Kraken (5-2-1) at Panthers (4-2-2) | 3 p.m.

One: Don’t stop skating – It feels as if this one is getting redundant but it really is the key to this Kraken team. When they keep the gas pedal down, they look really good as in a 5-2-1 overall record and a 3-0-1 mark on this road trip. And when they let off the gas, well, in the immortal words of head coach Lane Lambert: “We look very average.”

How did that gas pedal depression go for the Kraken early on against Tampa Bay? Let’s ask Jared McCann. “I feel like we let off the gas early,” he said.

No gas, then no speed. No speed and, well, you get the rest. The Kraken have to come out in this road trip finale ready to take it to the Florida Panthers and then keep their foot on the pedal all the way through. They got away with not doing that for stretches against Detroit, Washington and Philadelphia. And yeah, they also got away with snagging one standings point against the Lightning. But they can’t keep this up.

Their goalies have been keeping them in every game, especially Philipp Grubauer. We expect to see Joey Daccord against the Panthers. But another 35 shots allowed against the Lightning was a sign of no gas pedal touching the floor. Tampa Bay swarmed the Kraken at times and only Grubauer kept things from getting out of hand by stopping 14 of 15 shots in the first period alone. 

The Kraken as of Friday had allowed the third most shots in the NHL. The other teams in the top 5 for most shots allowed all had sub-.900 save percentages from their goalies while the Kraken had .911. 

Time to give them a bit of a break.

Two: Keep spreading the goodwill – This is one of those oddball stats that won’t mean much in a few weeks but this early season it certainly tells the Kraken story.

As of Friday, they had 11 players with multiple goals already this season. No other NHL team can say that. The Kraken promised four competitive forward lines and they certainly have delivered. And let’s not forget, this was the No. 5 offense in the entire NHL as of Friday, averaging 3.88 goals per game. So, it’s not as if the team leader has only two goals or something quirky. There are five guys with at least three. It’s significant offensive output spread around like no other team has. 

Chandler Stephenson is tied with McCann for the team points lead with eight. Stephenson is also riding a career best road points streak of six games, which is the longest to start a season in team history.

The Kraken team record for a road points streak spread over multiple seasons is seven, held by Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz. So, one more point against the Panthers and Stephenson matches that.

Three: Know your foe – Speaking of quirky, the Kraken are currently riding a five-game points streak against the Panthers at 3-0-2. And a lot of that came when Florida was winning the Stanley Cup. Some teams just match up well against others and the Kraken have always played the Panthers tough, home or away. They have an identical 3-1-1 record against Florida at both Amerant Bank Arena and Climate Pledge Arena.

The Panthers beat the Kraken here in overtime last March with the rough equivalent of an AHL lineup on a team ravaged with injuries. It was a strange game in which the Kraken trailed 4-1 with 5:43 to play in regulation, then somehow woke up and overwhelmed the home side – with the Panthers barely making it to the overtime before prevailing 5-4 in a shootout.

The Kraken didn’t skate very well in that game and obviously, that’s not the game plan here. Brandon Montour left Thursday night’s game early with a lower body injury. Ty Nelson had been called up from the AHL but it’s more likely Cale Fleury will start if Montour can’t go because he’s been up with the team all season already.

We’ll go with what we saw in Friday’s practice, which would be Fleury on a pairing with Ryker Evans. Whether that changes Saturday depends on Montour’s pregame status.

For Florida, their huge off-season acquisition, Brady Tkachuk, was stumbling along with just a goal and one assist his first six games. Then, he produced natural hat tricks – three straight goals uninterrupted – in each of his last two games. All of a sudden, he’s now a point-per-game producer with eight. That puts him third on the team behind his brother, Matthew, leading with 11 points, and standout defenseman Seth Jones, who has nine points.

Still, the Panthers have only the 23^rd ranked offense in the league, scoring about one goal fewer per game than the Kraken have. They are able to play tight hockey, though, going 3-0-2 in one-goal games.

Florida was a trendy pick to win the Stanley Cup prior to the season opener, but they dropped four of five games at one point when struggling to score. That’s changed now that both Tkachuk brothers are scoring instead of just one. The Panthers won their last two games 7-3 over Columbus and 3-2 over Vancouver with Brady Tkachuk doing most of the damage.

Projected lines (not official):
McCann - Beniers - Samoskevich
McMann - Stephenson - Eberle
Kakko - Catton - Wright
Meyers - Gaudreau - Winterton

Dunn - Larsson
Evans – Fleury
Ottavainen - Mahura

Daccord