Final Buzzer: Kraken Fall Short in Score, Not Effort

The New York Rangers arrived at Climate Pledge Arena Sunday night with a 5-2-1 record and a load of offensive talent. But it was the Kraken who had double-lapped the Original Six team two-and-half periods into the visitors' 3-1 win.

With a half-period remaining, Seattle had notched 29 shots on goal with nearly 20 qualifying as scoring chances. New York had managed a dozen shots for the game.
But less than a minute after Rangers goalie-star-in-the-making Igor Shesterkin stopped Kraken forward Brandon Tanev's point-blank backhand outside the crease, Rangers high-octane forward Artemi Panarin was holding the puck in the Kraken defensive zone. He patiently waited for teammates to flow into the play before connecting with a fast-approaching Adam Fox.
Fox, the 2021 Norris Trophy winner for best defenseman in the league, zinged a perfectly timed shot past Philipp Grubauer high on the glove side. It's more evidence that Fox is a rising young star among a league with a couple handfuls of truly elite young defensemen. It was Panarin's seventh assist of the season and fourth in the last two games.
Shesterkin, 25, posted his third career shutout in a 4-0 home win against Columbus Friday night. He stood tall in this game and the Kraken were competitive for the full 60 minutes. Some nights a goalie is the difference in the score.
Sunday was one of those games and nights. It's what NHL coaches and general managers call "a goalie win." The Kraken controlled the pace of play until they reached Shesterkin's 4-by-6-foot goal mouth.
The crowd was resilient and vocal, exhorting their "Boys of Puget Sound" to tie up the game, but the Rangers seemed to find an extra gear after the Fox goal. They deployed a shutdown mode and mixed in some offensive pressure.
Late in the third period, there was a furious Kraken attack with an extra man and Grubauer pulled with two minutes remaining. Yanni Gourde and Jordan Eberle had great chances but didn't get those attempts to light the goal lamp. One of Gourde's efforts hit the crossbar.
Seconds after Gourde clanged the crossbar, NYR forward Barclay Goodrow received an outlet pass from Mika Zibanejad. Goodrow, Gourde's linemate in Tampa Bay for two straight Stanley Cup championship years, skated rink-long to tap the game clincher into the empty net.
The Kraken called a 30-second timeout and proceeded to battle for shots and puck possession right to the night's end. There is much fight in this team, no shrugging of the shoulders.
On to Edmonton Monday night.

A Lot to Like

Dave Hakstol was perfectly clear: "We don't like the outcome, but there were not many parts of this game I didn't like.
"Our guys deserved a better fate tonight. Our effort was excellent and our togetherness was great."
The Kraken coach said, "they got us a couple times on transitions, but we had a lot of zone time, especially in the second period."

McCann, McFarland in COVID Protocol

With the pre-game news that Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, Hakstol did some last-minute line juggling.
Winger Ryan Donato moved up a tier to play with center Morgan Geekie and right wing Eberle. AHL callup and NHL-tested forward Max McCormick (85 career games) dressed Sunday and slotted in to the fourth line with center Riley Sheahan and wing Nathan Bastian.
"We found out early this morning," Hakstol said when asked how he adjusted without assistant coach Paul McFarland, also in the league's COVID protocol. "It has become part of our world ... There are lots of moving parts behind the scenes. We [coaches] cross over in a lot of roles ... we all pitch in."
Hakstol credited McFarland with changes in the Kraken power play that resulted in solid scoring chances during Sunday's man-advantage situations.

Second to None

Hakstol is adamant his team controls puck possession in the second period of games. The Kraken applied plenty of pressure in the second frame but just couldn't get Shesterkin out of position.
Eberle broke the Halloween night spell and sounded a deep pull of the arena's Washington state ferry horn with a backhand shot Shesterkin was clearly not expecting. The assists went to Jaden Schwartz and Adam Larsson at 13:46 of the middle period.
The Kraken finished the second period with 16 scoring chances in the first 40 minutes and six high-danger chances (three in each period). The Rangers had seven scoring chances, only two in the second period with no high-danger opportunities.

Scoring Leaders Face Off

Tanev and New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider entered Sunday's night game with six goals apiece, both higher than Edmonton Oilers star scorer Leon Draisaitl (five) and just behind the Oilers' other superstar, Connor McDavid (seven).
While the Kraken will meet up and look to forecheck those Oilers among other EDM forwards relentlessly Monday night, Kreider evened with McDavid with the game's first goal three-and-a-half minutes into the first period.
The Rangers veteran forward almost scored his eighth goal of the season and second goal of the night on a breakaway in the 11th minute of the first period. Grubauer made the key save to keep the game close, with the "Gruuuuu" fan call raining down.
Seattle finished the period with seven scoring chances to the Rangers' five, according to Naturalstattrick.com. Both squads notched three high-danger chances, with Shesterkin (pronounced "Shess-ter-kin) making some big saves to the disappointment of another Seattle-noisy sellout crowd of 17,151