Fast Start for Kraken Win, Homestand

OK, deep exhale. After a couple of road clunkers, the Seattle squad that was sizzling before the Olympics break returned to form Saturday to beat division rival Vancouver, 5-1, in a game controlled by the home team pretty much all 60 minutes. In fact, with three posts and one crossbar hit by Kraken shooters, this could have been a rout. Seattle remains firmly in the second wild-card position, now sporting a 28-22-9 record. Carolina is next Monday night.

Head coach Lane Lambert said post-game he was feeling good about the game result at morning skate when “our leadership group was all business, and it carried over.”

“I like our consistency from start to finish,” said Lambert. “It was nice for us putting some pucks on net. We had talked about shot mentality. I still think we can do a better job of that. I think we still have to do a better job of that. If you look at the first two goals, we’ve got traffic [netfront], and that’s the way you’re going to have score down the stretch."

That stretch begins with five more home games: A skilled and successful Carolina squad Monday, followed by St. Louis (for the second time in a week) Wednesday, Ottawa next Saturday, then Nashville (just behind Seattle in the West wild-card race) on March 10 and then finishing with Western Conference leader Colorado March 12.

Stars Shine and Star-Crossed Hat Trick

Vince Dunn opened the scoring in his 600^th NHL game. Jordan Eberle topped the best Kraken-season goals mark with his 21st and 22nd goals of the year, with 23 games left to flirt with his first 30-plus goals on the year since his sophomore season in 2011-12. Joey Daccord registered 27 saves on the victorious night, including nine high-danger chances in the first 40 minutes alone.

To the fans’ disappointment, the slick-stickhandling Daccord missed a historic goalie goal by inches. But the sellout crowd was rewarded when Eberle cashed in on the Vancouver empty net. Eberle now has four two-goal games this season.

In a bizarre twist, when Eberle scored that empty-netter, Kraken fans rightfully cheered and tossed headwear for what was presumed to be a hat-trick score. But after Eberle scored, the scoring change on the Kraken’s power play goal was announced when off-ice officials realized Eberle’s shot had just ever-so-slightly deflected off Matty Beniers’ skate. So no hat trick for the second time this season. Linemate Jared McCann and hat-tossing fans thought the Kraken's all-time leading scorer had notched a hat trick earlier this season, only to have it reversed when an offside infraction by, wait for it, Beniers, erased the goal.

Eberle joked post-game that maybe fans deserved some hats. The Kraken captain also said when Daccord missed by inches on his goalie goal, he was on the bench saying, “he got it, he got it.” Post-game, Eberle said, “It’s just a matter of time before he gets one” because he greatly admires the goaltender’s puck-handling skills.

The Kraken came out fast Saturday night with two goals, a couple of near-misses, lots of scoring attempts and pucks on net during the first 20 minutes. One near-miss was a hard wrist shot from Jordan Eberle that clanged off the far post. But no matter, Eberle scored a pivotal goal in the second period, getting in front of a Vancouver shot and chasing his own ricochet to create a breakaway with his still-elite speed. The 35-year-old Seattle captain went to his lethal backhand to beat Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen. Eberle’s tally re-upped the two-goal lead.

Good night for Kraken special teams as well. The penalty killer snuffed an early third period Canucks power play to keep the two-score cushion. Later third period, Matty Beniers scored on the power play, deflecting an Eberle shot, to push the score to 4-1. Chandler Stephenson earned his second point of the night with the primary assist. Same for Dunn, who notched the second assist. The Kraken needed just 10 seconds to score the man-advantage marker.

Captaining His Best Kraken Season...

It is Eberle’s 21st goal of the season. The next one he scores will set a new high as a Kraken for the teammate everyone calls “Ebs.” That makes it three of five seasons that Eberle has scored 20 or more goals. Eberle almost scored again later second period when matching cross-checking penalties on SEA forward Kaapo Kakko and VAN defenseman Filip Hronek. The ensuing 4-on-4 play was dominated by the Kraken quartet of Eberle, Matty Beniers, Brandon Montour and Ryker Evans. Beniers stood with some moves and an improv that had future Hall of Fame play-by-play man John Forslund saying, “Beniers did everything but score.” It was heartening to see Seattle flexing its offensive chops with a 3-1 lead.

The Kraken scored twice in an opening 20 minutes played to order, returning to the hard forechecking game they exhibited on a heater 10-game streak before the Olympic break. The starting goalie did his part, stopping all nine of Vancouver's shots in the first 20 minutes to bring confidence to the first-intermission home locker room.  

Jumping Out of the Starting Blocks

The Kraken faithful were mega-decibel loud during the announcement of the starting lineups, welcoming back Olympian bronze medalists Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen, as well as Seattle teammates. This week’s two road losses forgotten, replaced by rousing cheers for starters and fourth-liners Freddy Gaudreau, centering Jacob Melanson and Ben Meyers (on the wing for the first since a road matchup in LA right before the winter holiday break).

Defenseman Cale Fleury and Ryker Evans rounded out the skaters in front of Joey Daccord. It’s not a stretch to think head coach Lane Lambert was sending a message with his fourth line and third pair getting the first shift after losing two games in the Midwest by a composite score of 9-2.

Saturday morning, both defenseman Vince Dunn and Lambert both talked about what would be the ideal first 10 to 20 minutes in this Pacific Division showdown with rival Vancouver.

“We need to play simple and hard and direct,” said Dunn, who was playing in his 600^th NHL game, 333 with Seattle. “I think we're very connected when we can get our forecheck going. I think the way we play as a five-man unit is that we slow teams down and don't get scrambled in our own end. We're more patient in our own end and letting guys accept their positions and roles and areas that they need to defend in.

“Right away, we need to start shooting pucks ... the past two games, the shot count hasn't been where we wanted it to be in the first 10 minutes. So let's get some looks and see what happens. Let’s see if we can get the other team scrambling.”

That’s exactly what happened here as Dunn himself scored the opening goal at Climate Pledge Arena on Black Hockey History Night. Appropriately, the celebration included a twin-boards shoutout to 22-year-old Laila Edwards, the first Black American woman to win gold in ice hockey via Team USA’s overtime win against Canada.

Dunn’s shot from his usual left-point territory was set up by a pass from Chandler Stephenson, who three minutes later doubled the lead with his 14^th goal of the season. Last year, Stephenson tallied 13 goals over the entire year. Veteran forward Jaden Schwartz started the scoring play by winning a puck battle along the boards to get the puck to Adam Larsson, who fired away from his opposite-side point with Stephenson cleaning up the rebound.

It marked Larsson’s 200^th NHL assist. For his part, goal scorer Stephenson has heeded the coaching staff’s urgings to shoot more, and Saturday night, the home squad followed the leads of teammate Dunn and Lambert. Another note: Schwartz didn’t earn an assist on the Dunn goal, but the puck might not have gone in with the Kraken-original winger’s flash screen netfront.

“We’ve got to come out, be on the forecheck, establish our forecheck and put shots and pucks to the net,” said Lambert Saturday morning. “We've got to be ready to go. For me, it's getting back to our game, our standard, our structure, more than anything.”

The Kraken responded. There were scoring chances a-go-go in the first 10-plus minutes, including the two goals. Brandon Montour, who called himself and his mates “sleepy” after the Thursday loss in St. Louis, led the first scoring chance just two minutes into the contest, Matty Beniers and Jamie Oleksiak just missing on converting. The aforementioned Meyers won an extended puck battle that led to the Kraken’s first shot on goal.

On the next shift, Kraken captain Jordan Eberle hit the far-side inside post, and Beniers soon followed with an attempt. Rookie Berkly Catton drop-passed to Kaapo Kakko, on which Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen made a Grade-A save.