Final Buzzer: Bringing the Noise - and Goals

The roar inside Climate Pledge Arena started with the Kraken taking the ice at game time. Goalie Martin Jones prompted the loudest cheers when the Seattle starting lineup was announced. There was way more hockey acoustics where that came from as the Kraken returned from a three-game, six-standings point sweep during last week's road trip.
Four first-period goals and a 5-1 victory will generate those mega-decibels and smiles and yelps. It's exactly the quality and quantity of noise the architects, engineers, and Kraken front office had in mind building this brand-new subterranean arena under the epic landmark roof. Seattle is now 8-4-2 and owns a franchise-record five-game winning streak.

"We want to make this place the toughest place [to play]," Jordan Eberle, who scored twice in the first period, including the first goal 38 seconds into the game. "It's loud. It's one of the [more fun] buildings, in the league to play in, you can feel the energy, especially in the first period there.
"You make it a tough building play it and we did that as far as tonight. You come out with four quick goals. That's what you want to be known as a team that [the opponent] has to weather the storm here."

Scoring and Roaring

The decibels quickly jumped to upper-echelon, Seattle-LOUD levels when Eberle scored 38 seconds into the game, seconds into his first shift of the night taking a perfect lead pass from Andre Burakovsky. Seven minutes later, Burakovsky picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and ultimately his second primary of the first period.

The free-agent signee skated away from the Nashville net, camouflaging his next move, a pass to defenseman Will Borgen who was pinching in. Borgen quick-released a shot past Predators goalie Juuse Saros for his second goal in 14 games this season, matching his 2021-22 total in which he played 36 games, almost all in the second half of the season once D-men Mark Giordano and Jeremy Lauzon (suited up for Nashville Tuesday) were traded.

Burakovsky decided, OK, time to score myself 15 minutes into the opening frame. Taking a pass from linemate Alexander Wennberg, Burakovsky patiently handled the puck left-side net, waiting for Saros (an elite goalie last season) to commit to a move before lifting the puck up and around the Nashville goalie.

A little more than a minute later, Eberle scored his second goal of the period and third of the season when he picked up a loose puck in front of the Predators crease and fired it past Saros. Morgan Geekie didn't touch the puck on a swiping forecheck, but clearly provided yet another example of the type of forechecking SEA coach Dave Hakstol has preached since his first training camp team talk last season. Eberle's goal chased Saros and Seattle skated off for the first intermission up 4-0 on eight shots on goal.

Burakovsky boosted his stats to four goals and nine assists for team-leading 13 points in 14 games. He continues to impress with his playmaking and his elite shot appears on the verge of catching up.
"Some games, it just works out for you," said Burakovsky, whose nine assists lead the Kraken. "Today was one of those games. I was trying to find open ice and trying to find my teammates to set them up. I did that a few times and then 'Wenny' [linemate Alex Wennberg with the primary assist] made a good play to me and I just put it in."
Brandon Tanev capped off the night with a high-effort empty-net goal in the final 90 seconds of play, tapping a pass off the wall to himself, then outmuscling Filip Forsberg to sweep the puck into the net to a chorus of cheers from the Seattle faithful.

Keeping Up with Jones

In what is a happy repeat occurrence about to become a habit: Without any prompting, Dave Hakstol heaped praise on goaltender Martin Jones' performance, especially after staving off Nashville shooters from getting any closer than a three-goal margin. Hakstol liked Jones' on the penalty kill and during the Predators' 5-on-5 pushes in the second and third periods.
"Jonesy was excellent," said Hakstol. He was really solid throughout the entire 60 minutes ... there were a lot of good saves tonight ... he was able to be in good spots [when Nashville won puck battles in the defensive zone]."
Nashville finished the first period with seven shots. Martin Jones, who started the night with a 4-1 record in his last five games, stopped them all to prevent Nashville from any feeling of getting back into the game. He made 10 saves in the middle period when the hockey term "tilting the ice" clearly see-sawed to the visitors. The Kraken managed only five shots on goal in the middle period against sub-goalie Kevin Lankinen for a two-period total of 12. Fans can only imagine what Hakstol was saying to his group during the second intermission.
On the night, Jones delivered on another Hakstol tenet: An NHL goaltender needs to make the stops he is expected to make, plus one or two he is not expected to make. Jones faced eight Grade-A chances in the first two periods and his only letdown was getting beat by Filip Forsberg, who blocked a shot inside the Preds zone, then commenced on a breakaway. Forsberg scored 42 goals last season and now has five goals and eight points in 13 games so far this year. His move on Jones to break the shutout fit the part.
Jones has surrendered three goals in the last three games and upped his record to 6-1 in his last seven starts. He finished the night with 21 saves on the night.

Stating the Stamina

With Tuesday's game broadcast nationally as part of the TNT doubleheader with Kraken play-by-play man extraordinaire John Forslund on the call, his analyst partner, JT Brown, watched the game from the Climate Pledge Arena press bridge. Watching the Kraken mostly keep control of a four-goal lead (with the aforementioned huge performance from Martin Jones), it seemed an opportune time to ask the former NHLer who he sees as the top three most indefatigable Kraken players on the ice.
Brown's reply: Adam Larsson was quickly his first choice. Then, former Tampa Bay teammate Yanni Gourde was his next choice. Thinking a bit longer on the who rounded out the top three, he settled on Alex Wennberg, another player "who never looks tired."