Kraken D-man Vince Dunn is on a personal scoring streak that just happens to be a franchise record 12-gamer. It’s his personal career best and he leads the team in points with 57.
It’s rare for defenseman to lead a team in scoring when your name’s not Bobby Orr, but there are some other great examples.
When the New York Rangers broke their 54-year drought and won the Stanley Cup in 1994, it wasn’t Mark Messier or Adam Graves on top of the scoring list. Nor was it superstar blueliner Brian Leetch. It was D-man Sergei Zubov.
At the other end of the sprectrum, if one wants to talk expansion level proceedings: In 1992-’93 when head coach Rick Bowness’s Ottawa Senators entered the NHL and went 10-70-and-4 (an 84-game schedule) on the season, good ole defenseman Norm Maciver was the leading scorer with 63 points.
By the way, Orr led the ‘Big Bad Bruins’ in scoring in 1970 and 1975 with 120 and 135 points respectively and finished second behind forward Phil Esposito, who benefited endlessly from Orr’s efforts, every season in between. Orr’s career high was 139 points in 1971.
Dunn Kraken Review
We already talked a bit about Dunn’s transformation and development back on March 10th, but it’s hard to ignore his latest efforts as he reaches new heights.
During the 12 game run he’s totalled 17 points. Oddly enough the streak started following a three game stretch when Dunn didn’t record a point. He did have an earlier point streak of nine games this season that ran from January 5th to the 19th in which he racked up 13 points.
Dunn scored the game winning goal in overtime against the San Jose Sharks last Thursday night, the third OT winner of his career.
“There was a will to him tonight,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said afterwards. “You could see he was confident. Offensively with the puck I thought at times he controlled some of the play, and maybe it’s fitting that he’s the guy that was able to make the play on the winning goal.”
Dunn was talking about everything and everyone but himself.
“The schedule coming up is very crucial, we have teams that are neck-and-neck with us … so just find a way to get it done,” he said postgame. “It was a tight game all three periods. We’ve just gotta find a way to get two points however it is.”
According to NHL and Kraken PR, Dunn is the ninth NHL blueliner to have a scoring streak of 12 games or more in the last two decades.
He’ll look to help the Kraken get another win and potentially extend his streak on Tuesday night in Dallas against the Stars.
