The Seattle Kraken were thieves on Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Nashville Predators, officially stealing pucks (“takeaways”) nine times compared to one for the visitors.
That, on top of a lopsided 36-24 shot total, and the Kraken were able to skate off from their six-game homestand with a 3-0 victory and a 5-and-1 record.
The closest the Preds came to scoring was midway through the 3rd period when Tommy Novak kicked a puck into the net. Originally ruled a goal, it was waved off upon review.
Otherwise, Seattle’s number-one goalie Joey Daccord was perfect. Fans chanted his name. He seized the net a few weeks ago from overpaid, often injured Philipp Grubauer, and hasn’t let go.
In his 3rd game back with the Kraken, after being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks, Daniel Sprong doubled his season goal total (2) by opening the scoring at 15:55 of the 2nd period on a beautiful blind, cross-crease, backhand pass from Chandler Stephenson.
23-seconds into the 3rd period Seattle D-man Brandon Montour put the game away with his 5th tally of the season. He redirected home a tantalizing centering pass from, again, Stephenson, to put the game away.
Yanni Gourde added an empty netter.
The Predators turned pucks over, struggled to clear their D-zone against Seattle pressure, and struggled to establish any consistent semblance of offense. Goalie Juuse Saros tried valiantly.
Both teams failed to click on the power play. (Nash: 0-for-3, Sea: 0-for-4)
The Kraken once again improved to one game better than .500 on the season and hit the road for two games in California.
