaw.
Hakstol pinpointed a common problem with all four power play opportunities. Each time, Seattle lost the opening faceoff in the Minnesota zone.
"The power play has been good all year," said Hakstol. "It's been timely. You've got to find a way to come up with the puck. You don't have to win a draw clean, but we've got to find some 50-50's [puck battles] and keep those pucks in the zone."
"They did a good job on our entries. Even in the third period when we did get set up - sometimes you've got to simplify it a little bit. Maybe we tried to do a little bit too much on two or three opportunities."

Going to the Wall

The Wild scored the first goal of the night on a play that fans won't see too often. Minnesota veteran defenseman Jon Merrill missed on a pass to defensive partner Calen Addison that ricocheted off the side wall right to Mats Zuccarello (the pride of Norway and a breakthrough star at the 2010 Winter Olympics), who wired it past Martin Jones with two Kraken maneuvering but not expected the unintended bank-shot pass to cleanly to an opponent's stick blade. Zuccarello wired it past Martin Jones. for what proved

Larsson Longevity

Kraken alternate captain Adam Larsson played in his 700th NHL game Friday at just 30 years old. The reason why is he was drafted in 2011 and played a full season with the New Jersey Devils as an 18-year-old, picked No. 4 overall (a feat he shares with teammate Shane Wright (2022) and Ron Francis (1981)).
"Take nothing for granted," said Larsson when asked about the personal milestone after Friday's morning skate. "I mean, it's a league where you can be out really quick if you slip your focus and your determination ... 700 is something I probably wouldn't believe if someone told me that early in my career."
Larsson is the only Kraken player to appear in every game in franchise history. His 82-game season last year was his third year in which he didn't miss a game.