Final Buzzer: Vexed in Vegas

LAS VEGAS --For the first time this season, the Kraken played a team for the second time. It turned out to be another tightly contested game, especially in the first two periods. Ultimately, it turned out be a second Seattle loss to division rival Vegas by the final score of 4-2.
The Kraken will begin a six-game home stand against the Anaheim Ducks Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena. The schedule is Anaheim, Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado, Washington and Carolina, all before Thanksgiving.

When asked if the two tough-to-take losses at Arizona and here in Nevada could be considered just that, Kraken leading scorer Jordan Eberle went straight to the concern at hand.
"Look at the standings," said Eberle. "We're losing ground. You can't win a Stanley Cup [in the first two months of the season], but you can work yourself out of it."
Kraken Head Coach Dave Hakstol said earlier in the season that his team-like most in the National Hockey League-would playing mostly tight, one-goal games this season.
"We have to be real comfortable playing close hockey games because we're going to be in a lot of them this year," he said.
Well, Kraken fans, guessing that means you too.
The second period was another "hard-fought" 20 minutes to use Hakstol's term for several recent middle periods. Kraken defensemen were preventing high-danger chances with both bodies and sticks. The forwards were definitely getting inside more, invading the front of the VGK net, something the coaching staff (including assistant coach Paul McFarland back from COVID protocol) has been urging all season.
The effort appeared to pay off with a go-ahead goal with just 31 seconds remaining in the period when Brandon Tanev retrieved a puck deep in the offensive zone right corner behind the goal line. He quickly shuttled the puck to Yanni Gourde, who wristed it past Robin Lehner.

The lead lasted 15 seconds. Starter Chris Driedger stopped VGK defenseman Shea Theodore's shot from the right point, but he couldn't control the rebound and Vegas' Evgenii Dadonov found the rebound before any Kraken defender and evened the score going into second intermission.
The first two minutes of the final period proved disastrous for the Kraken and threatened the concept of a close game. Shea Theodore scored the go-ahead goal with a shot from the left point, working it past Driedger who on replay appeared to have clear view of the arriving puck. The go-ahead and ultimate game-winner occurred 30 seconds into the period.
Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson was called for holding 14 seconds later. He was in the box for 28 seconds of playing time as Reilly Smith, stopped twice earlier on big saves by Driedger, connected on a power play goal with assists from fellow veterans Jonathan Marchessault and Alex Pietrangelo.
"There's a couple he wants back," said Hakstol when queried about Driedger's night in goal. "It was a tough night."
"There wasn't a lot of work in and around him. He made a couple good saves for us. He has to reset and and be ready in practice tomorrow."
Suddenly it was 4-2 and Vegas could play a bit more insular game to protect the lead.

Shifts to Get in Gear

Hakstol, Eberle and Seattle captain Mark Giordano all talked shifts after goals as a point of focus in the coming home stand. There's a long-standing adage that hockey goals can come in pairs, either because the team allowing the goal is still processing the goal against or the team that scores celebrates or relaxes or both.
It's more hypothesis than theorem, but when asked about the rash of late-period goals in recent games-the difference between defeat and earning standings points the last two game nights-Dave Hakstol responded that "it is not so much the end of periods," but the "response shift" after a goal is scored.
"For me, [the Vegas goal to tie it back at 2-2] was a response shift after a great shift and a goal is scored at the end of the second period," said Hakstol. "We have to go into the second intermission up by one. That's a goal we can't give up. We got caught with an outnumbered situation on a simple throw-in. That's a little bit too easy."
Giordano concurred: "The next shift after a goal is really important. We allow them [Vegas] to get a lead. This is a really tough building to come back in."
Starting slow in the third period bothered Eberle, who referred to his team as fragile. After the two rapid-fire goals by Vegas, "you can see the game was scrambled."

Playing from Behind

Giordano was succinct about how difficult it tends to be to overcome third-period leads.
"When you get down early [first or second periods] you are still playing your game," said Giordano. "But in the third period you take more chances because you need to score."
The Kraken captain said a team like Vegas makes it especially difficult to mount a comeback because of "they have a good defensive corps and a good goalie."

Power Play Delivers Early for Kraken

Leading scorer Jordan Eberle scored the Kraken's fourth power play goal of the season about five minutes into the opening period. The play started with Mark Giordano keeping the puck in the offensive zone and quickly sending the puck up the right boards to Alex Wennberg.

Wennberg passed into the crease-SEA coach Dave Hakstol has been talking about "the blue paint" a lot lately-finding Marcus Johansson parked at the right side of the Vegas goal. Johansson (playing on the first power play in his first game since missing 11 games due to a lower body injury) shoveled the puck to the net with Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo getting his stick in the way.
The puck angled toward an unattended Eberle skating toward the goal mouth. He backhanded (does that sound familiar?) the puck into the open goal to the right of Golden Knights No. 1 goalie Robin Lehner.

Getting His 'Gourde'

Not to be overlooked as Kraken starts to dig out of the league's lowest power play conversion percentage: Yes, Yanni Gourde smiles a lot but he annoys opponents even more.
Proof Tuesday is Vegas leading scorer Chandler Stephenson was whistled to the penalty box because he decided to grab Gourde's face mask. Two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and two minutes for the Kraken to get a score on the power play.

Turbo-Charged

Two and a half hours before the puck dropped here in Vegas, the high-energy forward was working his soccer-ball footwork the corridor outside the visitors locker room. By this reporter's observation, he goes at the pre-game work just as intensely as forechecking in the offensive zone to get the puck back.
Not surprisingly, the former Pittsburgh Penguin secured fan-favorite status in no short. He never stops skating and sprinting (hence the nickname "Turbo"), annoying opponents, dashing toward the net with a signature forward lean.
Then there's the whole "seen a ghost wide-eyed head shot" thing that has become much more than a thing. Plus, his Kraken teammates welcome his vocal ways in the locker room.
Of all former teammates, none other than surefire future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby was aware of Tanev's fan appeal, plus one even more important item on the hockey checklist.
From Nick Cotsonika, NHL.com columnist: "Sidney Crosby called it. At the NHL/NHLPA Player Media Tour in September, the Pittsburgh captain was asked what the Kraken were getting in Tanev, the forward they selected from the Penguins in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.
"I think 'Tans' is going to be a fan favorite there,' said Crosby, complimented his ex-teammates speed, grit and energy. "He brings it every night. And on top of that, he can score."
To Crosby's point, Tanev notched his second assist for the Kraken to go with six goals. He now has tallied 100 points in his NHL career.