Grind and Bear It

Nobody involved with the Kraken was happy with last Friday's
7-3 loss to Colorado
at Climate Pledge Arena. It marked a sixth straight loss and perhaps the most frustrating of the season. After the game, players and coaches were upfront about what the team needed to do to get back to winning.

"There's only one way out of it and that's to keep grinding," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "It's to stick together and you have to find a way to dig out a win. Then the weight comes off and things head in the right direction.
"We didn't do that tonight last Friday]. That's disappointing for everybody. You have a choice to make on how you approach the next day and what your resiliency is."
Grinding is well known in the game of hockey. It's woven into the hard work and tenacity it takes to win individual puck battles along with the results on the scoreboard.
There's no basic statistic or advanced analytics number to measure grind, but when you see it on the ice, the concept is immediately recognizable.
For instance, "grinding along the boards" is a common term for players who work in-close against opponents to get possession of the puck, especially forwards on the forecheck in the foe's defensive zone. But grinding expands to all facets of the game in the minds of NHL players and coaches.
"I think in this sport you really have to grind away," Kraken captain Mark Giordano said last Friday. "Especially with our team, with our style of play we have to get back to having a great forecheck, getting zone time and grinding away."
As Seattle prepared to host the red-hot Washington Capitals on Sunday, the team was looking for more grind.
Grinding isn't flashy or the ingredients of highlight reels played on endless loops. Rather, it's often simple, it's always hard and typically proves to be infectious throughout the lineup.
Forechecking is a grind. It takes a great deal of effort and willpower to race into the opponent's zone to try and disrupt their breakout. Sunday, during a resounding
[5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals
, Seattle got back to its forecheck. They were able to retrieve pucks that resulted in extended time in the offensive zone.

On defense, Seattle stuck with its system against the NHL team with the third best record in the league, playing physical and sound.
Kraken players got into shooting lanes and blocked 12 shots, which is all about a willingness to put your body in danger's way. When a shot did get through to Philipp Grubauer, the Kraken tightened in front of the net and were the first to rebounds.
With three-and-a-half minutes left in the game, Grubauer was on his back, diving to make a last-second stick save. The puck stayed in the crease, but three Kraken players were there to support their goalie and clear the puck to safety.
It was one of several scramble plays in front of the net. The Kraken won them all.
"Not only blocking shots but letting me see the puck," Grubauer said about his teammates after Sunday's win. "If there's a rebound, our guys are right there."
"That's how teams create offense and it's a huge part of the game. That's where we need to be good, in front of our net and in front of their net."
Killing penalties takes work, courage and a great deal of grind. The Kraken were perfect on the penalty kill Sunday, wiping out all four of the Capitals' chances. Washington has one of the league's top power-play units led by Alex Ovechkin, who is highly dangerous with the man advantage.
Seattle kept the Caps to the outside for the most part on the power play. Ovechkin was able to fire off a few of his patented shots from the faceoff dot but the Kraken had cleared a path for Grubauer to see them and stop them.

Forward Brandon Tanev is frequently the Kraken's leader in grind. Sunday, Tanev made a play in which he outraced a Washington defender to beat out an icing call.
The play didn't lead directly to a scoring chance, but Tanev's hustle and grind saved the Kraken from having to deal with a defensive zone faceoff against a team that's loaded with scorers.
Those types of effort don't show up in the box score but grind plays add up to wins and standings points.
When they're at their best, the Kraken are a team that's going to grind out wins from night to night. They'll play hard defensively, limit looks against, forecheck and take care of the area in front of the net.
After a long stretch where bounces and the scores weren't going Seattle's way, Sunday's grind work paid off for the Kraken, who face Carolina at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ROOT SPORTS, KJR-950, IHeart).
"My feeling is this [win] should really give us a burst and a real push as we now go into a tough stretch," Hakstol said on Sunday, noting about playing Carolina Wednesday followed by back-to-back road games against Tampa Bay and Florida Friday and Saturday.