Early `late' start dooms Kraken

 

After a successful homestand that saw the Seattle Kraken take four out of five games, the Kraken dropped a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings yesterday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center).

Following a slow start, the Kraken had a solid third period with Brandon Montour scoring his sixth goal of the season on his usual howitzer-like slapshot from the point with less than two minutes left in the game. But it was too little, too late as the Kings improve their record to 11-7-3 while the Kraken drop to 10-10-1.

The goal came after the Kings had successfully killed a penalty to defenseman Brandt Clark. However, the Kraken offense came alive with a Montour shot from close-in hitting the top crossbar.

Seattle gets off to slow start against Kings. The Kings had the first 14 scoring chances of the game, although they were credited with only four shots on goal in the period. The person counting the shots did seem a bit stingy. The Kraken were credited with only five SOG’s.

“The start of the game was lopsided with their momentum and our (lack of) execution,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma, who played parts of five seasons with the Kings. “I thought we got into our game at about the six minute mark.

After an uneventful first period, the hometown Kings finally lit the lamp at 4:53 of the second period. Adrian Kempe scored from the slot off a pass from Alex Turcotte.

Quinton Byfield, playing in his 200^th career game, added a power-play goal on a slapper from the right slot, just under two minutes later. The Kings were on the power play thanks to a questionable penalty against Seattle’s Yanni Gourde when the `pepper pot’ was called for goalie interference. Replays showed that Gourde was ridden into goalie David Rittich by an LA defenseman.

Whether it was the early afternoon starting time that accounted for the slow start, the Kraken finally came to life in the third period. Seattle had more shots on goal in the third period (11) than they had in the first two combined.

As mentioned above, the Kraken had a strong power play late in the game. Along with Montour hitting the crossbar, Rittich made a point blank save on Daniel Sprong.

``The first 40 minutes weren't great,” said Seattle’s Matty Beniers. ``We didn't make the hard plays and they took advantage of it.”

One thing that’s apparent about the 2024-2025 edition of the Kraken is that goaltender Joey Daccord can keep the team in most games. Daccord made 19 saves on 21 shots, one of the few games this season where the Boston native didn’t stop over 90 percent of the shots against him. Daccord’s overall save percentage is .939 on the season.

``Joey came up with about four big stops in the game,” said Bylsma. ``You can’t not talk about the two-on-none breakaway. He caught (the puck) with the knob of his stick. He made three or four red bell saves in the game.”

The breakaway came on a Seattle power play with Byfield and Warren Foegele (a game-high six shots) passing the puck back-and-forth before Daccord made the stop on Foegele.

“Teams are so close in the (Pacific) division; we're going to need to beat these guys to get in (the playoffs),” said Montour. “I thought our energy level, for the most part, all game, wasn't there. We’ve got to bring a better, better effort. In the last minutes of the game, we took it to him. We were pushing the pace. It's work, but we're creating chances.”

The Kraken complete their brief Southern California trip with a game at Anaheim tomorrow (Monday) night. Seattle will be out the services of captain Jordan Eberle, who’s expected to miss three months.

Eberle, who was off to a good start with six early season goals, had pelvic surgery Friday afternoon. In a game versus Chicago on Nov. 14, Eberle crashed heavily into the boards.

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

LA- Adrian Kempe (Alex Turcotte, Anze Kopitar) 4 :19. LA- Quinton Byfield (Kevin Fiala, Kopitar) PPG, 6 :18.

Third Period

S- Brandon Montour 6 (Oliver Bjorkstrand 6, Yanni Gourde 6) 18:36.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 20 (Jared McCann 4) Los Angeles 21 (Warren Foegele 6).

Hits- Seattle 24 (Yanni Gourde 5), Los Angeles 24 (Samuel Helenius 6)

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 4, Los Angeles 8.

Faceoffs- Seattle 46.7%. Los Angeles 53.3%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 15 (Brandon Tanev, Adam Larsson 6). Los Angeles 16 (Brandt Clarke 3).

Referees- Tom Chmielewski, Brandon Schrader. Linesmen- Kiel Murchison, Mitch Hunt.