The Kraken lost to the Rangers at Climate Pledge Arena on Halloween of 2021 by the score of 3-1. They lost to them again 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on January 30th, 2022 on a late goal by K’Andre Miller less than 20-seconds after Seattle had tied it.
Thursday night the Kraken beat the Original Six franchise for the first time, 3-2 in overtime. After working on 3-on-3 play all week, it paid off in the club’s first OT win of the season against three losses.
Kraken Scorers
1st Period
1-0 Seattle – Even Strength – Jared McCann (6) from Will Borgen and Jordan Eberle, 2:45
After being stopped moments before on a breakaway, McCann cruises by and gets a tip-in on a point shot.
For all the talk this week of working on puck possession in three-on-three overtime, the Seattle Kraken took it to heart at five-on-five as well. The first period was marked by multiple moments where Kraken skaters avoided offensive zone dump-ins or east-west passes in the neutral zone, showed patience, and regrouped as full units back to the D-zone for clean breakouts.
Solid. There was a little bit of 1990’s Detroit Red Wings ‘Russian-5″ in their game.
The other emphasis after the 3-2 OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday was to stay out of the penalty box, after the Kraken gave up two power play goals on seven chances.
Problem not solved. Two hooking penalties in the first period ruined that successful five-on-five flow and allowed Mika Zibanejad and the Rangers man power play to tie the game at 1-1 at 14:58.
1-1 after one period.
2nd Period
No Kraken goal scoring. The Seattle power play took center stage in the second period but for the wrong reasons. The Kraken had all three man advantages in the period, but the Rangers penalty kill had the most glorious scoring opportunities. Kraken goalie Martin Jones saved his team’s bacon, and that with the Blueshirts only having five shots on goal in the period.
Back to even strength, the Kraken were the better team again.
1-1 after two periods.
3rd Period
Uh oh. Carson Soucy goes for elbowing at 7:03 and the Rangers get their 3rd power play of the game.
Nothing doing. Penalty kill successful. And the momentum off the successful effort led to a push from the Kraken and a goal.
2-1 Seattle – Even Strength – Justin Schultz (2) from Andre Burakovsky and Jaden Schwartz, 9:27
Finishing off sustained pressure, Schultz’s shot from the point appeared to carom in off D-man Braden Schneider’s shin pad.
The teams would swap power play chances late in the game. The Kraken would fail, the Blueshirts would not. With his net empty and his team on a 6-4 advantage, Vince Trocheck buried a rebound with 1:54 to play to tie things 2-2.
Overtime
The Kraken mostly played it the way they’ve been coached this week, by keeping puck possession whenever they could. Eberle rush leads to game winner.
3-2 Seattle – Three on Three – Justin Schultz (3) from Jordan Eberle and Vince Dunn, 3:39
Schultz finished off a Jordan Eberle rush with a tough angle shot from the bottom of the right wing circle.
Kraken 3 Stars
1) Justin Schultz – Two goals on the night, including the game winner in OT
2) Jordan Eberle – Two assists, including off his rush in overtime for Schultz’s game winner.
3) Martin Jones – Kept his team in it at crucial times.
