"We played from the back end [defensive zone] first," said Donato, who provided a vital screen on the first goal Monday, scored the second and tying goal, then beat future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury in the shootout. "When we got our chances, we wanted to bury them.
"They have a lot of high-end talent guys who can score. We wanted to make sure we clean up the defensive zone, to be careful and patient. We know if we play well in the defensive zone, we will get our chances offensively."
True enough. The Kraken finished the game with 11 of what Hakstol likes to call "Grade-A" scoring chances (as per NaturalStatTrick.com) to three for Chicago. In fact, since the Kraken returned to play Jan. 10 after an eight-day layoff, they have out-chanced opponents when looking at Grade-A opportunities in four of the five games played (9-7 at Colorado, 9-8 at Dallas, 11-3 at St. Louis, 5-7 vs. Los Angeles and the aforementioned 11-3 vs. the Blackhawks).
"[Monday] was a really great effort, one of better games we played all year," said Grubauer, who stopped future Hall of Famers Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the shootout. "We gotta be patient ... There were not too many odd-man rushes ... The guys were blocking shots. We played with a defense-first mentality before we try to score."
With a scorching-hot Timo Meier (five goals in his last game and points in seven of his last eight games) in Thursday's opposing lineup and St. Louis (third in goals in the Western Conference, trailing only division leaders Colorado and Vegas) arriving at Climate Pledge Arena the next two nights, patience and the defense-first mentality are a must.
