Kraken Game Facts
This Evening: Seattle Kraken at New Jersey Devils
Where: Prudential Center
When: 4 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports / FM 93.3
Key Factors:
Expected starting goalies: Joey Daccord vs. Nico Daws
D-man Justin Schultz returns for the Kraken after missing Saturday’s game due to personal reasons. Not sure if he bumps Ryker Evans out of the line-up.
Center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare remains on injured reserve for the moment. He was skating on his own as far back as two weeks ago at the Kraken Community IcePlex and skated this morning with his teammates.
Head coach Dave Hakstol juggled his centers vs. the Flyers two nights ago. It will be interesting to see if Jared McCann plays back in the middle and how far up the line-up Matty Beniers plays.
The simple calculations in our story from before the break remain in place. Essentially, the Kraken need to win two out of every three games moving forward through the end of the season to make the playoffs.
Better get busy.
The Devils have been playing without three key defensemen. Dougie Hamilton is out with a torn pectoral muscle through the regular season, Jonas Siegenthaler has a broken foot, while Brendan Smith has been skating but is unlikely to return Monday night from a sprained knee.
Young replacement D-man Nolan Foote is out indefinitely as part of the 2018 Team Canada World Junior sexual assault investigation. He’s the son of Vancouver Canucks assistant coach Adam Foote.
Who’s Hot? And Not?
McCann scored his team leading 21st goal of the season two days ago and has 14 points over his previous 11 games.
If you go back a bit, Seattle’s 2nd-leading scorer (39 points) Vince Dunn has 14 points over his last 13 games, but just five in his last six. NHL All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand leads the team with 40 points.
Beniers is pointless in five games and has one point, a goal, over his last ten.
For New Jersey, Jesper Bratt leads the way with 55 points and prior to the club being shut-out on Saturday, he posted nine points over his preview six games. Before the loss to Carolina, captain Nico Hischier had three consecutive two-point outings.
Big winger Timo Meier has just one point over his last five.
Special Teams
The Kraken season percentages after Saturday: PP, a decent 21.3% overall following an 0-for-3 game against the Flyers. The PK gave up one Flyers goal in four chances and stands at 78.7% on the season.
The Devils went 0-for-4 on the power play on Saturday in Raleigh, while holding the Hurricanes man advantage to an 0-for-2. New Jersey has the 9th best PP in the NHL with an impressive 24.2% success rate. The PK is less impressive at a mediocre 79.5%.
Coming In:
Kraken: 21-20-and-10, in 6th place in the Pacific Division with 52 points. Seattle lost on Saturday 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Devils: 25-21-and-4, in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division with 54 points, after their 1-0 overtime loss to the Hurricanes in Carolina on Saturday.
Recent Kraken:
— Simmer’s Sunday 9; Kraken Crunch, Canucks Reality, USA Crushed
