By Charles Hamaker 

Seattle, WA – There’s an old belief that if your hockey team is in a playoff spot when American Thanksgiving rolls around, then they’ll make the postseason when the regular season actually ends. While things haven’t been the easiest or smoothest for the Seattle Kraken to begin their 2023-24 season, they came into this contest sitting in a playoff spot and left this game in one, as they dominated a historically bad San Jose Sharks team. While there was some modicum of doubt coming into this contest from fans who are largely pessimistic, the Kraken dominated this game from the first period on as a four-goal first 20 minutes gave Seattle the launch point that they needed in order to be able to cruise for the rest of the way.

Seattle’s quick starts make a return in explosive fashion 

While the last contest that the Kraken played saw them fall behind due to the fast start from their opponent, the Calgary Flames, Seattle was able to get back to a positive trend that’s helped them to begin most games this season. Against a San Jose Sharks team that’s struggled overall as a group this season and with a Kraken team that’s been looking for It's true breakout, Seattle came out flaming in this battle of the aquatic teams in the Pacific Division. The energy in the stadium was good from the beginning, as the crowd in attendance at Climate Pledge Arena was ready to rock from the team's introduction video and the team had the same sort of juice as Jordan Eberle had a chance on goal just 19 seconds into the game. That good energy throughout Seattle’s building resulted in good performance on the ice, something that Kraken have been struggling to consistently do at home. 

Seattle forward Brandon Tanev continued his torrid stretch since returning from injury, as his breakaway was what got the scoring started in tonight’s game. After goaltender Joey Daccord was able to deny San Jose on a possession that got near the crease but wasn’t considered a shot, Alex Wennberg sent a puck out of his zone, up the ice, and off the boards in the neutral zone. Turbo Tanev chased the puck down, got in behind the Sharks skaters that were trying to prevent the breakaway, and was able to beat San Jose netminder Kaapo Kähkönen by going five-hole to light the lamp. A second goal was taken offsides at the 15 minutes left mark of that first frame, but the Kraken continued to push the pace of this game with a strong shooting first twenty minutes. Evidence of that shooting presence was when Yanni Gourde’s shot with 9:24 to play went off the side of net and off the glass behind the Sharks goal, where a San Jose skater failed to clear that puck and Oliver Bjorkstrand was in the right place at the right time to put it home. Just 31 seconds later, the Kraken added their third score of the net as defenseman Adam Larsson fired a puck that had ricocheted to him off a San Jose skater top shelf, hitting the right pipe, off the top of the goal, and off the left pipe for his first goal of the season. The fourth and final goal of the first 20 minutes came right ahead of the first intermission, as Seattle had been cycling the puck before Will Borgen at the blue line found Yanni Gourde to the left of Kähkönen in net, and the Kraken alternate captain’s attempt at a pass or shot (it’s unclear, honestly) hit off the inside leg padding of San Jose’s netminder and into the goal.  

The Seattle Kraken celebrate two of their four goals from the first period of their Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 win over the San Jose Sharks at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Sage Zipeto)

The opposition makes a goalie change, has little effect 

To begin the second period of the game, the Sharks had made a goaltender change to bring in Mackenzie Blackwood, giving Kähkönen the hook after the four goals allowed through those first 20 minutes. It proved to not matter for San Jose, as Seattle continued to add to their lead when Jared McCann (who had a goal taken off the scoreboard due to that offside call) came downhill on Kraken power play and sniped a shot past Blackwood with assistance from an Alex Wennberg screen out in front. That middle frame was technically a slow one for Seattle in comparison to it’s others considering that there was only the McCann goal in it, but the Kraken did continue to push the pace at their will as the Sharks went for a lengthy stretch of time between their shots. While it was largely a cruise through the period sort of middle frame for the Kraken, they ensured that there wasn’t going to be a collapse there as they’d seen in some of their losses early in the year, and thankfully that collapse didn’t come in the final frame either. 

Despite San Jose getting a shot on goal after failing to do so since nearly the first period, it was Seattle who scored first in the third period. The Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand line continued to hum, getting another puck that had bounced off the glass behind the Sharks goal to become a problem for San Jose. The puck again landed to the left of the Sharks net, and this time it was Eeli Tolvanen in the right place at the right time. Tolvanen flicked the puck back hand off Blackwood’s left shoulder and it went into the net. San Jose unfortunately needed Seattle’s shutout effort, as Mike Hoffman was wide open backdoor to take advantage of a wide-open net on Joey Daccord as it was the Sharks who had a puck go off the glass behind the goal. Although they were up by five goals on San Jose, the Kraken answered that Hoffman goal with one final score of their own when Eeli Tolvanen unleashed a wicked wrist shot past a Sharks skater and Mackenzie Blackwood in net after Jamie Oleksiak had redirected a puck coming through the neutral zone. The night before the Seahawks will host the 49ers for a Thanksgiving battle, it was the Kraken who had scored a touchdown and added the extra point.  

Could this be the breakout the Kraken need? 

This Seattle Kraken team has been a confusing and frustrating one to begin their third season of existence, but as we’ve stated after several of the games played throughout the course of this season: they are doing a lot of good things in the games that they’re playing. The shot quality has been there for Seattle, they’re improving with puck battles, they got a variety in scoring tonight, the Kraken limited the Sharks shots heavily tonight, Joey Daccord recorded his third quality start of the season, and the penalty kill was perfect tonight, amongst other things. Obviously, this victory in particular has the precursor of just how bad this San Jose team is, but a win like this could be exactly the sort of thing this Seattle team needs. Get your confidence back on offense, show off that depth in scoring, regain some of the swagger that made you as good as you were last season. The primary issues for this Kraken team this year relate to execution and consistency, not talent level. If Seattle can use a win like to build off and go forward with, the Kraken can be fully back, and it’ll be a very welcome sight for the home fans of Climate Pledge Arena.  

The San Jose Sharks have struggled at a historic rate so far this season. (Photos by Sage Zipeto)

Quick notes 

• Attendance for tonight’s game at Climate Pledge Arena between the San Jose Sharks and our Seattle Kraken was 17,151 

• Tonight marks the second time this season that the Kraken have scored seven goals in a game, with the other being on Oct. 19, a 7-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. 

• The team's plus-6 goal differential is their second-best mark in franchise history. Seattle had a franchise-best plus-7 goal differential in their 8-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on April 4, 2023. 

• With a goal and three assists tonight, Oliver Bjorkstrand tied his single-game career high with four points. It also matches the franchise record for points by a skater in a single game. 

  • Bjorkstrand now has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his last four games against San Jose. 

• Jaden Schwartz (one goal, three assists) set the record on Nov. 21, 2021 against the Washington Capitals and Jordan Eberle (four assists) matched it on Nov. 29 against the Los Angeles Kings. 

• Jordan Eberle recorded an assist tonight to give him eight points (two goals, six assists) in his last six games and extends his individual point streak to six games. 

  • It is his longest individual point streak since he recorded a point in seven consecutive games from Nov. 4 to 19, 2021. 

  • The assist also gives Eberle 118 points (44 goals, 73 assists) with the Kraken, which ranks second on the franchie's all-time scoring list. 

• Eeli Tolvanen scored two goals and posted an assist tonight to give him six points (two goals, four assists) in his last five games played. 

  • Tonight is the second time in Tolvanen's career that he has scored two goals in a game, with the other being March 25, 2023 at Nashville. 

• Yanni Gourde scored a goal and added an assist tonight, which gives him four points (two goals, two assists) in his last three games. 

• Adam Larsson's goal was his first of the season. He is now one point shy of totaling 200 career points. 

What’s next? 

Following tonight’s big blowout win over the San Jose Sharks, the Seattle Kraken will obviously have tomorrow (American Thanksgiving) off prior to the third game and finale of their homestand that comes on Friday, November 24th. That homestand finale is the last game of a four-game stretch against Pacific Division opponents, as our Kraken will host the Vancouver Canucks for a Friday night puck drop of 7PM PST at Climate Pledge Arena that will be broadcast locally on Root Sports while on ESPN+ nationally. While Vancouver started the season out red hot and several of their players are around the top of the league in points, the Canucks have struggled over their past four games, having lost three of those four including a contest against this Seattle team where the Kraken looked like the better team all night. 

https://www.whereweconverge.com/circling-seattle-sports

Cover photo by Sage Zipeto