One: Finish what you start – Monday night’s shootout loss to Vancouver was filled with energetic, puck moving offense that did everything right except for putting the puck in the net. Of their 39 shots, the Kraken scored only twice. They outshot the Canucks 19-3 in the third period and overtime combined but didn’t score once that stretch. Not to mention the three additional breakaway tries in the shootout round where they couldn’t score as well.
Kevin Lankinen did a superb job of goaltending for Vancouver, but we’ve seen this script before. The Kraken had 4.4 “expected” goals based on shot quality in the game but came away with only two actual goals.
The Kraken often have trouble scoring more than twice on a goalie in regulation time. Even the other day, in beating Philadelphia 4-1, only two of those goals were on an actual netminder while the others were on empty nets.
Look, the Kraken are last in the entire NHL in expected goals according to MoneyPuck, so any time they can double up on an opponent in that stat in any one game is a step forward. But they don’t award “Expected Stanley Cups” at season’s end. The only stats that matter come June are results-based, not process-based. The Kraken have been getting better at the process part offensively. But at some point, preferably sooner rather than later given we’ve flipped to a New Year with the season nearly half-done, that process will need to pay off with the reward of an extra goal or two on a consistent basis.
While getting better at goal prevention, Nashville, like Vancouver, is in the bottom-six of the league in goals allowed at 3.34 per game. If the Kraken can put up another 30-plus shots, they’ll need to score more than twice against whoever is between the pipes. That’ll likely be Juuse Saros after Justus Annunen got the start in Wednesday’s win over Vegas. The numbers for Saros, 30, since the start of last season aren’t quite what they were before he signed a big contract extension two summers ago.
Two: Keep on keeping the puck out – Whether it’s Joey Daccord or Philipp Grubauer in goal, the Kraken have benefitted from stellar netminding in recent weeks and that’s helped once again offset the lack of scoring. Whenever a team can manage a point when scoring two goals or fewer, as happened against Vancouver, it’s a bonus. That was Daccord’s doing, though Grubauer the prior game was also fewer than two minutes away from his first shutout since April 2024.
So, good times in the Kraken net.
We don’t yet know who is starting against Nashville. With the back-to-back games, it becomes a question of whether the Kraken want the Canucks to see Daccord twice within a very short span on Friday night. Otherwise, if sticking with a straightforward rotation of goalies for now, it would be Grubauer’s turn against the Predators.
Kraken goalies have gone five consecutive games of allowing two goals or fewer, posting a record of 4-0-1 that span. Since Dec. 8, they’ve allowed two goals or fewer in eight of 11 contests. Problem is, they’re only 5-5-1 that span. Which is good reason for being frustrated with the offense as no team allowing two goals or fewer by their goalies in 73% of games over a given span should have a losing record that same period.
But there’s nothing the goalies can do about it – though Daccord tried to help with an assist against the Canucks. Still, the goalies are doing their job and will need to keep it up against the Predators while the offense tries to convert process into results.
Three: Know your foe – It’s been a very long season-and-a-half for the Predators, who were declared “winners” of the 2024 off-season by many a pundit. Unfortunately, that offseason was the last time they’ve won much of anything.
This season began even worse than last for the Preds, but they’ve managed to turn things around even during a current season-high seven-game road trip. They’ve won five of seven after Wednesday afternoon’s victory over the Golden Knights. Defense has helped the resurgence, with the Preds allowing just 14 goals over those seven games.
On a larger front, they’ve won 12 of 17 since Nov. 26, with seven of those victories coming on the road. They’ve allowed just 48 goals that stretch for an average of 2.82 per game, which is loads better than their overall season number of 3.34. For context, the very strong Kraken defense has allowed 2.92 per contest over the full season.
Another indicator of the team’s improving defensive play: The Preds have notched 13 points this season in games where they’ve scored only two goals, going 5-6-3. By contrast, the Kraken are 1-4-1 with four points when scoring twice.
Steven Stamkos scored career goal No. 600 for Nashville against Vegas and had two goals the prior game in a win over Utah.
After posting an ugly .873 save percentage in the month of November, goalie Saros rebounded along with his team in December with a .912 mark. He’s gone eight consecutive starts without allowing more than three goals although he’s still at a mediocre .898 save percentage for the season -- which isn’t quite the .927, .918 and .919 he posted three consecutive peak campaigns ending in 2022-23.
Projected lines (not official):
Kakko - Beniers - Eberle
Tolvanen - Stephenson - Gaudreau
Catton - Wright - McCann
Kartye - Meyers – Melanson
Dunn - Larsson
Lindgren - Fleury
Evans - Oleksiak
Daccord
