Final Buzzer: Margin Call

The Kraken kept this divisional game close after a Calgary three-goal outburst in the first period staked a 3-1 lead in the first of back-to-back weekend games here at Climate Pledge Arena. The Friday faithful oohed and aahed throughout the second period, especially during the first of three power plays with a good handful of near-misses.
Seattle couldn't get a second puck past Flames goalie Dan Vladar until the eleventh minute of the final period when Eeli Tolvanen scored his seventh goal for Seattle in 14 games, taking a long-range rebound off linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand's shot and quick-releasing it past Vladar. But the Flames responded 64 seconds later with the true dagger of the night when Noah Hanifin (a first-round Ron Francis pick during his Carolina days) put his teammates back up by two goals.

"We weren't very good tonight," said coach Dave Hakstol post-game. "We just had no energy and that's top to bottom. That's all of us."
The Kraken were missing their high energy on the forecheck, resulting in "a lot of easy [defensive zone] exits for them". They didn't have answers for three consecutive goals from the Flames. Hakstol wasn't convinced the third Flames goal of the opening 20 minutes -scored with 4.5 seconds remaining - was the back-breaker.
"Pick any one of their goals," said Hakstol. "We had great momentum after going up one goal [early first period] and we give one up right back. That's a complete momentum changer ... We've just had one foot in, one foot out on a lot of plays."
"We're lucky we have a game tomorrow," said Eeli Tolvanen, whose goal made it 3-2 with nine minutes left. "We can flush this one away."
Calgary now has 57 standings points at the All-Star break while the Kraken are 28-15-5 and 61 standings going into Saturday's home matchup with Columbus. Going into Saturday, Los Angeles is in first place with 62 points on strength of winning Friday. Vegas is at 61 after a loss to the New York Rangers. The Kraken have four games in hand on LA and three on Vegas.
That three-goal Calgary first period ultimately held up for a 5-2 final (due to a late empty-netter). Vladar, acquired in a trade with Boston for a 2022 third-round draft choice, won for the second time against the Kraken this season. Calgary now has 57 standings points at the All-Star break while the Kraken are 28-15-5 with 61 standings points going into Saturday's home matchup with Columbus.

Just a Second (Goal)...Finally

The second period started with one main thought for the Kraken players and coaches. Score the next goal, and don't let division-rival Calgary take a three-goal lead. Martin Jones did his part stopping 12 more shots on goal in the first 16 minutes of the middle period and the Kraken penalty killers turned in another spotless two minutes to keep the two-goal margin.
Later period, a pair of penalties on Flames players created a mint opportunity to cinch up the score. The first of the two power plays generated five shots on target against Calgary goalie Dan Vladar, who stopped them all, including four legitimate near-misses in the can't-believe-that-didn't-go-in category. Vladar was 9-0-3 in his last 12 starts coming into Friday night and it showed. The second SEA power play fizzled away with no shots on goal.
Another Kraken power play presented itself with 12 minutes left in the game. This time, it appeared Seattle finally broke through on the man advantage when Alex Wennberg gathered a loose puck in front of the Flames' net and rapped it past a fallen Vladar. Calgary successfully challenged for goaltender interference and the Kraken were back to a 3-1 deficit and returned to the power play.

Adjusting to Missing Beniers

With Matty Beniers out of the lineup, Ryan Donato, the Swiss-army-knife forward, moved up to the first line to center linemates Jordan Eberle and Andre Burakovsky. Brandon Tanev moved to the second line in Donato's place with Alex Wennberg and Jared McCann staying together. Forward John Hayden (who called himself a "Swiss army knife" talking with ROOT SPORTS' Piper Shaw during the first intermission) joined Morgan Geekie and Daniel Sprong on the fourth line.
The red-hot Yanni Gourde line with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen on the wings stayed put - though the entire Kraken organization was shaken for a shift or two in the middle period when Gourde went down hard blocking a Calgary shot, halting play as he writhed on the ice and then went straight to the locker room with head trainer Mike Booi. There was a palpable hush in the crowd for a good minute. Everyone exhaled when Gourde reappeared to join a second-period penalty kill.

Go Fourth, John Hayden

The fourth line of Morgan Geekie centering Daniel Sprong and John Hayden (back for his second Kraken game this week) put in a high-octane offensive shift with both Geekie and Sprong getting good looks. At one point, Hayden was net-front calling for the puck.
The veteran Hayden's opportunity came on the line's second shift of the first period. Taking a pass from Sprong, second-pair defenseman Will Borgen continued his habit of putting pucks on net. He shot from his usual right-point location. Hayden was on the route to both serve as a human screen and tip the puck past Flames goalie Dan Vladar.

Hayden, who signed a two-way AHL/NHL contract this summer, has been a positive-minded leader and goal scorer (12) for league-leading AHL affiliate Coachella Valley. In his Kraken debut last Saturday against Colorado, Hayden had two stellar scoring chances, one net-front that had him shaking his head all the way back to the bench after his shift. Just from his demeanor calling for the puck, it was clear Hayden was out to produce.

Flames Stoke Comeback

Calgary, which lost 5-1 to Chicago at home Thursday, proved undeterred after Hayden's opening goal. Probably because head coach Darryl Sutter was not pleased with his squad's effort against CHI. The Flames responded with three straight goals, the first one just under two minutes after Seattle opened the scoring, qualifying as a response goal in the stats gamebook. Forward Tyler Toffoli lifted a "sauce" pass to CGY leading scorer Elias Lindholm, who scored on a perfectly-time swat of the puck past Kraken starter Martin Jones.
Toffoli put the Flames ahead with his 18th goal of the season and third in three games against the Kraken. With 4.5 seconds left in the frame, 6-foot-6, 248-pound defenseman Nikita Zadarov hammered in a third goal for the visitors with Lindholm getting the primary assist. It sure felt like a dagger at the time. Jones faced 16 shots on goal in the first period, including seven Grade-A scoring chances.