Final Buzzer: Grounded at Zero

The St. Louis Blues arrived in town Thursday, practicing at the Kraken Community Iceplex and settling in for a restful evening. The Kraken, of course, were ripping up and down the ice here at Climate Pledge Arena Thursday night, vanquishing San Jose for a tight, high-energy win.

While the Blues looked fresher, there were no Seattle players or coaches pointing to back-to-back games as a primary reason for losing to St. Louis for the second time in eight days. But a quick start from the Blues - featuring a speedy shorthanded goal early - sparked a 5-0 final. No goal horn and Seattle score-joy noise this night.
"With back-to-back games it's really important to have a simple game plan," said Seattle captain Mark Giordano, referring to playing well defensively and looking for opportune scoring chances. "Special teams have to be good [during the second night of back-to-back games]. You're not as fresh but you have to take advantage of your opportunities."
Both Giordano and head coach Dave Hakstol said the St. Louis shorthanded goal four minutes into the game was a momentum killer or at least a shape-shifter.
"We started off pretty well, but the shorthanded goal was tough," said Hakstol, noting the other St. Louis goal in the first period was on a power play and that the 5-on-5 play was more even.
Hakstol did concede his squad "held on to too many pucks" entering the offensive zone in the opening 20 minutes rather than taking shots or putting the pucks deep to potentially win puck battles near the net.
"We weren't able to create any space in their zone [during the first period]," Hakstol said. "I think we did a better job of shooting pucks in the second period and in the third period that third goal [24 seconds into the frame] took the air out of our sails."
St. Louis rookie goalie Ville Husso recorded his 3rd career shutout and second this season in 10 starts. He is 7-2-1, including two wins over Seattle during which he saved 50 of 51 shots on goal.

Early Trouble

St. Louis struck first here Friday when Blues forwards Brandon Saad and Tyler Bozak teamed up on a 2-on-1 rush during a power play - for the Kraken. The shorthanded goal was Bozak's second of the season (likely he was smiling ear to ear during the goal celebrations and congrats).
Saad, 29, who is known as a shoot-first player (13 goals this season) proved patient on the shorthanded rush, holding the puck long enough to get Vince Dunn to slide in an attempted shot block and Joey Daccord to lean right.
That's when Saad shoveled the puck to Bozak for a wide-open look and score. It was a sweet payoff for Bozak, who started the scoring play himself by poke-checking and chipping the puck past Dunn at center, creating a loose puck that Saad jumped on.

Not the Desired 'Special' Outcomes

Five minutes later, Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson was whistled for a delay of game penalty when his clearing attempt to exit the defensive zone ended up in the crowd. St. Louis quickly converted on the power play, beating a Seattle penalty-kill unit that typically is anchored by Larsson.
The Blues cycled the puck with veteran David Perron getting an open look above the faceoff circle to the right of Daccord. Rather than shoot and risk a shot block, Perron directed the puck net-front where long-time linemate Ryan O'Reilly redirected the puck on goal. Daccord made the initial save but couldn't prevent the puck from trickling through his leg pads and ending up on the stick of Brayden Schenn, who tapped it over the goal line for a 2-0 lead.
Seattle's second power play of the opening period generated some offensive looks for Kraken shooters, especially the second unit quarterbacked by Dunn, who played on the 2019 Stanley Cup winners from St. Louis.
But the man-advantage situation nearly ended up in disaster again when Blues forward Robert Thomas chipped a Dunn miscue at the St. Louis blue line for what would have been a breakaway chance except Dunn chose the penalty box instead, tripping his former teammate.
The first period finished with St. Louis leading in shots on goal, 12-7, plus the upper hand on physicality. The Blues logged eight hits to just four for the Kraken. They blocked 10 shots to three on the Seattle side.

Daccord Digs In

The Kraken's third goalie made a number of Grade-A saves to steady matters within striking-back distance. He gloved a rocket of a shot from Blues D-man Torey Krug to keep it 1-0 at 7:19 of the first period.
Just a minute-and-a-half into the second period, the Kraken down 2-0, Daccord went full splits to deny O'Reilly. He made several more big stops in the middle period, including a memorable save on Jordan Kyrou, the Blues player invited to the NHL All-Star Game based on 40 points through Friday's game.
Impressively, Daccord stayed "quiet" in his positioning and blocked more than one tipped shot during the 20 minutes. His stellar work during a late STL power play afforded third-period comeback hopes for Kraken players and fans alike.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Blues generated five Grade-A scoring chances in the middle period to one such opportunity for Seattle. The final score doesn't tell the entire story.
"Joey actually played really well," said Jordan Eberle, who hasn't scored a goal in 14 games and made himself accountable more than once in post-game comments. "He made saves to keep us in it ... We hung Joey out to dry [too many times]."
Daccord's third period didn't go as hoped, planned or imagined. Center Pavel Buchnevich, acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers over the summer, scored his 15th goal just 24 seconds into the final period with a slick assist from Krug moving up into the play and a laser pass from linemate and fellow Russian Vladimir Tarasenko.
Seven minutes later, St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko earned a penalty shot by stealing a puck for a breakaway. He converted on the penalty shot. Two minutes later, the aforementioned All-Star Kyrou, scored his 15th goal of the season and the rout was on.
Kraken fans know there have been only a handful of lopsided losses, but this game got away from Seattle in the final 20 minutes.

Power-Play Outage

The Kraken had some power-play opportunities to climb back into the game when the lead was one or two goals. But the man-advantage units managed only six shots on goal in eight power-play minutes while St. Louis notched a shorthanded goal.
On the St. Louis power play side of the ledger, the Kraken committed four penalties that resulted in one goal.