Drama in the Desert

The Kraken made sure that Joey Daccord’s “homecoming” was an eventful one. In the goaltender’s first NHL start on the ice of his alma mater (the Coyotes play at Mullett Arena located on the campus of Arizona State University), the pace was quick, and compete was high but while Seattle controlled play at even strength, penalty trouble allowed Arizona to stay in the game with two power-play goals and the game was ultimately decided by a Nick Bjugstad shootout goal. Oliver Bjorkstrand, Matty Beniers, and Jordan Eberle were unsuccessful on their attempts.

“We played a full sixty-five minutes tonight,” Hakstol said. “We gave up two (goals) on the PK and ultimately, that didn't allow us to hold the lead but it was a back-and-forth type of game. In reality, we didn't give up a whole lot. You can look at some of the pace back and forth and we were able to shut down some of those plays before they were really dangerous. And I thought going the other way, we had a lot of good efforts.”

Seattle scored on their first shot of the game off an odd-man give-and-go between Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen. The Coyotes answered with a score of their own five-and-a-half minutes later off the rush. Matias Maccelli found space in transition and beat Daccord with a little help from a brush of the puck off Adam Larsson and one of the posts.

The Kraken thought they had another goal before the first 20 minutes expired, but Clayton Keller used his blade to stop a puck that tricked past goaltender Connor Ingram and whipped it out of harm’s way.

The home team broke the tie in their favor at the top of the second period on their second power play of the game. Keller went on a give-and-go himself with Nick Schmaltz in the bumper position. Keller’s shot got some help with a tip by Barrett Hayton net front and that got past Daccord, but Justin Schultz quickly answered setting the score 2-2 going into the final frame.

In the third period, the two teams exchanged power-play goals within 33 seconds of each other. After Jaden Schwartz tapped in his own rebound on the Kraken’s second power play of the game, the response came from Keller who scored on the exact same play that the Coyotes used on their previous special teams’ tally marking his third multi-point game of this young season. That would force the score to a 3-3 tie that wouldn’t be solved until a three-round shootout.

That’s a Gourde Play

The first goal of the game was a beauty for sure. With Arizona pressing offensively, Eeli Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde had shifted behind the play in support. Jamie Oleksiak gained possession and passed the puck to Gourde who was off to the races with his linemate in a two-on-zero rush. Gourde and Tolvanen sent three tic-tac-toe passes back and forth across the slot challenging Connor Ingram’s ability to get set, and the 24-year-old Finn eventually tapped the puck into the net, his second goal in as many games. Gourde’s primary assist extended his point streak to five straight.

Respond at the Right Time

After Arizona scored their first power-play goal against the Kraken in two seasons, Seattle was unwilling to relinquish the lead for too long. 58 seconds after Clayton Keller beat Joey Daccord, the Kraken raced into the zone. Jordan Eberle sent a pass down the right flank to Matty Beniers who immediately passed the puck back from low to high to Justin Schultz at the top of the zone. The defender’s shot found the back of the net for the third opponent-Kraken response goal of the season, and Schultz’s fifth point in four games.

Boxed Out

Mullett Arena is an intimate setting, but Seattle spent a bit of time in another small space during this game – the penalty box.  Coming into this matchup, the Kraken were averaging 2.8 penalties per game – the fewest of any team in the NHL. In this game, the team took six and the tenth-best power play in the league ultimately capitalized on two of the four power plays they received – the first gaining the Coyotes’ first lead of the game and the second nullifying a third-period lead for Seattle. The Coyotes used quick puck movement on Keller’s side of the power play unit to pull open the Kraken’s penalty kill just enough to allow a successful shot lane directly to the net.

On the other end of the ice, Schwartz’s power-play goal for the Kraken marked the fourth straight game Seattle has scored a power-play goal of their own.

“There were a couple of strange (penalties) early,” Hakstol said. “I felt we actually deserved a couple more power plays - that we'd worked hard enough for them. But those calls are what they are. We took one or two that we'd like to not take…some of them were through effort, some of them were just a mistake on our part. But we worked hard enough to draw the power plays and our PP did a good job once we got on it.”

By The Numbers

• Based on even-strength play, the Kraken deserved a better fate. In 5-on-5 action, Seattle generated 62.66-percent of all shot volume and 58.68-percent of all shot quality.

• The Kraken created enough shot quality to deserve 3.66 goals at even strength, that’s the third most Arizona has allowed all season and enough to make Connor Ingram’s game count as a quality start.

• Both power play units were strong with each creating just shy of one goal’s worth of shot quality.

• All three of the newly configured forward lines for the Kraken had positive results – tilting the ice their way in terms of shot volume.

• Arizona’s top line was kept quiet at even strength – they played most of their time against the Matty Beniers line and in those minutes, it was Seattle that had a significant advantage in terms of generating offense.

• The Kraken had 10 scoring chances off the rush (even strength) while allowing just four against.

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