Kraken take the slopes strong early, can’t sustain it in wipeout loss to Avalanche in home opener
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The struggles for the Seattle Kraken continue in their third season in franchise history. Despite some tweaks to the second and third lines, and despite playing in their home opener, the Kraken continue to struggle at converting the chances that they’re generating and their opponent, a motivated Colorado Avalanche side following being bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year by this Seattle team, was more than ready to jump on the mistakes made by the home side. The Kraken are still making positive strides, as there are multiple areas of their game currently that are working properly and keeping them in these contests as the offense fails to find the back of the net. Only time will tell if these positive strides mean anything, or if the outside noise is true in their assessment that this team just isn’t as good as last seasons.
Seattle Kraken forward and Spokane-Native Kailer Yamamoto scored the first goal of the game for the team, coming in the first period (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Quick start a trend in the team's first four games
Something that has been apparent through the first four games of this season for Seattle has been their first periods that show the energy, offensive buzz, and shots that helped them become the first scoring five-on-five team in the NHL that we saw last year. Even despite this season’s fourth line being more defensively minded, they’ve shown that they can generate chances and scored the lone goal of the night for the Kraken. Seattle was able to make sure that this first periods early attack resulted in actual production, as Washington-State born Kailer Yamamoto found the back of the net with just under five minutes left to play in the opening frame. The Kraken cashed in finally, having out-shot the Avalanche 16-9 through those first 20 minutes of the night, as local kid and free-agent signing of this past offseason lifted a shot up and over the left shoulder of Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev to get Seattle on the board.
Continuing further on that part about the fourth line and the team's offensive generation through the first period, the possession really began with rookie forward Tye Karte hitting the crossbar with a shot from the top of the high danger area in transition. The Kraken’s fourth-line forwards were able to keep the puck up in that high-danger area around the net, an area that they’ve tried to get into all season as a means for scoring more goals. Yamamoto getting to the right side of Georgiev unmarked and slotting it past him displayed some nifty play by the Spokane-Native. In addition to the fourth lines effort on that possession, Seattle had multiple grade-a opportunities on the net throughout the entirety of the frame, with Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky both getting open space around them in the lower half of the Colorado zone to shoot, but obviously they failed to make their shots count. It’s a positive sign, but it won’t matter much until those chances are converted.
The Colorado Avalanche were eventually able to use their speed and physical ability to take advantage of the Seattle Kraken in the second period, setting themselves up for success the rest of the way. (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Another short-handed goal eventually signals their downfall
The Kraken had all the momentum coming out of the first period, following Yamamoto’s goal and Seattle drawing a powerplay off Colorado’s Ross Colton tripping defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Take the little less than full power play that took place for the Kraken once the teams came back from intermission and add the two other man-advantage's that they got, and Seattle tallied three power plays in the second period alone of their four total this game. Only one goal came from those, and it wasn’t from the Kraken as Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor scooped up a loose puck that Vince Dunn was trying to control. O’Connor was already in stride and on his horse, zooming past Dunn and beating Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer on the breakaway chance. This goal came after Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen had scored just under four minutes into the frame as Avalanche forward Valeri Nichuskin was trying to drive to the net but fell, taking himself down and leaving the puck in the high danger area while Will Borgen went down with him and Grubauer went down out of his standing position trying to reach or poke the puck. Lehkonen swooped in and shot to an open net, as Grubauer was bent down, to score the first for the Avalanche.
Seattle was never able to recover from this two-goal swing by Colorado, and eventually the avalanche added two more goals including an empty netter. This is now two games where the Kraken were winning the statistical battles when it comes to the “major” numbers and also where a short-handed goal against eventually led to the downfall of Seattle, as their game crumbled following the oppositions shorty. The resilience currently isn’t there for the Kraken, as they’ve failed to score more than one goal through these first four games of the season and really haven’t shown great third period play in any of them outside of the Blues game that went to a shootout, and even then that effort could’ve been better considering that they had chances in the third and overtime periods to end things but couldn’t. It’s a tough situation, considering that there are positives being displayed on the ice right now for Seattle but the losses would tell you that changes are needed. It’s up to the team and its coaching staff to crack the code and get this team back sailing in the right direction.
While the team remains winless through four games, the Seattle Kraken have shown multiple positive signs throughout that time. (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Panic from some ensues, but stay the course
There is panic on social media about this team and its current struggles when it comes to scoring and that they’re winless. It’s totally reasonable to wonder what’s going on, why they’re struggling, and what changes need to be made to ensure that they break through and can get back to recording two points in these games. Truthfully, I believe that this Kraken team is on the edge of breaking through and getting back to the deep, scoring team that we saw last season to an extent. Expecting the same sort of scoring from this year's roster isn’t realistic for a multitude of reasons, but that isn’t to say that Seattle isn’t a good roster. The injury to Brandon Tanev obviously hurts a bit currently, but the loss of the fourth line might be more exaggerated than how much it actually mattered and especially since those players (now getting higher-line minutes) are doing well with their current teams right now.
Quick notes
With his first-period goal, Kailer Yamamoto became the first Washington-born player in franchise history to score a goal for the Kraken.
The Kraken went a perfect 2-for-2 tonight on the penalty kill, marking the fourth-consecutive game that Seattle has not allowed a power-play goal against.
2023-24 marked the first time that the Kraken have not surrendered a power-play goal against through the team's first four games of the season.
It is also the seventh time in franchise history that the team has not allowed a power-play goal against in four or more consecutive games.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare went a perfect 7-for-7 at the faceoff dot tonight. It is the first time in franchise history that a Kraken skater has won 100 percent of his draws when taking at least seven faceoffs.
It is the third time in his career that he has won 100 percent of his faceoffs when taking seven or more draws in a game (March 17, 2019 and Feb. 29, 2020).
Adam Larsson led the Kraken with six shots on goal in tonight's game, which tied his single-game career high that he has reached on two previous occasions (Feb. 19, 2019 and Jan. 5, 2023).
Tonight's game was the final of four consecutive games that the Kraken have played against Central Division teams.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the team's home opener, the Seattle Kraken will continue their three-game homestand with the second of those three games coming against teams that were in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. On Thursday, October 19th, the Kraken will welcome the Carolina Hurricanes to town for a 7PM PST puck drop in a game that will be broadcast on Root Sports regionally and ESPN+ nationally. The Hurricanes won their last game, 6-3 over the San Jose Sharks, but did suffer a loss to the Anaheim Ducks before then, so it hasn’t been a smooth start to the season for a team that’s been deemed a favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year. The Kraken are in for another tough test to begin this season in that regard, but once again if they can crack the code to make their positive statistics matter, then they have a solid chance.