Kraken Game Facts
Tonight: New York Rangers at Seattle Kraken
Where: Climate Pledge Arena
When: 7 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports NW / FM 93.3
That happy crew of Kraken we saw on Thursday evening will need to keep the magic working on Saturday night against a well balanced New York Rangers club that features an elite netminding duo in Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick. Shesterkin, the 27-year-old Russian, won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender two seasons ago.
Oddly enough, at the other end, the Kraken have only earned points in the standings in the two games that back-up Joey Daccord started. That would be a 2-1 shoot-out loss in St. Louis on October 14th and the 7-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes two nights ago.
Key Factors:
Starting goaltenders: Philipp Grubauer for Seattle, Jonathan Quick for New York.
Quick normally backs up Shesterkin and provides great veteran guidance. Rangers TV color analyst Joe Micheletti comments on his impact on our audio “Simmer’s Morning Skate” down below.
Quick backstopped the Los Angeles Kings to Stanley Cup titles in 2012 and 2014.
Expected Seattle line-up:
Jared McCann – Matty Beniers – Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Eeli Tolvanen – Yanni Gourde – Andre Burakovsky
Tye Kartye – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Kailer Yamamoto
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin – Justin Schultz
Philipp Grubauer
Joey Daccord
Special Teams
Through five games the Kraken are nearly perfect on the penalty kill this season, 14-for-15, with a shorthanded goal thrown in for good measure. That came from Bellemare against the Hurricanes on Thursday night.
The power play also cranked it up a notch after struggling through the first four games. Against Carolina, Seattle went 2-for-4, moving them up to a respectable success rate of 20% on the season.
The Rangers come in at 28.6% on the man advantage, or 4-for-14. You’ll note what a dramatic difference just a goal or two makes on percentages this early in the season.
PK-wise, the Blueshirts have given up goals four times in 13 shorthanded situations, or 69.2%. Not a good number.
Coming In:
Kraken: 1-3-and-1, coming off a 7-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Rangers: 2-and-2, off a 4-1 home loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
The two teams split their season series last season with the home team winning each. The Kraken won 3-2 in overtime on November 17th and lost at Madison Square Garden 6-3 on February 10th.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken Take Step In Right Direction With 7-4 Win
“Simmer’s Morning Skate” featured BOTH telecasters Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti of Madison Square Garden Network. Breaking down the New York Rangers for us, after a they chatted with Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol.
