Kraken back in playoff hunt

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The calendar says that there are almost two months remaining in the NHL regular season, but the Seattle Kraken are already in playoff mode. Heading into last night’s showdown with the Pacific Division leading Vancouver Canucks, Seattle found itself trailing three teams for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

A disastrous homestand (a six-gamer against playoff contenders) that began Monday against the Detroit Red Wings would all but thwart Seattle’s chances of returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the Kraken turned in one of their most solid efforts of the season, a 5-2 win over their northern neighbors last night at Climate Pledge Arena.

“But I still think we have another level,” said Kraken forward Jordan Eberle (two goals) who’s been mentioned in trade rumors. “I think we got to it tonight, and that’s kind of the standard for us. So, we need to find a way to get to that consistently each night. And if we do that down the stretch and find our way in (the playoffs), we’ll be a dangerous team.”

The win moves Seattle (24-21-11) to one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild in the Western Division playoff race. The Kraken are currently 10th in the standings, one point behind Nashville and two behind St. Louis, which currently owns the eighth and final playoff berth. The Kraken are also 3-0-1 in their last four games. Vancouver playing its fifth game in eight days is now winless in its last four.

Jared McCann led the Kraken offense with a goal and three assists, and has now earned points in six consecutive games. Jordan Eberle added the final two Kraken goals and an assist.

Things didn’t start well for the Kraken. J.T. Miller opened the scoring for the Canucks with a goal that came after Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer played for several moments without his stick. Originally, the stick was knocked out of Grubauer’s hand and became entwined in the back of the net. Ideally, another player should have given Grubauer their stick as the Kraken goalie was unable to poke check the puck off Miller’s stick.

Vince Dunn deadlocked things with a blistering shot from the point at 13:22. From that point on, the Kraken came to life, including a sequence where they kept the puck in the Canuck zone for over a minute, Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko momentarily lost his stick during that time.

However, the Kraken didn’t score. McCann did score, maybe the biggest goal of the game for the Kraken on the power play, 21 seconds into the second period. McCann intercepted a clearing pass by Ian Cole from behind the net, and fired home from the left circle.

Adding to the crowdy frenzy that was building at this point, Brandon Tanev scored a one-sided victory in a fight with Vancouver’s Connor Garland (did Turbo did take boxing lessons in the off-season?)

Vancouver did tie the game on Sam Lafferty’s goal at 4:57, but the Kraken took the lead for good with defenseman Justin Schultz 20-footer from the right side off a feed from defense partner Brian Dumoulin, playing his 600th career game.

Eberle added an insurance goal a little over a minute later when he tapped in his own rebound. The Canucks pulled Demko in the final minutes, and after McCann’s shot at the empty net went wide, Eberle garnered the puck and fired it home.

"It was a solid performance all the way through,” said Seattle coach Dave Hakstol. “We get good contributions from everybody. Our play with the puck drives a lot of our success. We were moving the puck and making good, hard plays getting through the neutral zone.”

The Kraken can’t afford to take their foot off the pedal. Tomorrow’s game with Minnesota could be the biggest of the season as a Kraken win would put them three points ahead of the Wild and at least keep pace with St. Louis and Nashville.

Scoring Summary

First Period

V- J.T. Miller 29 (Jared McCann 18, Andre Burakovsky) 13:22. S- Vince Dunn 9 (Jared McCann 18, Andre Burakovsky 7) 13:22.

Second Period

S- McCann 25 (unassisted) PPG, :21. V- Sam Lafferty (Pius Suter, Teddy Blueger) 4:57. S- Justin Schultz (Brian Dumoulin 8, Jordan Eberle 27) 13:29. S- Jordan Eberle 11 (McCann 19, Schultz 12) 14:40.

Third Period

Eberle 12 (McCann 20) EN, 17:51.

Referees- Kendrick Nicholson, Beau Halkidis. Linesmen- Travis Gawryletz, Trent Knorr.

Three Stars- 1. Jared McCann 2. Jordan Eberle. 3. Philipp Grubauer.

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