Kraken Game Facts
Thursday Night: Washington Capitals at Seattle Kraken
Where: Climate Pledge Arena
When: 7 pm pacific
TV/Radio: Root Sports / FM 93.3
Key Factors:
Starting goalies: Charlie Lindgren vs. Joey Daccord
The Kraken will celebrate Jordan Eberle’s 1,000 NHL games in a ceremony before the match starts. He reached the milestone on Tuesday might.
The Capitals are coming off a 7-2 loss last night in Edmonton. They were dominated by the Oilers in every which way: Goals, shots, face-off percentage, and special teams.
It always a treat for Seattle fans to see “The Great 8” Alexander Ovechkin, the 38-year-old Russian with 840 career goals, 54 behind Wayne Gretzky for the all-time career NHL record. ‘Ovie’ will play as long as he has to to get there, with the 2025-’26 season a realistic possibility for reaching the mark, even though his goal scoring has slowed a bit.
Outside of the permanent absence of long-time center Nicklas Backstrom, who’s played just a handful of games and none this season following hip surgery in 2022, the Capitals are a healthy club as they try to rally into a playoff spot.
For all intents and purposes, it was a foregone conclusion that the Kraken wouldn’t make the playoffs for two to three weeks now. Yes, they’re not mathematically eliminated, but we’ve seen this dance before by dozens of teams in their position over the decades. They just weren’t going to get there.
The club can start looking ahead and giving prospects the opportunity to play with the big club. Time to mix things up and experiment a little.
D-man Vince Dunn has missed three games and forward Jaden Schwartz two, both with upper body injuries.
Who’s Hot? And Not?
By the way, Ovie (pictured) is a point-a-game player over his last seven, with 21 points over his last 19 games.
The team’s leading scorer Dylan Strome is pointless in his last two games after picking up eight points in the previous four.
35-year-old veteran Max Pacioretty has just two goals in his last 25 games.
Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann (pictured) (53 points) has tallied 15 points over his last 12 home games and 31 points in his last 24 games overall.
Winger Tomas Tatar is a point-a-game (16) player in his career against the Capitals.
4th-line forward Kailer Yamamoto’s last goal was December 27th in Calgary against the Flames.
Special Teams
The Kraken went 0-for-2 on the power play against the Golden Knights on Tuesday night while Vegas went 1-for-3.
Seattle’s special teams have hovered around the same percentages for weeks now. The PP works successfully 20.8% of the time while the PK is a bit below average at 79.1%.
The Capitals are pretty close to that at 19% and 79.2% respectively, although the power play has been red hot the last twenty games at about 30%.
Coming In:
Capitals: 30-24-and-9, in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division with 69 points. They remain three points out of an Eastern Conference wild card spot following Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to the Oilers.
Kraken: 28-24-and-12, in 5th place in the Pacific Division with 68 points, nine points back of a Western Conference wild card spot. Seattle lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken Sign Eberle To A 2 Year Deal
