Kraken Recap
“The goaltender’s best friend”: The goalposts.
They saved Seattle on Monday night in Tampa as Lightning D-man Victor Hedman rang a shot off the iron with less than three minutes to play in regulation, then Tanner Jeanot hit the post in the final minute, before Brayden Point rang it again while attempting to convert a 2-on-1 rush in overtime.
Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer and the Kraken were the beneficiaries, able to pull out a win on a Jared McCann power play goal with 2:07 remaining in the extra session.
It’s “Grooby’s” first win of the season, Seattle’s first ever win against Tampa Bay, and the fourth goal in the last six games for last season’s 40-goal scorer.
In their brief history the Kraken have now defeated every other NHL team at least once. The Bolts were the last to fall.
Quick Start
As they did throughout the road trip, the Kraken started fast, opening up a two-goal lead for the fourth consecutive game. Unfortunately for them, they blew that two-goal margin, sometimes more than once in a game, in all four matches.
Twice they recovered with OT victories to start and finish the trip, in Detroit and again in Tampa.
Seattle defenseman Brian Dumoulin opened the scoring and tallied for the first time as a Kraken on a rebound at the 12:08 mark. Yanni Gourde notched one against his former mates exactly one minute later to make it 2-0 in the first.
After Jeannot put the Bolts on the board just :29 seconds later, Kailer Yamamoto restored the two goal margin before the period was over at 15:52 on the power play.
The Kraken finished 2-for-3 on the man advantage, Tampa 1-for-2.
Special teams have actually been solid, as has been the Seattle goaltending. The Kraken simply need to keep lighting the lamp behind opposing netminders.
Seattle returns home to host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night and the Calgary Flames on Saturday evening.
Recent:
— Simmer’s Sunday 9: Kraken Hole, Hot Canucks, A Man Stamped
