Kraken Game Facts
This Evening: Seattle Kraken at Arizona Coyotes
Where: Mullett Arena in Tempe
When: 6 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports NW / FM 93.3
The Kraken face what appears to be an improved Coyotes team from last year with both teams sporting similar records. The desert dogs actually have eleven points to the Kraken’s ten in the overall standings.
Key Factors:
I would be stunned if Joey Daccord doesn’t get the start in net, considering he’s back where he played college hockey for Arizona State University. Connor Ingram gets the start at the other end for the Coyotes. Ingram played for the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League and has 35 games of NHL experience.
The Kraken will present a different line-up, moving Kailer Yamamoto up to the first line, similar to a concept suggested Monday on the “Simmer and Forslund” podcast.
Jared McCann – Matty Beniers – Kailer Yamamoto
Jaden Schwartz – Alex Wennberg – Jordan Eberle
Eeli Tolvanen – Yanni Gourde – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Devin Shore – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Tye Kartye
Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak – Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin – Justin Schultz
Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer
Rookie Kartye slips down to the fourth line. He has two goals and an assist in eleven games played.
Who’s Hot? And Not …
Jaden Schwartz has a six-game point streak. A goal or assist on Tuesday evening and the veteran would have his first seven-game streak since 2016 while playing for the St. Louis Blues.
Justin Schultz has four assists over his last three games. With an assist tonight, he could match the four-game assist streak he had last November.
Oliver Bjorkstrand hasn’t had a three-game goal streak since he played for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the spring of 2022. He could duplicate that with a goal tonight.
Matty Beniers is still looking for his first goal of the season.
23-year-old Finnish left winger Matias Maccelli has an eight-game point streak for the Coyotes.
Special Teams
By going 1-for-3 on the man advantage on Saturday night, the Kraken improved to 25.7% for the season, or 8th best in the NHL. Seattle gave up one goal to the Flames on two power play chances. The Kraken’s overall penalty kill ranks 24th with a 74.7% success rate.
The two teams are comparable statistically on special teams.
Arizona went 1-for-3 on the power play against the Jets three nights ago, while also giving up one goal on three chances on the penalty kill. For the season the Coyotes rank 10th in the league on the power play (24.4%) and 25th (71.8%) on the PK.
Coming In:
Kraken: 4-6-and-2, coming off the 6-3 loss at home Saturday night to the Calgary Flames.
Coyotes: 5-5-and-1 after a 5-3 loss at home to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
The Kraken have won their last four games head-to-head against the Coyotes. Since arriving in the NHL, Seattle has averaged 4.33 goals per game against Arizona, their third highest total against any team.
Recent Kraken:
— Simmer’s Kraken Sunday 9: Goalie Secrets, Scoring Slump, Bobble John