Seattle Kraken rookie forward Matty Beniers knew he was named an NHL All-Star “about a week ago”, informed by team general manager Ron Francis and head coach Dave Hakstol. The public found out last night.
“All-Star game is pretty special, so I’m pretty excited about that as well,” Beniers said after the Kraken’s 5-1 win in Toronto on Thursday night.
He was most excited about his team’s win against the Maple Leafs.
“I’m just happy we won, they’re a great team and playing them on the road is hard, so we’ve got a little momentum back,” Beniers said. “We’re playing well, good hockey.”
Road Challenge
The Kraken handled two of the three biggest challenges on their seven-game road trip with flying colors, beating the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs on the road. The Boston Bruins, undefeated in regulation at home this season, loom at the end of the journey. In between, Seattle will play the Ottawa Senators on Saturday evening, and then deal with a back-to-back set on Monday and Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
With their victory in Toronto and their three game winning streak the Kraken sit in 3rd place in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of the Oilers and just four points behind the second place Los Angeles Kings. Remarkably, Seattle has played five less games than LA, so the Kraken have a significantly better win percentage with those games in hand, .622 to .595.
The first place Vegas Golden Knights are also on a three game win streak, ten points ahead of the Kraken. They’ve played four more games then Seattle.
Streak Ends
Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson saw his seven-game point streak come to an end Thursday night in Toronto. He and forward Jordan Eberle share the franchise record with that mark, Eberle having reeled off his run back in November of 2021.
It is the longest streak of Larsson’s career and the new standard for a Seattle defenseman.
— Kraken send forward Shane Wright back to Ontario Hockey League for remainder of the season.
