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Showing posts from March, 2024

What happened to the Kraken???

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    In this year’s Baseball Prospectus , the go-to book for baseball stat geeks, writer Lauren Thiessen noted in the San Diego Padres preview that you can judge how disastrous a team’s season is by the amount of games left when the post-mortems are written. In the case of the Seattle Krakens, coming off a recent eight-game winless streak, the `what happened to the Kraken’ musings are popping up almost daily. But the contest most likely to get the finger-pointing treatment is the Kraken’s Mar. 12 game hosting the Vegas Golden Knights. Kraken fans and their followers had a good feeling heading into that contest. While the Kraken were coming off a loss to Winnipeg, they had posted a rare victory against the Knights at the Winter Classic on New Years’ Day and recent road wins at Calgary and Winnipeg. Plus, Jordan Eberle who’s a big part of the Kraken’s brief history, signed a contract extension the previous day, when it appeared he was headed out of town at the trade deadl...

Knights' spoil Eberle's night

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Play Video It's always something special when the Seattle Kraken square off with the Vegas Golden Knights. Seattle's first-ever regular-season game was in Sin City back in 2021. This year, the teams met in the Winter Classic, New Years' Day at Safeco Field. With a national TV audience looking on, Seattle's Joey Daccord recorded the first shutout in Classic history leading Seattle to a 3-0 victory. Last night, Kraken fans celebrated the career of Jordan Eberle, playing in his 1,000 NHL game. Eberle signed a two-year extension at the trade deadline - actually taking a bit of a pay cut. against the Knights. When Seattle's Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on a breakaway at 11:30 of the third period to give the Kraken a 4-2 lead, it looked like the home team was on its way to another big victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion, Knights. But Jonathan Marchessault scored the tying goal with 16 seconds left in regulation (his second of the game and 19th in 22 games) ...

Eberle re-signs, Kraken flat versus Jets

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 On a night when the Seattle Kraken and the Winnipeg Jets played almost two and a half periods without a goal or a penalty, the visiting Jets scored three times in the final 13 minutes to defeat the Kraken 3-0 in a ho-hum contest at Climate Pledge Arena. The day started on a high note as the Kraken announced yesterday morning that they had extended the contract of original Kraken Jordan Eberle for two more seasons. On Thursday, it looked like Eberle, who would have become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, would be dealt at the trade deadline which was yesterday afternoon, 2 PM, Seattle time. “It’s a relief,” said Eberle, who signed a two-year deal for $9.5 million. “I’ve mentioned quite a bit that I wanted to be here. My family loves it here.” “We are thrilled to have Jordan remain with the Kraken for two more years,” said Kraken general manager Ron Francis of the 34-year-old forward who will play in his 1,000 th  NHL game against the Vegas Golden Knights on...

Two eventful victories

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  Play Video   Just when it looked like the Seattle Kraken didn’t have a realistic shot at making the playoffs, the Kraken rattled off two road wins in two nights and are back in ninth place in the Western Division. After last night’s 4-3 thriller over the Winnipeg Jets, the Kraken are six points out of a playoff berth, after being nine points out three days ago. On Monday, the Kraken posted their 100 th all-time victory a 4-2 verdict over the Calgary Flames in what some observers labeled a `nasty’ game. That moved Seattle past the Flames in the standings and last night in Winnipeg, with single-digit temperatures outside, the Kraken rallied for a 4-3 victory, moving them in a tie with idle St. Louis. “This was a team effort,” said forward Tomas Tatar, who notched his first goal in 11 games. “We came here late (the Kraken arrived in Winnipeg 3:30 yesterday morning), and to win back-to-back road games. Everybody on the team contributed.” Joey Daccord, who’s had a bit of a...

A costly loss for the Kraken

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Play Video The Seattle Kraken arguably played a better game against the Edmonton Oilers in yesterday's matinee tilt at Climate Pledge Arena than their two previous games against the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the latter a game that goalie Philipp Grubauer `stole' with a 33-save shutout. But as someone once said - or should have said- `the bottom line is the bottom line.' In an evenly played contest, the Oilers hung on for a 2-1 victory. And while the Kraken (26-22-11 overall) have boasted some success lately, they entered yesterday's contest with a 5-1-1 mark in their last seven games, it hasn't paid off in the standings.  With St. Louis and Calgary both posting victories yesterday, the Kraken drop to 11th place in the Western Division standings and seven points out of the final playoff berth (comparable to 3 1/2 games) with 22 games left in the season. The Kraken had opportunities to tie the game in the final minute of regulation, but Edmonton goali...

Grubauer whitewashes Penguins

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If anyone sits down some day to make a ranking of Philipp Grubauer’s best games as a Seattle Kraken netminder, last night’s 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins will be right at the top. Grubauer stopped 33 shots, 18 in the first period, en route to his first shutout of the season. Alex Wennberg, who’s been mentioned in trade rumors, had a goal and an assist while All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand tallied the other Seattle goal.   to lead the Kraken to a `must win’ in their upward battle for a post-season playoff berth. “It (the shutout) doesn’t happen if not for the guys in front of me,” said Grubauer, “blocking shots, taking the body, covering the lanes…” The victory was a `must win’ for the Kraken who continue their upward climb for a playoff berth. With the win, Seattle’s tied for ninth place in the Western Conference – eight teams make the playoffs – with St. Louis and Calgary. Less than a week ago, the Kraken were 12 th in the race. The Kraken (26-22-11) have fewer wins th...