Tucker Robertson was a Seattle Kraken 4th-round NHL Draft pick last summer in Montreal, 123rd-overall. The 19-year-old right-shot center has been garnering all kinds of attention lately in helping lead his Peterborough Petes to the Ontario Hockey League championship and a trip to the Memorial Cup that starts in a couple of days in Kamloops, BC.
Robertson is part of our “Seattle Kraken of the Future” series, with his profile first written up back on February 4th. He finished eighth in OHL playoff scoring with 22 points, but more importantly he factored in on both goals that led the Petes to a 2-1 win over the London Knights in the decisive Game-6 of the final on Sunday.
Robertson deflected home the game winner in the 3rd period after picking up the primary assist on the first goal of the game in the 2nd.
Robertson and the Petes will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds, Quebec Remparts and host Blazers in the Memorial Cup championship tournament that begins this Thursday.
Hot Kraken Properties
By the way, the Kraken’s 3rd-round pick in 2021, forward Ryan Winterton of the Knights, led all OHL postseason scorers with 29 points, while their 3rd-round draft pick from 2022, defenseman Ty Nelson of the North Bay Battalion, led the league with 19 playoff assists.
Not too shabby.
Seattle Hockey Insider profiled Winterton back on October 31st, 2022 and took a look at “Kraken of the Future” Nelson on February 13th.
— Also opening Thursday; the American Hockey League Calder Cup western conference final between the Coachella Valley Firebirds (Kraken affiliate) and the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators).
Panthers On The Prowl
First they knocked off the Presidents Trophy winning Boston Bruins in seven games, then took care of business against the Toronto Maple Leafs in five, and now the Florida Panthers, the not-so-little Cats that could, are making quick work of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.
With a 1-0 victory on Monday night, the Panthers took a 3-0 series lead on the Canes with Game-4 slated for Wednesday evening in Sunrise, Florida. Puck drop happens a little after 4 pm pacific time.
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovski stopped all 32 shots he faced in Game-3, while Sam Reinhart notched the lone goal of the game at 10:05 of the 2nd period on the power play. It was his 7th goal of the playoffs with assists to the red-hot Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett.
Tkachuk is 3rd in Stanley Cup playoff scoring with 19 points and second in assists with 12. The 25-year-old son of longtime NHL star Keith Tkachuk, Matthew tallied the game winning goal in overtime in both Game-1 and Game-2 of this series.
Don’t count the Hurricanes out just yet, even though NHL teams coming back from down 3-0 in a series to win has only happened four times in history.
“It’s there for us,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said postgame. “We’ve got to find a way to put it in. We’ve got to find a way to just break through and give ourselves a chance maybe to get back in this. But it’s tough because we have played really well.”
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov left Game-3 in the 1st period with a lower body injury and didn’t return. He’s tallied 12 points over 15 playoff games. Teammate Radko Gudas referred to him as the “best player in the world” after the game.
So there’s that.
The Hurricanes heavily outshot the Panthers in the latest match but couldn’t solve Bobrovski. Florida also racked up 23 blocked shots.
Those Crazy Comebacks …
The four times a team has come back from down 3-0 to win a best of seven Stanley Cup playoff series:
1942 – Toronto Maple Leafs over the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.
1975 – New York Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup quarterfinals.
2010 – Philadelphia Flyers over the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference semi-finals
— The Flyers went on to lose the Cup Final to the Blackhawks. The Bruins bounced back by winning the Cup in 2011.
2014 – Los Angeles Kings over the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference quarter-finals.
— The Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup.
ICYMI
— Kraken Daily (May 22) – Firebirds and Thunderbirds Learn of Opponents
