NASHVILLE – An early break was handed the Kraken right before their season’s most important game when the hometown Predators revealed that standout goalie Juuse Saros would not be playing due to an upper body injury.
Saros had stopped 43 shots in handing the Kraken a loss last week so backup Justus Annunen taking his spot was a welcome sight indeed Thursday night as they launched a six-game road trip desperately seeking a win. Alas, even with Annunen in there, the Kraken mustered just one goal in a 3-1 loss at Bridgestone Arena to a Predators squad now tied with them in the standings in what was already a chaotic race for the final Western Conference wild card spot.
The Kraken inserted Jani Nyman into the lineup after calling him up on an emergency basis from the AHL as they were without forwards Jaden Schwartz and Eeli Tolvanen. But their offense was largely ineffective in getting quality chances throughout the contest, being held to just 13 shots over the final 40 minutes.
Ryan O’Reilly snapped a 1-1 tie seven minutes into the middle period by banging home a loose puck at the net front as the Kraken tried to fend off a power play chance. The Kraken had taken successive penalties early on and that second one hurt as an initial Steven Stamkos point shot was blocked but Filip Forsberg steered the rebound over to O’Reilly, who didn’t miss with his chance in putting a shot past Joey Daccord.
And it stood up the rest of the way, with Forsberg sealing it with an empty net goal in the final two minutes with Daccord pulled for an extra attacker.
The O’Reilly goal took some momentum out of the Kraken after they’d tied the game on a Freddy Gaudreau goal with 80 seconds remaining in the opening period off a great net front setup from Chandler Stephenson in the slot. That erased an earlier Nashville goal by Ryan Ufko off a deflection and seemed to give the Kraken new life heading to intermission.
But the early penalties took away some of that groove in a second period that saw the Kraken held to just six shots. Indeed, the Gaudreau conversion at the net front was one of the few chances the Kraken had in deep the opening 40 minutes.
The final period began with the Kraken on a power play for the first 86 seconds, but they again could not generate a quality scoring chance.
Things heated up about seven minutes into the frame as Ryker Evans got a boarding penalty for sending Matthew Wood crashing into the boards. Jonathan Marchessault immediately went after Evans, who did a good job of holding his own, wrestling his opponent to the ground and holding him there – with Marchessault drawing a two-minute roughing call on the skirmish that negated what would have been a Nashville power play.
They’d entered the night knowing this game represented a great chance to put some distance between them and a Predators team trailing them by two points in what’s become a log jam of a playoff race. The Kraken entered the day tied with the Los Angeles Kings but holding the final wild card spot by virtue of more wins.
They were also just one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks, who held a game in-hand. Both the Sharks and Kings had games later Thursday evening.
