Remarkably, the Seattle Kraken went 3-and-1 in shoot-outs in their inaugural season. Since then they’ve gone 1-and-7.
Thursday night in Toronto we saw another example of the Seattle lads falling short in the post-overtime skills competition as the Maple Leafs won 4-3. Unfortunate considering Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen otherwise described the team’s performance as the best 65-minutes they’ve played this season.
Seattle is 1-and-3 in shoot-outs this season after going 0-and-4 in 2022-’23.
“We lost a point in a shoot-out,” Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said postgame. “We were the better team tonight. I call it as I see it, if we don’t play well I’ll let you know it, and I think I do that pretty honestly. We played really well tonight, I thought we were the better team and I thought we deserved a better outcome.”
Hakstol then pointed out again with a certain disdain that the team lost in a shoot-out.
There’s a lot of people who don’t like the shoot-out deciding NHL games and that’s understandable. Unfortunately they’re a reality. It might be time to practice the shoot-out / breakaways at the end of every practice and morning skate.
Kraken Newbie
Marian Studenic played his first ever game for Seattle. The 25-year-old Slovakian winger had three hits and a shot-on-goal in 9:53 of ice time while playing on the Kraken’s 4th-line.
“I think he earned trust, trust of his teammates early in the hockey game,” Hakstol said. “We consistently saw good pace to his game, but more importantly he can close with the puck. There’s some tight spaces out there, his play off the wall, getting through the neutral zone, he did a nice job with it. He looked very comfortable and he played with good pace.”
Studenic worked with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Kailer Yamamoto among the bottom six.
“Our depth did a great job tonight and obviously “Studs” did amazing coming into the game,” Kraken forward Jared McCann said postgame. “He created some offense for us and those guys did great.”
Studenic had 44 games of previous NHL experience with the New Jersey Devils, the team that drafted him in the 5th round in 2017, and the Dallas Stars. The Kraken signed the free agent on July 1st.
NHL Links
— The NHL announced its three stars for the month of November and for the second straight month the Vancouver Canucks are represented. Last month it was center Elias Pettersson as the 2nd star and this time it’s defenseman Quinn Hughes listed at number-3. Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche were first and second.
— Sticking with a theme, the league also name its rookie of the month for November and it’s non other than 1st-overall pick Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks. He just happens to be the leading scorer among first year players with 12 points in 12 games over the last 30 days.
— Speaking of the Canucks, they made two trades this past week, the latest being the acquisition of behemoth D-man Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames. The link to the Anthony Beauvillier deal can be found here. The team senses they have a solid shot at a playoff spot and they’re attempting to bang out upgrades sooner than later.
Of Recent Interest …
— High Energy Kraken Radio Man Fitzhugh Rolls Into His 3rd Season
— Simmer’s Sunday 9: Kraken Roadie, Head Slash, Trade Rumors
