The Kraken have already played three straight games beyond regulation of four contests overall. An optimist will tell you that’s four points more than had they lost those games in regulation, while the pessimist will note it’s two fewer points than had they won the last two contests in Ottawa and Montreal by holding late leads or scoring in overtime.
Thursday night’s shootout defeat was particularly galling, not only because the Kraken largely dominated in regulation only to have the Ottawa Senators tie it up in the final two minutes on a bit of a fluke Dylan Cozens 56-foot surprise slap shot from the right wall. The Kraken also held the puck almost the entirety of the five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime session and couldn’t convert quality chances by Matty Beniers and McCann.
The overtime loss in Montreal on Tuesday wasn’t quite as frustrating, though the Canadiens also tied it late in regulation ahead of an evenly played overtime in which Cole Caufield potted the winner on an absolutely devastating shot.
Now, of course, you’d hope the Kraken could win enough in regulation to help them contend through season’s end. After all, good teams get to the playoffs by winning. The Kraken may have had only one more point from extra time games their playoff season compared to their follow-up 2023-24 campaign, but they also won nine more games in regulation without needing overtime or a shootout.
So, yeah, winning matters whether in regulation or beyond. And once you get to overtime, prevailing does become more of a dice-roll.
But let’s face it, with NHL parity you’re going to have quite a few close games heading into the final minutes and it’s always good not to waste those by failing to come away with any points. So far, three of four opening Kraken games have gone beyond regulation time and they’ve snagged four of six possible points by beating Vegas and then losing the thriller in Montreal and the frustrating Ottawa affair.
To summarize: In a season opening schedule where the Kraken face eight playoff teams the first 10 games, they are 2-0-2 thus far and have secured six of eight possible points. If surviving that opening gauntlet was the goal, they are well on their way.
“It was two good teams in back-to-back games there and we had a chance to win both games in regulation or in overtime or in a shootout,” Kraken forward Shane Wright said. “So, definitely a lot of positives to take out of that.”
And in this case, just getting to overtime is a large part of winning that early season survival battle with the schedule. A battle being waged, let’s remember, without injured forward Kaapo Kakko or defenseman Ryker Evans. The Kraken right now, by collecting these additional points, are buying time until that injured pair returns next month and can work on their overtime scoring as the season moves along.
That’s exactly what they did three seasons ago in their 100-point playoff campaign, which is where many of this team’s finest overtime moments took place.
Folks sometimes forget just how bad the Kraken were in overtime when the franchise launched, winning only one of their first seven games decided in 3-on-3 fashion their debut season. They were, believe it or not, much better at shootouts in winning three of four.
But overtime was a problem.
And when the Kraken went out the next season and dropped three straight overtime games to make it nine defeats in 10 all-time tries in contests decided by OT, head coach Dave Hakstol had seen enough. He devoted an entire practice to playing the 3-on-3 session in hopes the team would have more of an overtime plan.
The very next game, the Kraken defeated the New York Rangers in overtime. And the game after that, they beat the Los Angeles Kings in an extra session. Four games later, they beat Los Angeles again in an incredulous 9-8 overtime game and then defeated Washington right after that in a much more normal 3-2 sudden death affair.
Anyway, you get the point. Snagging that extra point by winning enough overtime games eventually does start to matter and the Kraken going on to win eight consecutive OT games that season really did turn around the franchise’s fortunes.
They also won their only two overtime games in the playoffs, taking a critical Game 4 of the opening round against Colorado on Jordan Eberle’s winner and then Game 1 of the second round in Dallas against the Stars when Yanni Gourde scored. And of course, a big reason the Kraken made the playoffs was due to defenseman Adam Larsson scoring in a March overtime victory in Dallas in a contest in which his team had squandered a two-goal lead in the waning minutes.
This season’s Kraken team is different in that they very much have a clue what they’re doing possession-wise in overtime. Ottawa barely touched the puck Thursday night until the final rush of sudden death.
Eventually, that should pay dividends. For now, the Kraken will take as many points as they can on this tough trip and live to fight another day.
