The Seattle Kraken have the chance to kill a number of birds with one stone, as the old saying goes.
With their three game winning streak, they have a chance to knock off a New York Islanders team that has a five-game point streak and is coming off its most complete game of the year in beating the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night.
The Kraken could move to above .500 on the season for the first time since they were 5-4-and-1 following a 8-2 win in Montreal on October 29th.
Finally, Seattle can take another step in establishing home ice dominance, something they’ve fallen short with over the years of their short existence. 6-3-and-1 would look mighty nice if they can pull off the win. It definitely won’t get any easier on Sunday evening against the visiting New York Rangers.
Kraken Personnel
Especially with the back-to-back games over the weekend, expect to see Philipp Grubauer between the pipes for the Kraken for the first time since November 5th at the Colorado Avalanche. Remarkably, since losing that game 6-3 and having his record fall to 1-and-5 on the season, Grubi “injured himself at home” and hasn’t played.
Grubauer did back up Joey Daccord for Thursday’s 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. Daccord has won three straight.
Kraken captain Jordan Eberle won’t play after being injured crashing into the boards early in the 2nd period against Chicago.
Expect to see the return of Daniel Sprong to the Kraken line-up for the first time since his career-best 2022-’23 season with Seattle. The Dutchman was recently acquired from the Canucks and has been awaiting work visa clearance.
Lastly, while they’ve enjoyed “Turbo’s” recent productivity, Seattle shouldn’t count on Brandon Tanev to continue carrying the team offensively. This current blip includes four goals over the last three games. It’s not normally part of his DNA. Time to share the contributions wholeheartedly.
Andre Burakovsky or Chandler Stephenson or Yanni Gourde anyone!? They have a grand total of one goal between them. (Stephenson on October 19th). Shane Wright has just one as well.
