Kraken Game Facts
Tonight: Seattle Kraken at Carolina Hurricanes
Where: PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina
When: 4 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports NW / FM 93.3
The Kraken will try to beat the Hurricanes for the second time in a week. Seattle prevailed 7-4 at Climate Pledge Arena last Thursday, busting out of an early season scoring slump and driving starting goalie Antti Raanta out of the match just 22-minutes in. The Kraken power play went 2-for-4.
Seattle enters the game coming off a crazy Tuesday night in the Motor City that saw the Kraken blow a two-goal lead in the 3rd period only to come back and beat Detroit with a Jordan Eberle goal with less than five seconds remaining in overtime.
Not exactly how they drew it up, but a win’s a win.
Both teams have seven points in the standings. The Canes have played just one game at home, a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in the season opener. They just wrapped up six games on the road.
Key Factors:
Starting goaltenders: Joey Daccord for Seattle, Freddie Andersen likely for Carolina.
Andersen left five minutes into the game against the San Jose Sharks on October 17th due to injury and is expected to return Thursday night. Carolina is undefeated in games that he’s started this season.
The Kraken have yet to earn a point in the standings in a game that Philipp Grubauer has started. They’re 2-0-and-1 when Joey Daccord starts, so he gets the nod again.
The early season continues for Seattle with two absent forwards. Both Brandon Tanev, who’s missed six games already after being injured in the season opener, and Andre Burakovsky, injured at home against the New York Rangers on the weekend, are listed as week-to-week.
The Hurricanes are without veteran defenseman Brett Pesce for a couple of weeks with a lower body injury and have four players, including Andersen, listed as day-to-day.
Expected Seattle line-up:
Tye Kartye – Matty Beniers – Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Jared McCann – Yanni Gourde – Eeli Tolvanen
Devin Shore – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Kailer Yamamoto
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin – Justin Schultz
Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer
Who’s Hot? And Not …
Following Kraken PR’s lead with this one; Jaden Schwartz shares the NHL lead with three power play goals and leads the team with four goals overall. He scored twice in Detroit on Tuesday night.
The bearded wonder Brent Burns has two goals and two assists from the blueline this season for Carolina, with the veteran D-man just five assists away from reaching 600 for his career. The 19-year NHL veteran enters his second season with the Hurricanes and has played in 768 consecutive games. He spent six years with the Minnesota Wild and then eleven with the Sharks.
Special Teams
By going 2-for-5 on the man advantage on Tuesday night, now 5-for-23 overall, the Kraken improved to 21.7% on the power play for the season. The penalty kill came back down to Earth statistically by giving up three power play goals to the Red Wings. Seattle ranks 14th in the NHL with a still-above-average 81.7% kill effectiveness.
The Carolina power play went 0-for-4 against the Bolts on Tuesday, but remains strong at 23.5% on the season.
On the penalty kill, they stopped 3-of-4 Tampa power plays, but have the 4th worst penalty kill in the NHL, operating at a 68.8% success rate.
Coming In:
Kraken: 2-4-and-1, coming off the 5-4 overtime win on Tuesday against the Red Wings.
Hurricanes: 3-3-and-1, off a 3-0 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
The Kraken were swept by the Hurricanes last season, losing at home 5-1 on October 17th and then losing in Raleigh 3-2 on December 15th. They wrap up the season series Thursday night, unusually early.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken NHL Wednesday: Turning Point? Revenge Awaits, Finally Ovie
— After Blown Lead, Kraken Pull Out 5-4 OT Win In Detroit
