Frustrations fester for Kraken in sloppy road loss to Predators
By Charles Hamaker
Nashville, TN – There was no two step in Tennessee for the Seattle Kraken, rather loss number two on the season as they fell to the Nashville Predators in a fashion even more frustrating than their season opening loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The Kraken once again got out to a solid start in the first period, but the game itself unraveled for Seattle as the Predators scored on a shorthanded goal in the second period. In uncharacteristic fashion, the Kraken seemed to lose their composure and continue to struggle offensively, failing to beat Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros as they were shutout. While Seattle has opened the season with back-to-back losses, there are positives to take from these games. Unfortunately, the mistakes that they’ve made in the games have hindered the execution of these positives and resulted in a winless start to the season so far.
Smooth sailing through one
Similar to how things went in the first period of the Opening Night contest against the Golden Knights, sans the goal they allowed in that game, the Kraken showed good signs through the first period tonight. The offense was putting immediate pressure on the Predators, with the fourth line of Tye Kartye, Pierre Edouard-Bellemare, and Kailer Yamamoto in particular buzzing around. By the end of the first frame, Seattle held the lead in terms of expected goals, but narrowly as Nashville was able to put on a bit of heat towards the end of the period. It was encouraging to see the Kraken show this sort of energy and activity, especially as the defenseman were helping to chip in on the attack, while Philipp Grubauer had made a couple key saves early on to start his night. The positives were there early on, but Seattle failed to push the envelope further and couldn’t capitalize on the strong start.
Pressure peaks after shorty, and Kraken crumble like a cookie
Seattle’s first power play of this game, coming with 8:55 left in the second period, was a disaster, but in an even bigger way than it already has been. With just under a minute left on the man advantage, Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand attempted a somewhat haphazard pass back off the boards to teammate Vince Dunn. The only problem with this was that Nashville’s Cole Smith was there for the easy interception, finding a streaking Colton Sissons down in the Seattle zone. Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen, fresh onto the ice, did his best with a diving effort to attempt to stop Sissons or at least hinder him but was unsuccessful, and the Predators forward took advantage of the breakaway opportunity to put his team on the board.
The Predators got a second goal on the board about halfway through the third period and considering how the Kraken offense had been unable to solve Nashville’s Juuse Saros in net, that goal was the final nail in the coffin with the third goal (empty netter) just a ribbon on top. The Predators were on a delayed penalty, but they almost didn’t need the sixth skater as all Nashville forward Gustav Nyquist did was send the puck at defender Adam Larsson’s skate. Larsson, standing just above the crease to provide protection in front of Grubauer, had no idea that the puck was headed his way, and it caught his goaltender off guard as well as it leaked into the goal for the second Predators score of the night. Sloppy, undisciplined play had given Nashville two goals and eventually their first victory of the season.
Positives present, but execution must prevail
While it’s certainly hard to think of when the two losses are fresh, and expectations for this team are high given the successes of the past season, there have been notably positives for the Kraken through their first two games of the season. The penalty kill has been strong for Seattle to begin the season, picking up from where it left off after they righted the ship a man-down dating back to January 1st, as the Kraken are 7/7 on the kill so far this season. The offense has been able to generate chances, and while the shot quality tonight wasn’t great (35%), Seattle did get shots in and around Saros, ideally where you would want to get rebounds and a greasy goal against a quality goaltender such as him. Veteran forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has preached that the team must continue to trust it’s system through these first two games, and it’s safe to say considering the generation they’ve shown that they are close to breaking through.
To top it off, at least in terms of positives, goaltender Philipp Grubauer has picked right up where he left off from the second half of last season and the playoffs. Grubauer continues to look excellent in the net for Seattle, ensuring that this game wasn’t a bigger deficit than it already was while making numerous highlight-reel saves. The Kraken haven’t done him much justice, giving up breakaways and giving up goals off their own skates, let alone failing to give him any support in terms of goals. Seattle must be careful, though, to not run him into the ground with such a heavy workload, and backup netminder Joey Daccord has proven to be up to the ask, at least dating back to last year's AHL campaign and his brief stint with the Kraken during the season.
What’s next?
Following a second consecutive loss to open up the 2023-24 season, the Kraken will finish off a three-game road trip when they battle the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, October 14th. That game will be available to watch on Root Sports, with a puck drop of 5PM PST as Seattle is looking to spoil at least one of the three home openers that they will participate in on this road trip, as St. Louis returns to their home of the Enterprise Center having lost their first game of the season, a shootout in Dallas tonight. One of these teams will have to get its first win of the season, and obviously we’re hoping that it’s the Kraken, looking to put the positives that they have displayed in these first two games and execute them fully to produce a victory. It will be interesting to see if Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol will run goaltender Philipp Grubauer out for a third straight game to open the season, or if Joey Daccord will get the net in St. Louis.
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Thumbnail photo by Liz Wolter
