How did it go down? Let’s dig in.
Not Evens
The first period was marred by three separate penalties. First, Simon Nemec was whistled for tripping. The Kraken didn’t capitalize on that opportunity. Nor did the Devils on the slash called on Jamie Oleksiak. But a too many men call on Seattle just over thirteen minutes in, gave the Devils the look they needed. The Kraken pushed out the initial Jersey play but on their second entry, the puck got to Nico Hischier below the goal line. He sent a pass to Tyler Toffoli in the slot and his shot got past Joey Daccord with a little help from a bounce off of Brandon Tanev and the right post. That goal gave the home team the lead and broke an eight-game power-play drought.
Seattle played short-handed in another way tonight. Nine minutes into the game, Timo Meier came in with a body check on Brian Dumoulin against the boards in the defensive zone. The Kraken defender did not return to the game and that left the five remaining blue liners to shoulder the load defensively.
In total, this game included 14:21 minutes of special teams play due to eight penalties – five taken by Seattle and three by the Devils.
“(It totally) disrupts the game flow,” Jamie Oleksiak said. “Your scorers don't generally play PK, so they're on the bench and whatnot. And you know, we have to be disciplined.”
Puck Pursuit
The Devils play with speed and that challenged the Kraken on both ends of the ice. In the attack zone, often it was New Jersey skaters getting to any loose pucks before the Seattle forecheck could establish possession. As a result, shot attempts more frequently came from the edges of the zone with the Kraken unable to get to the dangerous areas consistently.
On the defensive side, after the Devils had already established a 2-0 lead when a Kraken turnover resulted in a Tyler Toffoli score, when one of the 10 rushes New Jersey generated through the first 40 minutes bit the Kraken. Santeri Hatakka launched a rush for Meier who gained just enough room to fire a puck that bounced off Daccord’s pads and went right to Dawson Mercer in the low slot to make it 3-0.
“(Their speed) doesn't really let you get set up systematically for the most part,” Oleksiak said. “When they're flowing and moving, (they have) a lot of speed, and you have to respect it… maybe push off the gap. There's different things that go into it, but we could do a better job countering that as well for sure.”
Challenge Accepted
A bright spot came halfway through the second period of the game thanks to the quick work of the Kraken coaching staff including the video team of Tim Ohashi and Brady Morgan. On their third power play, New Jersey thought they’d added to their goal total, but Erik Haula opened up available space in the net by knocking into Daccord inside the blue paint. Dave Hakstol issued a coach’s challenge and the goal was taken off the board as goaltender interference was rightly ruled to have taken place.
Will-ing the Puck In
The Kraken kept pushing. The final twenty minutes was when they had surges of offense and generated the most shot quality of any of the three periods. Halfway through that final frame, the team was rewarded. The group set up the cycle and moved the puck with speed and accuracy including a sequence that started with a board battle won by Jared McCann. He then wired a pass to Jordan Eberle who fed an unchallenged Will Borgen who beat Daws with a shot from above the right circle ensuring there would be no shutout tonight, but the final score sat at 3-1.
