Light malfunction an omen for dysfunctional Kraken play in loss to Rangers
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – During the pregame video played ahead of every Seattle Kraken game played at Climate Pledge Arena, there were a few lights that stayed on during a sequence where they should have been off. When the puck was ready to drop for this game to get underway, those lights did the opposite of how they had just been and flipped off, never coming back on and creating a bad omen for how the home team played as the Kraken offense was shut down after scoring the opening goal of the game against the New York Rangers. Lighting issue or not, Seattle has issues to fix early on into their third season in franchise history.
The Seattle Kraken celebrate Justin Schultz’s first period goal over the New York Rangers. (Photo by Sage Zipeto)
Light issue begins bizarre first period
The aforementioned light issue had fans and the team alike bidding their time and generally wondering what was taking place. It was noticabley darker in the southwest corner of Climate Pledge Arena, where those lights were out, but both teams decided to play on with the goaltenders switching nets at the halfway mark of each period so that there was no sort of “unfair advantage.” There were reportedly serious discussions about postponing this contest considering the lighting issues, but both goaltenders (Philipp Grubauer for the Kraken and Jonathan Quick for the Cardinals) were consulted, and this game moved forward. Early returns seemed good as Seattle appeared like they were ready to continue their hot starts that they’ve shown in every game so far this year.
The Kraken kept their offensive attack rolling despite the brief delay and bizarre lighting situation as defenseman Justin Schultz was left wide open in the left faceoff dot to hammer a one-timer past Jonathan Quick, who had some traffic in his view. Quick had just made it over to the other side of his net but wasn’t fully prepared for Schultz’s clapper of a shot that went over the Rangers goaltender’s left shoulder to get this game’s scoring started. Considering the early offensive showing, Schultz’s goal, and Quick’s poor goals against average when facing Seattle, all signs pointed towards this being another game that could help the Kraken moving in the right direction after a winless four games to start their season and Thursday’s big win over the Hurricanes. Everything, and I mean everything, went downhill after the Schultz goal.
The New York Rangers attack was able to pull away with this game despite the Seattle Kraken scoring first. (Photos by Sage Zipeto)
Offensive outage, and sloppy play
After Schultz scored to get Seattle on the board, the Kraken were shutout for the rest of the game. Three and a half minutes later, after the teams had switched sides halfway through the period as to have things remain fair, the Rangers caught Seattle puck watching as they left Artemi Panarin wide open to Philipp Grubauer’s left-hand side where the New York forward sniped one to level the game at a goal each. Despite that goal from Panarin, the feeling going into the first intermission break was that the Kraken had generated strong chances early on and if they were able to maintain that level of attack, they’d be on strong track to beat a talented Rangers squad. Things turned on their head completely once the second period transpired.
New York added two goals in the middle frame of this game, pulling away as they tacked on a fourth and final goal to really bury this contest in the third quarter. Those two goals in the second period saw Jacob Trouba’s initial shot come just short of crossing into the goal before Kaapo Kakko pushed it in as he got in behind Brian Dumoulin, and a second play where a Rangers skater got behind Dumoulin as Filip Chytil found Alexis Lafrienere wide open in the high danger area. Seattle was only able to muster a weak two shots during that second period, and the Kraken never were able to truly get back into this game after that ugly middle frame. The home side was out hit, saw Andre Burakovsky leave with an injury that head coach Dave Hakstol called “not something long term,” and continue to look limp with their offensive attack.
Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann dropped the gloves against New York Rangers forward Vincent Trochek as a response to a hit on Kraken defenseman Brian Dumoulin. (Photos by Sage Zipeto)
Early returns through six games show issues for Seattle
There have been issues with the games that the Kraken have shown coming into this game, but they were essentially just the teams finishing issues on offense and their power play, as the other aspects of their game had looked strong. In tonight’s game, there were two things that stood out as to why Seattle struggled: Lack of physicality and defensive lapses, while also adding the struggle to convert their shots yet again. Add whatever injury Andre Burakovsky suffered in the loss here, and this was an atrocious game that seemed to have the paranormal activity of what the day “Friday the 13th" brings or that of the movie “Freaky Friday.” It’s not as though these are issues that Seattle needs to do a ton to fix. They’ve shown the ability to play better defensively, goaltending has been solid, and the penalty kill continues to get its job done. The finishing remains an issue that grows in concern, but the Carolina game gave some hope that that was improving as well. It’s becoming too late to keep saying that it’s “early” into the season for the Kraken, and improved play needs to be shown on this upcoming road trip.
Quick notes
Justin Schultz opened the scoring in tonight's game and now has four goals in his last four games against the Rangers. He has scored more goals (eight) against the Rangers over the course of his career than any other team in the NHL.
Brian Dumoulin recorded the primary assist on Schultz's goal for his first point as a Kraken.
Despite playing in Pittsburgh together for five seasons, tonight marked the first time that Dumoulin assisted on one of Schultz's goals according to NHL Stats.
With the secondary assist on Schultz's goal, Eeli Tolvanen has now recorded assists in consecutive games.
The Kraken remained perfect on the penalty kill tonight, killing off the one power-play opportunity the Rangers had. Seattle has not allowed a power-play goal against in five of the six games they have played this season and have gone 15-for-16 while playing shorthanded this year.
What’s next?
After wrapping up their three game homestand, their first stop at home this season, the Seattle Kraken will get a few days away from game action before beginning a four-game road trip that starts in Detroit against a Red Wings squad with a 4-1-0 record through their first five games played. It’ll be the first game against one of the former Kraken that signed elsewhere this free agency, as Seattle faces off against Detroit and Daniel Sprong (Two goals and one assist through five games played) on Tuesday, October 24th with a puck drop of 5:15PM PST. Following that, it’ll continue to be a challenging beginning of the season for the Kraken as they will run the gauntlet of Florida teams starting with a rematch against the Hurricanes before seeing the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
