Flames at Kraken | 7:00 p.m.

One: Protect the Net
It’s only preseason but this next start in goal for Philipp Grubauer looms as a mighty big test given the state of the team’s netminding competition. Assuming Joey Daccord as the No. 1 starter, that leaves Grubauer and Matt Murray in a battle for the No. 2 spot.

And while the Kraken have hinted at perhaps starting the regular season with three goalies, it’s doubtful Grubauer or Murray wants to leave anything to chance.

Murray stopped 33 of 36 pucks fired his way in Vancouver by the Canucks and looked very solid against a formidable lineup that had the Kraken under siege the latter half of the game in taking 26 of those shots. Murray made several sprawling saves while recovering quickly to face new shots – looking fully recovered from his hip surgery of nearly two years ago.

“I just have more range and a lot less pain,” Murray said postgame.

Kraken coach Lane Lambert went out of his way to praise Murray’s “fantastic game” in the postgame media scrum. After practice on Sunday, Lambert was asked how much weight these limited preseason appearances by goalies will carry in his overall netminding evaluation as opposed to the non-game work they put in at training camp.

“Clearly, games are maybe a little bit more heavily evaluated, or there’s a little more weight put into the games obviously,” Lambert said. “But I think the two of them and also Joey (Daccord) have done a really good job of managing their game and getting a little bit more out of their game so far.”

Unlike Murray, who has made 46 saves on 50 preseason shots overall in two outings, Grubauer has yet to play a full 60-minute game although that will likely change against the Flames. In his half-game of work against the Flames in Calgary last week, Grubauer stopped 17 of 19 shots in his only preseason outing to-date.

Two: A Berkly Study Session
Top Kraken prospect Berkly Catton appears to be easing into the flow of NHL competition a bit more with each outing. This will be his fourth game out of five Kraken contests, and he’s again expected to be out on left wing – this time on a line with Matty Beniers and Jani Nyman.

The Kraken have previously played Catton, 19, alongside more veteran players, so this will be a new look for him next to Beniers, 22, and Nyman, 21. What’s interesting as well is that Catton is stepping into the spot vacated by Kaapo Kakko after his injury as he’d previous played on a trio with Beniers and Nyman.

Catton has yet to register a preseason point. And while he looked more engaged and created some chances his prior game in Vancouver on a line alongside veteran players Freddy Gaudreau and Eeli Tolvanen, junior hockey star centerman Catton likely needs to show the Kraken he won’t be outmuscled for the puck when it’s time to convert.

This is also a fourth-game test of sorts for Nyman, who moves from left wing over to the right side where Kakko had operated. Nyman, who has a team-leading four preseason goals, can play either wing although he’s a lefthanded shot. The Kraken may want to see whether the 6-foot-2, 212-pounder can fill in on the right side in the absence of his equally-formidable-sized Finnish countryman Kakko or whether they need a different combination approach for the line.

Further on the Kraken injury front: Lambert said Sunday that both Jared McCann and Chandler Stephenson are tracking to be ready for the regular season opener Oct. 9 but didn’t fully answer a question about them appearing in any of the final two preseason games.

Neither is expected to be in uniform Monday, though Kraken fans should get their first home looks at veteran summer acquisitions Mason Marchment and Ryan Lindgren.

Three: Know the Foe
The Calgary defense has several players fighting for spots, including 19-year-old Zayne Parekh, selected 9^th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. OHL star Parekh, who scored his first preseason goal against Winnipeg on Saturday night and played more than 23 minutes, appears to have nailed down a roster spot already after making his NHL debut in a lone contest last season.

Competition for the bottom pairing has been very tight, with young Hunter Brzustewicz, 20, fighting for an NHL spot amongst Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Ilya Solovyov, and Yan Kuznetsov.

We could also see former Everett Silvertips goalie Dustin Wolf getting the start in this second preseason contest between these teams. Wolf and the Flames' defense held firm against the Kraken last week in Calgary, with the goalie stopping 12 of a meager 13 shots mustered by the Kraken during the two periods he was in there.

Projected Kraken lines/pairings (not official):
Catton-Beniers-Nyman
Marchment-Wright-Tolvanen
Kartye-Gaudreau-Hayden
Stephens-Molgaard-Winterton

Dunn-Larsson
Lindgren-Fleury
Evans-Oleksiak

Grubauer
Murray