Kraken push hard against Red Wings, but can’t execute enough in overtime loss
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Returning home from a tough road trip that saw them net back-to-back wins against the Islanders and Bruins, the Seattle Kraken had to feel solid about themselves as they kicked off a six-game homestand in a pivotal point in their 2023-24 season. With the resiliency shown to comeback from a one-goal deficit on three separate occasions, a strong crowd in their home barn of Climate Pledge Arena, and a fully healthy squad, what reason wouldn’t they have to feel confident as they look to re-insert themselves into the Western Conference’s Wild Card picture? Themselves, as it would turn out, with the Kraken making defensive mistakes that allowed the Red Wings to score four goals against Joey Daccord including the game winner, in addition to great play in net for Detroit from Alex Lyon. Seattle will accept the one standings point, but it’s just another game this season where they should’ve had both.
Sights from pregame warmups, ahead of the Seattle Kraken overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday, February 19th, 2024. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Firing early, but Lyon stands tall
With the odd start time of 12:30PM PST, and with any different start time than the usual night games that the Kraken have, there was some wonder about how Seattle was going to start this contest, taking into consideration the momentum that they had from their past two wins and how it would make with the earlier puck drop. The Kraken were able to come out of the gates with strong offensive energy, challenging Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon earlier and often, but the Detroit netminder was up to the task and was stymying Seattle early on. Thanks to their goaltenders strong play, the Red Wings were able to open the scoring thanks to a bomb from just within the blueline by their young and talented defenseman, Mo Seider. It wasn’t a particularly wild shot, but with teammate Eeli Tolvanen in the line of his vision for the shot, Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord had no chance at seeing Seider’s one-timer, and Detroit had the early advantage.
The first goals of the game for the Detroit Red Wings and Seattle Kraken, as scored by Mo Seider and Jared McCann, respectively. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Thankfully for Seattle, they’d be able to find an equalizer before the first frame had ended. On the power play, thanks to a Ben Chiarot cross-checking penalty, the Kraken tied things up behind a Jared McCann laser from the faceoff circle that got past Lyon, with a little help from the moving screen of Alex Wennberg out in front. Seattle had a few chances on Lyon during the man advantage prior to McCann’s absolute rocket of a shot, but it was Vince Dunn quarterbacking the power play and then finding McCann all alone in the faceoff circle to Lyon’s right that ultimately saw his nasty shot beat Lyon who couldn’t react in time in addition to the Wennberg moving screen.
“Spent a lot of time in their end, created chances that way and yeah, he made some big stops.”
Jared McCann’s second goal of the game for the Seattle Kraken, and Daniel Sprong’s goal for the Detroit Red Wings. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Continuing to climb back into it, and failing to execute when they could go ahead
With the offensive chances continuing to mount as they kept challenging Lyon in net, and with Joey Daccord making critical saves on the other end of the ice, Seattle looked for sure as though they were going to take a lead in the second period over Detroit. At least that’s how it appeared to start the middle frame, but they changed just over seven minutes in as the Red Wings were able to through a puck on net that Lucas Raymond was able to punch home after the rebound dribbled out to the left of Joey Daccord. Joey had made the initial save through traffic but couldn’t lock the puck down after it squirted out to his left and he had no real chance to ice it before Raymond was on the spot to elevate it and score. Just like they did in the first period though, Seattle was able to work to get the equalizer once again, and like the first period it was Jared McCann who lit the lamp. The Kraken had entered the Red Wings zone, and after a Will Borgen shot from the blue line, Jamie Oleksiak got a puck to the net that McCann was able to jam through the five-hole of Lyon, albeit after a few attempts.
As we got towards the second intermission, Seattle found themselves in a hole yet again. He’d been buzzing leading up to this score, but this time former Kraken Daniel Sprong made his old team pay in an odd man rush situation. Those rushes ultimately hurt Seattle a great deal, and one of those occurrences came with just a few ticks over the four minutes left mark in the second period. Detroit forward Cristian Fischer and Sprong had caught Kraken defenseman Brian Dumoulin in a two-on-one situation, as Seattle had failed to get the puck deep in the Red Wings zone, and Fischer’s pass to Sprong at just the right moment saw the latter unleash a shot that Daccord couldn’t react to in time to give Detroit the lead for the third time in this game.
It didn’t come until the third period, just a little over seven minutes into that frame, but the Kraken were able to find an equalizer once again to respond to Sprong’s revenge goal. A delayed penalty saw Seattle through a sixth skater onto the ice, and Yanni Gourde was able to go to work as the Kraken sought after that tying goal with a golden opportunity. Gourde faked a shot from the point, resulting in Alex Lyon diving as he anticipated that Jaden Schwartz, who was on the end of Gourde’s pass after the fake shot and had been left all alone in the faceoff dot to the left of goal. With Lyon on his back like a turtle on its shell, Schwartz centered the puck and roofed a shot to tie the game up and get the Climate Pledge Arena crowd back on its feet. Following Schwartz’s tying goal, both teams had chances to find a winner in the dying moments of regulation, including a shot that rang off the post for Detroit and a power play as regulation expired for Seattle, but neither could capitalize, sending us to overtime with both teams getting at least the one standings point.
Seattle Kraken forward and alternate captain Jaden Schwartz scored on the delayed penalty to tie this game up. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Octopus on their ice, but not the kind they wanted
Seattle was able to gain initial possession of the puck to begin the overtime period, but that didn’t last longer than a minute, as the Kraken turned the puck over to the Red Wings and as a result, gave the game away. Dylan Larkin found Ben Chiarot wide open in the slot as he barreled towards the crease, where he beat Joey Daccord cleanly. The Red Wings took the extra point, a Red Wings fan flung an octopus onto the Climate Pledge Arena ice, and Seattle had been dealt another frustrating loss. Fans were quick to ask why defenseman Vince Dunn hadn’t done more, but considering that someone had to cover Larkin as well, it’s tough to ask him to commit fully to stopping the shot from Chiarot. Regardless of that, the point is still the same: the Kraken only have themselves to blame for this loss.
The Detroit Red Wings surround Ben Chiarot after his game winning goal in overtime. (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Feels like we’ve had this conversation before, doesn’t it?
The number of games where the Kraken have played decently well in most facets of their game, generated shot quality and quantity, but still managed to lose a game or only come away with the loser point this season feels too damn high. Yes, you can insert the old meme here for that last part of the sentence, but it’s undeniably frustrating that we must once again start the conversation about this game with what could have and should have been a win for Seattle. Yes, the Kraken have the pieces to do well in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, whether it’s the defensive forwards, the depth in those forward lines, veterans up and down the lineup, and two strong goaltenders, but it continues to feel increasingly like Seattle won’t be able to get to the part of the NHL season this year. I will state again, it’s not that the Kraken played well, I’d argue that overall, they played a solid game. But their own defensive miscues and an inability to sneak just one more past Lyon are ultimately why they’re leaving Climate Pledge Arena with a loss. There isn’t any time for them to put this off and say that they can improve it as the season goes on, they need these wins and points in the immediate moment. The end of this month of February and the month of March as a whole won’t be easy at all for them, given the opponents they face, so the team must make it clear to general manager Ron Francis with results: they want to keep this group together to make a push to the playoffs, but they must earn it. Some may not like the saying, but it is true: Seattle controls their destiny.
“I thought that was probably the only kind of good thing we had out of this game. We were playing catch up most of the game, which is not usually like us, but we were able to go back the one point.”
Quick notes
Today's game was the fourth out of six games the Kraken have played against Detroit that have gone to overtime, including each of their last three matchups.
Jared McCann's two goals today give him a five-game point streak, only one shy of a career-best, six-game point streak he set from Jan. 16 to 28.
Today's game was McCann's tenth multi-point game of the season giving him sole possession of the team lead.
He has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his last five games against Detroit, recording at least one point in each of those games.
McCann has totaled 19 points (ten goals, nine assists) in his last 15 games dating back to Jan. 11 at Washington.
McCann's two goals today give him a five-game home point streak, totaling eight points (four goals, four assists) during that span.
With a goal today, Jaden Schwartz has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his last six games against the Red Wings.
With two assists today, Will Borgen set a new career high with 18 assists this season.
Today was Borgen's sixth multi-point game of the season.
Vince Dunn has seven points (one goal, six assists) in six games against the Red Wings as a member of the Kraken.
Yanni Gourde, McCann and Schwartz all registered six shots on goal in today's game for the second time this season. The trio previously all put up six shots in Seattle's games against Tampa Bay on Oct. 30.
What’s next?
Following today’s afternoon overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings, the Seattle Kraken will have a few days before their next contest in this six-game homestand to finish out the month of February. After a day off tomorrow and practice on Wednesday, the Kraken are back in action on Thursday, February 22nd when they host Pacific division rivals to the North, the Vancouver Canucks. Today, the Canucks lost a ridiculous game against the Minnesota Wild with a 10-7 scoreline, but Vancouver does still have the most points in the NHL at 80. Even so, the Canucks come into this game on a two-game losing streak and the Kraken are desperate for points considering that they’re currently out of a playoff spot, so Seattle will need to strike at this opportunity. That game on Thursday, February 22nd has a puck drop of 7PM PST and will be broadcast on Root Sports Northwest within their market (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska) and on ESPN+/NHLPP nationwide.
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Cover photo and photos in this article by Liz Wolter
