Kraken fall in playoff hunt

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In a game that could be considered a must-win, the Seattle Kraken were shutdown by the Minnesota Wild, 5-2, last night at Climate Pledge Arena.

The loss drops the Kraken (24-22-11) to five points behind Nashville for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference. More dire news for the Kraken – they drop to 12th overall in the conference, meaning they have to climb over four teams in their final 25 games to earn a playoff berth.

"I don't think we should be frustrated, I think we should be pretty upset with ourselves," said Coach Dave Hakstol. "There are moments in the game that are game-changing moments that two nights ago (Thursday's 5-2 win over the Canucks) we met every one of those moments. Tonight, we didn't meet many of them."

Things actually couldn't have started much better for the Kraken. Vince Dunn fired home his 10th goal of the season merely 36 seconds into the game, beating future Hall-of-Famer Marc-Andre Fleury, who always plays well against the Kraken.

But after that it was all downhill. The Kraken's fortunes may have begun to turn a few minutes later when Jared McCann took a high hit from the Wild's Vinni Letteri. No penalty was called, it could have been elbowing or interference, and it began a night of ill will by Kraken fans against the game officials.

The Wild would have a two-man advantage later in the period with Kirill Kaprizov giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead at the intermission. By the second period, a few more spotty calls led to the loudest `hey ref, you suck' chant in the hockey history of Climate Pledge Arena.

However, it would be hard to blame the men in stripes for Seattle netminder Joey Daccord allowing four goals on 13 shots. When Daccord surrendered two goals on two shots beginning the second period. Philipp Grubauer donned his mask and played the remainder of the contest. Grubauer allowed only one goal on 18 shots.

"I had that instinct (to pull Daccord) one goal earlier," said Hakstol. "But Joey's been real good for us. He's fought hard. He's battled. Tonight wasn't his night. This is not on him, but just like everybody else, he's gonna have to address his own performance. Shake it off, and be ready to go to the next one."

Daccord hasn't played as well lately as he did in December and January when he recorded 18 quality starts and boasted the fourth best save percentage in the NHL. 

Grubauer however, has played well in two consecutive games (including the win over Vancouver on Thursday). Another positive for Seattle was McCann's return to the lineup after missing only two shifts. The Kraken's leading scorer missed several playoff games a year ago after taking a high hit from Colorado's Cale Makar.

The Kraken showed signs of life in the third period when Jordan Eberle scored at 6:11 to cut the lead to 5-2, but were unable to build on that goal.

Yanni Gourde summed up the Kraken effort noting, "At this point of the year, we shouldn't have a performance like that. You can't take that many penalties (the Kraken had eight minors and a major). We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Especially against that group. We know they're an elite power-play team."

The Kraken continue their six-game homestand (1-1-1, so far) when they host the Boston Bruins tomorrow night. The B's lead the Atlantic Division by one point, but six of their last eight games have gone into overtime and they've lost four of those games.

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Vince Dunn 10 (Jared McCann 21, Matty Beniers 16 ) :36. M- Marcus Johanson (Mats Zuccarello, Jake Middleton) 4:59. M- Kirill Kaprizov (Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman) PPG 13:32.

Second Period

M- Matt Boldy (Kaprizov, Zuccarello) PPG 1:09. M-Kaprizov (Joel Eriksson-Ek, Brock Faber) 2:14. M-Dakota Mermis (Zuccarello, Connor Dewar) 6:58.

Third Period

S- Jordan Eberle 13 (Adam Larsson 14) 6:11.

Shots on Goal-  Minnesota 31, Seattle 33.

Penalty Minutes- Minnesota 19, Seattle 21.

Referees- Jake Brenk, Brandon Baldina. Linesmen- Travis Gawryltz

Three Stars- 1. Kirill Kaprizov M 2. Mats Zuccarello, M 3. Vince Dunn, S.


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