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Showing posts from October, 2024

Montour hat trick leads Kraken

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   After the Seattle Kraken’s lethargic 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night, Kraken coach Dan Bylsma wasn’t keen on the idea that the Kraken might get their groove back once they hit the road. Like most coaches, Bylsma would like to see the Kraken establish a home-ice advantage where visitors would be leery of entering Climate Pledge Arena. But Bylsma surely had no problem with the Kraken’s 8-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night at the Bell Center. In what would be a record-breaking night, the Kraken began a five-game Northeastern-road trip with an explosive offensive performance. The Kraken set a team record notching four goals in the first 10:33 of the game. Five goals came from defensemen, a team record, and defenseman Brandon Montour scored his first three goals in Seattle garb – three in a row- and he joined Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz as Kraken who’ve recorded a three-goal `hat trick.’ According to Montour it was a case of forgetting the ...

Hurricane(s) hits Seattle, 4-1

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The Seattle Kraken’s early season has featured some `fast starts,’ but last night at Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken – partially due to some early penalties – started slowly against the Carolina Hurricanes. In fact, except for a few spurts, the Kraken were behind the proverbial eight-ball most of the night as the `Canes skated to a 4-1 victory. The contest concluded a five-game homestand that saw the Kraken post a somewhat disappointing 2-2-1 record after winning the first two games. Seattle now takes to the road for five games, starting in Montreal, Tuesday night. ``We weren’t surprised (by Carolina’s fast start),” said Kraken coach Dan Byslma. ``When you play a team like this, you have to execute. You have to compete under pressure, all over the ice defensively. And when you get a chance, your first execution has to be quick and fast and aggressive.” The contest could have been even more one-sided except for the stellar netminding of Joey Daccord. For the first time this sea...

Eberle's OT goal sparks victory

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  After winning a couple of high-scoring games, the Seattle Kraken showed that they could win a low-scoring contest last night at Climate Pledge Arena. The Kraken took the previously undefeated Calgary Flames to overtime, and in an overtime frame where the Kraken controlled the puck, Seattle captain Jordan Eberle fired home the game winner at 48 seconds. ``It’s good to see that we can win both ways,” said Eberle, who scored his fifth goal of the season, ``in high-scoring and low-scoring games.” The win improves the Kraken’s record to 4-2, bolstered by two overtime victories (Ebersole had the winning goal in a shootout against Minnesota last week). The Flames still undefeated in regulation time, drop to 4-0-1. Seattle’s now won three consecutive games. The Kraken had the puck virtually all of the overtime with the exception of one clearing pass intercepted by Eberle. The Kraken captain hit Brandon Montour with a pass in front of the net. Calgary goalkeeper Dan Vladar ma...

Kraken `home warriors' vs. Flyers

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  After a brief but successful road trip the Seattle Kraken began last night’s five-game homestand looking to improve on last year’s home record. In the 2023-24 season, the Kraken didn’t take advantage of the boisterous crowds that filled Climate Pledge Arena compiling almost the same record at home as on the road. In their season opener, amidst the hoopla of playing the league’s first North American game (Jersey and Buffalo opened the season in Sweden) the Kraken played about half a game. They dominated the first 25 minutes but the visiting St. Louis Blues took over the contest winning 4-2. After solid road wins at Minnesota and Nashville how would the Kraken respond in the friendly environs of Climate Pledge? Well, Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton, a fourth-liner, scored a mere 4:21 into the contest. The Flyers would take a 2-1 lead to intermission with the Kraken not showing much spark. The highlight of the period was the two free-agent signees- Brandon Montour and Chandler S...

Balanced effort lifts Kraken past Nashville

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The Seattle Kraken turned in their most solid effort of the season scoring four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Nashville Predators, 7-3, last night in the Music City. Balance was the key word for the Seattle skaters as 13 players entered the scoring column and six had two points on the night. The Kraken can boast a successful road trip as they garnered four out of six possible points with a 2-1 record against Minnesota, Dallas (the Kraken’s only loss) and Nashville, three of the better teams in the Central Division of the Western Conference. Leading the way was a newly formed line of Jared Schwartz-Chandler Stephenson-Oliver Bjorkstrand. While new linemates this season, Schwartz and Stephenson have known each other since their junior days. “It’s been just four games together with Schwartzy,” said Stephenson, an off-eason acquisition signed from the Vegas Knights as a free agent.. “We've been talking the whole time; I think we're more familiar with one ...

A mixed weekend for the Kraken

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  The first weekend of the regular season was a mixed bag for the Seattle Kraken. On Saturday night, the Kraken scored a 5-4 shootout road victory over the Minnesota Wild. Captain Jordan Eberle notched his 300 th and 301 st career goals and scored the winning tally in the shootout to give Seattle its first victory of the 2024-25 campaign. The next night Seattle was met by a recurring problem in Dallas. Once again, lack of scoring – a Kraken bugaboo last season- spelled defeat for Seattle as backup goalie Casey DeSmith shutout the visitors, 2-0. DeSmith, in his Minnesota debut, turned aside 25 shots as the Stars recorded first period goals from Sam Steel and Wyatt Johnston a mere 13 seconds apart. ``Although it's a back-to-back [games] and you might be tired, it is Game 3,” said Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour. “There should be no excuse, especially going against a team like Dallas, a top-end team in the West, especially for us as a team that's looking to get over th...

Daccord signs up for 5 more years

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  Even though he’s come into some money lately, Seattle Kraken goalkeeper Joey Daccord admits he’s not planning to take his teammates to dinner on the Kraken’s upcoming road trip. When asked how many meals he was going to pay for when the Kraken travel to Minnesota, Dallas and Nashville starting this weekend, Daccord replied ``hopefully one.” That drew a laugh from the media horde that surrounded Daccord’s locker at the Kraken Training Facility this morning, but Seattle was very serious when it extended the 28-year-old goalkeeper contract for five more seasons at a total of $8.8 million. Not bad for a guy who only received one Division 1 scholarship offer coming out of North Andover High, a Boston suburb. That came from Arizona State, a school whose hockey program was in its infancy. Daccord was, in fact, ASU’s first scholarship player. He played well enough to get drafted into the NHL (2015, 199 th player overall), but spent most of five seasons in the minors with the Ott...

Blues spoil Kraken's `special day'

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 For almost half a game, the Seattle Kraken dominated the St. Louis Blues, leading 2-0. Unfortunately, the game didn't end at that point and the Blues, thanks to Jordan Kyrou's two goals, scored three goals in less than two minutes holding on to a 3-2 victory in yesterday afternoon's season opener at Climate Pledge Arena. Yesterday's contest - part of an ESPN triple-header- marked the first time the Kraken have opened a season at home in the four-year history of the franchise. The loss spoiled Dan Bylsma's Seattle coaching debut. The former Pittsburgh and Buffalo boss, had coached the Kraken's Coachella Valley AHL team to the league finals the previous two years Seattle outshot the Blues, 11-5, in the first period, but the teams went to the intermission scoreless. That changed only 27 seconds into the second period. Vince Dunn scored on his rebound beating Jordan Binnington, the game's number-one star.  The play was started when Jordan Eberle, named before t...