Final Buzzer: Comeback Falls Just Short

Just when you think the Kraken are down, they're not out. Trailing 4-1 after two periods, Seattle rewarded a raucous Saturday night home crowd of 17,151 with two goals within 30 seconds early in the final period, then a tying goal with four minutes left.

What looked impossible 20 minutes earlier had converted into decibel mayhem and thoughts about an overtime victory. It wasn't to be, but no fan could fault the response from the Kraken in the final frame. The Kraken earned a standings point for getting the game to OT and now have a 5-3-2 record in their last 10 games.
This squad is resilient and, beyond any sliver of a stick-blade of doubt, Seattle's team. The noise at Climate Pledge Arena was arguably at the highest level, pitch and resonance of the season. And that's setting a high bar.
The guess here is no fan left without thinking about just how loud it might be if the Kraken finished the comeback. Instead, leave it to opponent Max Domi, he of two goals scored Saturday, to assess Seattle as a hockey town.
"Gotta give that team credit," said Domi, who has played 446 NHL games, including two seasons in the hockey mecca of Montreal. "They worked, and the crowd did damage and found a way to get it into overtime."

Construction of a Comeback

Down 4-1, Jaden Schwartz and Morgan Geekie scored goals back-to-back. Schwartz's tally came with some pain as Joonas Donskoi's shot deflected off the veteran forward during a power play to make it 4-2. It was Donskoi's 13th assist of the season; he is still looking for his first goal.
"The power play gave us the spark we needed," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "The group talked about it today in our power play meeting ... the guys took it upon themselves to impact the game tonight. That comeback doesn't happen without the power-play goal."

A half-minute later, Geekie found his way behind the Columbus defense, took a pass from another young teammate and forward, Mason Appleton, to tighten up things. Noise squared.
It appeared the comeback was stalled as Columbus embraced a shutdown style, looking to clog the center-ice neutral zone. The strategy appeared to be working, at least until defensemen Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn had other ideas.
Dunn took a perfect pass from his defensive partner and wristed the power shot he practices regularly in extra time during warmups. High bar here, but the crowd seemed to be the loudest of the season after that score.
Jake Bean burst the bubble of a potential to-date historic Kraken comeback by sneaking a shot past Philipp Grubauer 55 seconds into overtime to give Columbus a 5-4 win. It appeared Marcus Johansson backing up toward Grubauer might have distracted or flash-screened the goaltender.
Bean was drafted by Ron Francis when the Seattle hockey boss was GM in Carolina. Bean told reporters that he and his family were disappointed when he was not selected in the expansion draft.
The pick from Carolina turned out to be Geekie, who played with Bean in Carolina, the AHL affiliate Charlotte (then a Hurricanes affiliate) and the WHL Tri-City Americans. The two remain good friends. Bean was traded to Columbus after the expansion draft.

Hakstol Talks: Comeback, Easy Goals, Grubauer

Like everyone watching here at the arena or across the NHL's largest geographical broadcast region, Hakstol didn't much like the second period after what he called a good first shift and stellar work on killing two penalties within the first seven minutes of the frame.
"In the second period, to be blunt, we gave up goals that were too easy," Hakstol said. "You gotta make Columbus work harder for them."
Hakstol made a point to accent the positive, describing the first and third periods as "bookends" of high performance.
"Our players can take a lot of pride playing an outstanding period ... not getting the extra point [in the standings] is a hard pill to swallow."
When asked about Grubauer's performance in goal, Hakstol paused a few seconds to gather his analysis: "At the end of second [period], we put him in a couple of tough spots, especially with the game at 2-1. We gave up a breakaway and a quick 2-on-1 [odd-man rush]. I would love to not give those up. I would like to have a save on one of them."

For Openers, Merzlikins Closes It

The Kraken played one of their best opening periods of the season Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena. Trouble is, Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins was indeed in the building and in the crease in the opposite goal.
Merzlikins and his CBJ teammates held off a high-energy 20 minutes from Seattle, keeping the game scoreless. Merzlikins was spotless against 12 first-period shots on goal, making at least a half-dozen saves that looked like possible goals, cleaning up any rebounds and generally causing a lot of Kraken fans to half-rise out of their seats only to sit back down again.
The first period featured some textbook winning back of pucks in the offensive zone. High marks to Schwartz and Jared McCann. In the neutral zone, Calle Jarnkrok and Donskoi worked their sticks in the way of several potential offensive rushes. Their collective work led to the majority of the 10 scoring chances.

Killing the Mood

With two nearly back-to-back penalties called on Kraken forwards Alexander True and Alex Wennberg, respectively, the Seattle penalty killers showed up with A-game response. In fact, Brandon Tanev and Donskoi not only kept the puck away from Columbus shooters, they executed the best scoring chance of the four-plus minutes of man-down time for the Kraken.
The knowledgeable Climate Pledge Arena crowd loudly cheered the end of Wennberg's second penalty of the pair.
But the ice tilted toward Columbus the rest of the second period. Leading scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the game's scoring, wide open with time and space for his ninth goal of the season to go with 13 assists. Jack Roslovic, who grew up in Columbus, put the visitors two goals ahead three-and-a-half minutes later. He redirected a laser-accurate pass from Domi.
Pause there for Jordan Eberle to win a puck battle in the offensive zone, finding linemate McCann who quick-released a wrist shot that seemed to surprise Merzlikins in both arrival and location.
Domi haunted the Kraken and the crowd with a pair of goals in the final three-plus minutes of the period to make it 4-1 at the second intermission. The second goal, notched with 26 seconds on the clock, came on a Domi shot that Grubauer appeared to smother but somehow instead trickled through his leg pads.

Centers of the Kraken Universe

With Yanni Gourde and Riley Sheahan
in the league's COVID protocol
, Hakstol and assistant coach Paul McFarland puzzled together the four centers they envisioned holding down the position Saturday night.
Placing McCann between Schwartz and Eberle united a line that has clicked for goals and formidable forechecking when together. Schwartz and Eberle led the Kraken in ice time Thursday, so McCann and his wicked shot were in the forecast against Columbus.
McCann scored the first Kraken goal on a signature pass from Eberle.
The recent trio of Johansson-Wennberg-Appleton stayed intact with Wennberg manning the center spot. Geekie and Tanev have paired together recently and Jarnkrok, back from the injured list, is the third player on the line.
The biggest twist is who lined up between Ryan Donato on left wing and Donskoi on the right side. Those two forwards have played together enough for a measure of familiarity with each other's movements and preferences (such as where they like to receive passes).
Their centerman, True, was called up from AHL Charlotte with enough notice to fly into town for the game. But True missed the morning skate. You can imagine the "cramming" the three did talking before the game. True looked comfortable and physical, working responsibly on defensive segments and seemingly building some playmaking chemistry with his linemates, especially Donskoi.