Kraken Surge
From ugliness to pure joy joy in a matter of minutes.
Down 2-0 in the first period to the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night, Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma used his one time-out to stop the bleeding and set the record straight.
“Pull your heads out and get your asses in gear,” potentially paraphrasing it kindly.
In the second period, the Seattle boys did just that, banging home three goals in less than a five-minute span, including a Brandon Tanev unassisted marker and a Eeli Tolvanen power play goal just ten seconds apart. By the 7:23 mark the Kraken were suddenly ahead 3-2.
They later added two more unanswered goals to polish off the win 5-2.
“As we grow into the team we wanna be, you have to be able to respond in games,” Bylsma said postgame. “You want to come out and play your best for 60 minutes, but you also have to be able to respond and fight back, claw back. I don’t think anyone on the bench was happy with the way the first period was going, maybe it’s the reset after the period, the 20 minutes is up, but the response from the group is great to see.”
For the 2nd consecutive game, Brandon Tanev proved to be a major catalyst, this time with the tying goal. “Turbo” had two huge goals back-to-back in last Friday’s 4-3 come from behind OT win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Obviously it’s not the start that we wanted, but we found a way to make some plays and good things will happen when you play the right way,” Tanev said after the game. “Karts (Tye Kartye) did a great job of getting to the net (on Seattle’s first goal) and I think Yanni (Gourde) and ‘Burkie’ (Andre Burakovsky) made great plays on that play as well, and I don’t think my goal would happen if Yanni’s not driving the net and making space for me. So there’s a lot of good things, simple things that make the game easier for others, especially our teammates.”
Defenseman Will Borgen and team leading scorer Jared McCann also potted goals for the Kraken.
Seattle moved to one-game below .500 on the season. They can even their record with a win on Thursday night against the Chicago Black Hawks.
Seizing the night against an inferior opponent, as opposed to responding to adversity, would be a welcome way to approach it.
