Kraken Bounce Back
Down two goals on the road to the Edmonton Oilers, a team that had beaten them 7-2 just four nights earlier, the Seattle Kraken didn’t panic and stayed the course in going on to win 5-2 Tuesday night.
“Just execute, number one, stay with it the next couple shifts, make sure that it doesn’t turn into something catastrophic,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said postgame. “And it didn’t. We just went back to it. And then executing on the power play was big to get it back to a one goal game. That’s a key part of the game. We’ll talk a lot about special teams and how important they are, so at that point in the game, our power play was very important for us.”
The 2nd period goal on the man advantage triggered a comeback that led to five unanswered goals for the Kraken.
There was extra motivation for revenge after being embarrassed at home on Friday night.
“Absolutely great, great feeling to come out with the win here in their building,” Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. “Yeah, I thought we played very well.”
Gourde was asked about turning this win into a confidence builder.
“Confidence is a weird thing,” he stated. “It comes and goes and I don’t think we should be too worried about that. I think it’s like finding the right balance between basically just having good game trends (and) taking a step. After Christmas, every game is going to get tougher and tougher, every opponent you’re gonna face, they’re gonna be better structurally, you’re gonna have to fight your way to the net for each goal. That’s what creates confidence.
“I think it’s just the way we play. It’s not a matter of winning or or losing, it’s a matter of doing the right thing over and over again, and finding those goals and those plays and feeling like you’re doing something good out there.”
It was definitely a very pleasant way to start a seven-game road trip, one that continues Thursday night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Based on records alone, this one will be an even bigger challenge than the last.
USA/Canada
Just a friendly reminder: the World Junior Championship semi-final from Halifax between the United States and Canada starts at approximately 4:30 pm pacific on Wednesday and features Team Canada captain, Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright.
