This Seattle Kraken team apparently needs to get on the road. There wasn’t a whole lot happening for them on Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena against a disciplined backchecking Dallas Stars team in the visitors 5-2 victory. Coupled with the 4-3 overtime win on Saturday night, the Stars swept a two-game set.
Tuesday night the Kraken only generated three shots-on-goal in the third period after Dallas scored on the power play just 40-seconds into the final stanza to take the three goal lead.
“As soon as we gave up the PK goal, the momentum went their way,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said postgame. “We had a couple good shifts in there, guys were pushing in terms of the effort and the mentality on the bench was still good. We couldn’t, we couldn’t push any momentum.”
Sustained success at home has been hard to come by. The club slipped to just two games above .500 for the season in front of the energetic home folks with a record of 16-14-and-4. That’s in contrast to a stunning road record, with the third most wins in the NHL, at 21-9-and-3.
After a practice on Wednesday in Seattle, a visit to San Jose to take on the Sharks on Thursday could be just what the Kraken need.
“I don’t think anything of it,” Hakstol said after the morning skate on Saturday. “It’s competitive, whether you’re on the road or at home, we’re really comfortable at home, we’ve played well at home and won some big games. That’s not something that we’ve overthought at all.”
Kraken Race
Despite three straight losses Seattle has managed to hold on to third place in the Pacific Division with 81 points. At the same time, they’ve failed to create more space between themselves and the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators, the closest non-playoff teams still hovering around eight points back.
“Obviously it’s a little frustrating, but I mean (Dallas) it’s one of those games you work hard and don’t get rewarded,” Kraken forward Alex Wennberg said postgame Tuesday. “It is what it is, you look at it, close the book, and you move forward.”
Calgary potentially factors in as it relates to the wild card and division race while Nashville plays a part in Seattle’s fate if the Kraken slip into the wild card seeding. Seattle is only one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the division.
While the Kraken and the Oilers have played the same number of games, 67, the Predators have three games in hand.
