Seattle Kraken, Jordan Eberle

Seattle Kraken Can’t Turn Back Vs. Jackets

In their history the Seattle Kraken are undefeated in regulation against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This would be a horrible time to buck the trend.

With a record of 4-0-and-2 against Columbus, including a 2-0-and-1 mark at Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken can ill afford to slip this week. They’ll need to take care of business on Tuesday night and again on Thursday evening against the rebuilding Chicago Black Hawks.

One game at a time.

The Kraken enter action two games below .500 on the season, in sixth place in the Pacific Division with a record of 6-8-and-1.

Columbus sits dead last in the Metropolitan at 5-7-and-2, and presently own a five-game losing streak. One of those losses came in overtime on November 5th to the lowly San Jose Sharks.

Despite their shortcomings, the Jackets do have superior special teams numbers compared to the Kraken; 1.5% better on the power play and a surprising 5 percentage points better on the penalty kill.

Seattle head coach Dan Bylsma talked about two things being critical for success after practice on Monday.

“Pace and execution was critical and mandatory,” he started. “D-zone coverage. We need to be comfortable playing D-zone coverage and what our assignments are and what we’re trying to do. Comfortable, as in we need to be real solid at it.”

In other words, discipline to systems and game plan; as important as the other kind of discipline, not taking unnecessary penalties, especially in the offensive zone.

These basic elements, along with the team’s trademark forecheck and aggressiveness on pucks in all zones, should take care of business against the Blue Jackets, a team that in games we’ve watched, often seems discombobulated.

They’re coming off a 2-1 loss on Sunday to the struggling Anaheim Ducks.

Will the Blue Jackets be pissed off and motivated to end their losing streak? Maybe.

The Kraken shouldn’t need any other motivation; they simply need to win this hockey game and they need to consistently start taking care of business on home ice.

NOTES:

— The oddest score on the Blue Jackets calendar thus far is a 6-1 victory in Columbus on October 28th against the Edmonton Oilers. On that night the Oil’ were apparently still getting over their early season Stanley Cup Final (loss) hangover. Plus, super-human captain Connor McDavid was injured on his very first shift and left the game. His teammates then seemingly took the rest of the night off.

— The Blue Jackets lost their most talented player late this summer when Johnny Gaudreau and his brother were killed by a drunk driver. It’s extremely understandable that this tragedy could have a long lasting negative effect on the hockey team.

— Expect Elvis Merzlikins and Joey Daccord to start in net.

Earlier Kraken:

Simmer’s Sunday 9; Injuries, A Trade, The Magic Man

Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson has covered the NHL in five different decades. He’s authored 4 books on hockey and is a veteran TV and radio play-by-play man and reporter.