Kraken Sweep Pittsburgh in Season Series

You might say the Kraken and Joey Daccord were not kidding around Saturday, turning a serious workmanlike victory to sweep the season series from Pittsburgh on Kids Day at Climate Pledge Arena. Daccord faced 29 total shots, including 16 Grade-A scoring chances. The Kraken goaltender did get beat net-front by future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby (surpassing Joe Sakic to be 10^th all-time in road points), but Daccord hung on to secure his fifth win in his last seven games.

Defenseman Vince Dunn, who scored the game-winning goal, commended Daccord for delivering “in the big moments” Saturday: “We can always count on him to to make the big saves. It's on us to to find a way to build off his momentum. When you have a goalie you can trust, it fuels the guys in front of him and makes guys feel confident, not to play safe, to execute and want to make plays in front of him, plus knowing that sometimes things don't go perfectly and he's back there to stop the puck.”

Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen did allow Daccord and the Kids Day crowd to breathe easier with a third Seattle goal early final period, then Matty Beniers salted the game with a later period goal for a 4-1 final. Both goals were set up by skillful assists from linemates. On Tolvanen’s goal, Shane Wright created the scoring chance (not every NHLer sees that opportunity, another sign of Wright’s hockey IQ) to pass the puck to McCann in space (sort of like the NFL quarterback to who throws to spot rather than receiver). When McCann moved in the slot area to Tolvanen, the Finnish wing quick-released for the score. On Beniers’ goal, Kakko stole the puck just outside the Pittsburgh zone, than stickhandled patiently to get commitments from defenders, eventually feeding Beniers with time and room to ripple the net.

Not to be lost in the four goals and Daccord’s super-sized effort was pair of primary assists from McCann on the tying and winning goals. In the last 10 games, McCann has collected nine assists (and a goal). You figure his goal count will be rising soon too (those one-timers are likely to start going in).

I’m just trying to contribute as much as I can,” said McCann post-game. “I’ve said this time and time again: I'm not a big points guy. I never have been. So penalty killing, I think I do a better job blocking shots and being better defensively.”

All true but McCann also brings offensive vision, in the case of power play goal, creating “some motion to get their defenders mixed up a bit.” He subsequently retrieved to puck after a sequence of shots to find Dunn for the long-range goal.

“Dunner and I, we’ve played together for a long time,” said McCann about sensing a scoring opportunity. “He always holds the middle of the ice, which is nice. So I just try to get the puck to him there.”

Timing It and Getting It ‘Dunn’

NHL coaches are afforded one timeout per game. Seattle’s Dan Bylsma was efficient and effective with his one timeout Saturday, stopping play after the second Penguin in fast succession went to the penalty box later middle period. With a minute and 20 seconds of potential 5-on-3 play, Bylsma handed over strategy to assistant coach Jessica Campbell and her trusty whiteboard.

The stoppage worked perfectly, with Seattle peppering the net with multiple shots in quick cycling fashion against rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist. After the first flurry, the Kraken regrouped. Vince Dunn connected on a long-range slapshot attempt, taking a pass from Jared McCann. Chandler Stephenson, who was iffy to be in the lineup due to an upper-body suffered Thursday, notched his second assist of the night and has 27 on the year.

Ending the Drought

The Kraken put an end to four straight scoreless periods early on in the middle 20 minutes of this showdown. With Pittsburgh spending way too much time in the offensive zone, Stephenson forced a turnover at the Penguins' blue line and rushed the puck up ice through neutral ice and into the PIT zone. Stephenson, patient with the puck, dropped a pass to linemate Andre Burakovsky. The Kraken forward (who had an active stick Saturday, especially early) deployed his own measure of patience before finding an open Oliver Bjorkstrand at the far end of the net. It marked Bjorkstrand’s 14th goal of the season, and he now has three goals and three assists in his last eight games.

“We haven't had a five-on-three in a long time [mid-October home against Calgary, stick tap to Seattle Times reporter Tim Booth looking it up in the media work room],” said coach Dan Bylsma, who swept the season series against both Pittsburgh and Buffalo, the two other NHL teams he has coached. “So you want to be on the same page. You want to get your looks. Our guys did a great job of it. It took us 40 seconds, 50 seconds to get the final look. But we had three or four other opportunities [including a McCann one-timer] ... the guys stuck with it and ended up getting the goal. It's a huge part of the game for us.”

Fellow Finn Blomqvist Faces Tolvanen, Kakko

The last time Seattle faced the Penguins, veteran Tristan Jarry was in goal for Pittsburgh. The Kraken rallied for a 4-2, and, perhaps not coincidentally, Jarry was placed on waivers the next morning. He cleared and was sent to American Hockey League affiliate Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Veteran Alex Nedeljkovic was installed as the No. 1 goalie, with the 23-year-old Finnish goaltender as his backup.

Blomqvist got the start against the Kraken Saturday, appearing in his 10th NHL game all this season and posting a .904 save percentage with a 3-6-0 record in eight starts. He played a strong first period, stopping Brandon Montour point-blank in the high slot early in the frame and making a key save on fellow Finn Eeli Tolvanen late period when the Kraken winger suddenly joined the play after serving a tripping penalty (which was expertly snuffed by SEA penalty killers, including the usual stellar work by Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak and Brandon Tanev.

In the second period, Blomqvist held off another young Finn, Kaapo Kakko, during a close-in attempt. Blomqvist stopped Kakko on a quality shot early third period, too. Tolvanen did solve his countryman with a third-period goal and Kakko earned an assist on his linemate Beniers’ score.

Blomqvist was selected 52^nd overall in the second round of the 2020 Draft and is an example of the development timeline required for goaltenders. After getting drafted, he spent two seasons splitting time in Liiga and Mestis, his country’s top two pro leagues, respectively. In 2021-22, Blomqvist appeared in 20 Liiga games and notched an impressive .940 save percentage. By 2023-24, Pittsburgh decided to place with its AHL affiliate and the 6-foot-3, 200-pound prospect made the league’s All-Rookie Team and Second Team All-Star with a record of 25-12-6.

The Kraken, of course, have three Finnish goaltenders in the prospect system, most notably Nikke Kokko, who leads all AHL goalies with 12 wins against just two regulation losses and an OT loss. Another Kraken Finnish prospect and goalie, 2024 third-rounder Kim Saarinen, posted back-to-back shutouts this past week for HPK in Liiga play, stopping all 50 shots that he faced over the two wins.