A confident bunch of Seattle Kraken whooped and hollered through a fast-paced practice Monday morning, looking to continue a franchise-record four-game winning streak on Tuesday night against the visiting Nashville Predators.
“We’ve been in the fight every single night, finding ways to win the last couple of weeks and we need to see the continuation of that,” Kraken Head Coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s what today was, today was just a good work day, get ourselves ready for a short run here at home and we’ve got to take advantage of that starting tomorrow.”
The short run actually means six consecutive home games following a tight schedule over the first 13 games played with very limited breaks. Seven of the matches were on the road where the Kraken went 5-1-and-1.
The schedule gets quirky again, only in that the team will get plenty of rest in November. The half dozen home games are spread over a 16-day period with two separate three-day breaks. It’s an early season chance to get in some coaching and reinforce or adjust systems.
“Days like today are important for execution,” Hakstol stated. “Getting touches with pace and structure in a practice setting. In my opinion that’s the most important thing today, execution with the puck, we talk about that night-in and night-out, your play with the puck, it really dictates the rest of your game … practice days are really important for those puck touches especially.”
Ins and Outs
Jared McCann’s lower body injury allowed him to skate Monday but he sat out more drill segments than one typically would. He seemed to be shaking a leg on occasion with mild discomfort. He did go full speed with a couple of efforts however and is listed as day-to-day, tomorrow night being questionable.
Jaden Schwartz skipped practice today but is expected in the line-up. The co-leader in Seattle Kraken points with ten, Schwartz has played in all 13 games thus far.
Martin Jones and Joey Daccord remain the active goalies with Philipp Grubauer still on injured reserve.
The Kraken need to take care of their ‘home cooking’, presently sitting with a record of 2-3-and-1 at Climate Pledge Arena. After the Predators the Kraken will host the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, LA Kings and San Jose Sharks during the home stand that ends on November 23rd.
