Kraken Game Facts
This Evening: Seattle Kraken at Toronto Maple Leafs
Where: Scotiabank Arena
When: 4 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports NW / FM 93.3
Key Factors:
Starting goalies: Philipp Grubauer vs. Joseph Woll
It’s the first of three consecutive games for the Kraken north of the border, with three of the four matches on this Seattle road trip coming against Original Six opponents.
The Kraken weren’t at their best on Tuesday night in Chicago against one of them, falling 4-3 to a rebuilding Blackhawks team. The Seattle power play went 0-for-5 and their forecheck at even strength struggled to gain traction.
Seattle forward Jaden Schwartz was injured late in the game when he took a puck off his skate and has been placed on injured reserve. Kraken head coach Dave Haskstol described him as “more than day-to-day”.
The Maple Leafs feature the “Big Four” up front: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares, a group that provides the club much of its scoring.
The Kraken beat the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena last season on January 5th, 5-1.
Who’s Hot? And Not …
Top line center Matty Beniers is heating up for the Kraken with nine points over his last nine road games. He scored three goals in his last six games overall.
Rookie winger Tye Kartye has a goal in back-to-back games.
Spokane native Kailer Yamamoto is in a drought having gone pointless in his last five games while having just one point over his last thirteen.
The Maple Leafs leading scorer Nylander (27 points) has cooled off a bit after going on a tear. He’s pointless in three straight games after piling up 11 in the previous five.
Matthews has been a thorn in the side of Seattle. In four head-to-head meetings, the NHL’s 4th leading goal scorer (14) has eight points against Seattle, with at least one in each of the matches.
Special Teams
As mentioned, the Seattle power play has slipped lately, still displaying a solid 21.9% success rate for the season.
Seattle killed off all three Chicago power plays two nights ago and was also perfect against Vancouver and San Jose in the previous games. Their season long penalty kill rate remains substandard at 75%.
Toronto sports the 7th best PP in the NHL at 24.2% while their PK lags at 78.8%.
Coming In:
Kraken: 8-10-and-5, after Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
Maple Leafs: Toronto is tied for 3rd place in the Atlantic Division with a 11-6-and-3 record following Tuesday’s 2-1 shoot-out win over the Florida Panthers.
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