Schwartz, Kakko, Daccord lead Kraken

-



 

After a solid game against the Winnipeg Jets (the top point-getter in the Western Conference), that ended with a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds who knew how the Seattle Kraken would respond when they returned to Climate Pledge Arena for the start of a five-game homestand last night?

The answer was provided by the three best Kraken players since the beginning of the year. Jaden Schwartz scored three goals- the fourth hat trick in Kraken history- Kaapo Kakko assisted on all three goals, and Joey Daccord stopped 30 of 32 shots (a .933 percentage) as the Kraken defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2.

Actually, Chandler Stephensen, a big free-agent signee for the Kraken, scored the game winner at 1:37 of the second period. Stephenson scored his seventh goal of the season off when he tipped home a shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand.

The Kraken improve their record to 20-24-3, still eight points out of a playoff berth. The Kings reside in third place in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference with a 25-13-5 mark.

Schwartz and Kakko, who’ve been the Kraken’s best forwards lately, combined on the first goal, 26 seconds into the game. Kaako intercepted the puck from the Kings’ Alex Turcotte and sent a crossing pass to Schwartz for the score.

``They’re a team that doesn’t give up a lot,’’ sad Schwartz. ``We did a good job of being aggressive and make it hard on them. It was a good start for us, especially the way the game in Winnipeg ended.’’

The Kings would tie the game at the 6:07 mark. On the power play. Anze Kopitar found Adrian Kempe in front for the score but the Kraken tied the game just over a minute later.

The play was actually started by Josh Mahura’s big open-ice hit on the Kings’ Warren Fogele in the Kraken defensive zone. That let Kakko get control of the puck and send his teammates away on a partial break. Matty Beniers passed across to Schwartz who fired home his second goal of the contest. The Kings were actually out of position as Quinton Byfield was jawing with Mahura instead of following the play up-ice.

“They scored the goal, the game’s in a little bit in flux, it’s that kind of feeling,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “And the hit – I don’t want to say it woke us up because we were in the match before that, but the hit was a huge play. A statement in the middle of the ice. And we were able to answer back.”

The Kings would tie the game once more in the final minute of the first period. Jordan Spence fired from the point after taking a drop pass from Phillip Danault. Daccord was jostled in front, but since defenseman Brandon Montour knocked the Kings’ player into Daccord no interference was called.

Daccord would have better success in the second period. Five minutes into the stanza with the Kraken on a power play, Fogele came in on a breakaway and Daccord made the kick save.

The Kraken outshot the Kings, 21-13, over the first two periods (Bylsma called the second period one of the Kraken’s best of the year) but Daccord was able to stop 17 LA shots in the third period.

With Kings’ goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper pulled for an extra attacker, Kaako pounced on a loose puck at center ice and had the where-with-all to pass across to Schwartz giving him the opportunity to put the puck in the open net for a hat trick. Schwartz becomes the fourth Kraken to record a hat trick joining Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle and Montour, earlier this season.

The Kraken host the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow afternoon on Martin Luther King Day.

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Jaden Schwartz 14 (Kaapo Kakko 16) :26.

LA- Adrian Kempe (Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala) 6:07.

S- Schwartz 15 (Matty Beniers 16, Kaako 17) 7:40.

LA- Jordan Spence (Phillip Danault, Trevor Moore), 19 :43.

Second Period

S- Chandler Stephenson 7 (Oliver Bjorkstrand 17, Andre Burakovsky 12) 1:37.

Third Period

S- Schwartz 16 (Kakko 19) empty net, 17:50.

Shots on Goal- Los Angeles 30 (Kevin Fiala 6), Seattle (Jaden Schwartz 6).

Hits- Los Angeles 26 (Tanner Jeannot 8) Seattle 32 (Eeli Tolvanen 5).

Penalty Minutes- Los Angeles 6, Seattle 4.

Faceoffs- Los Angeles 54.0% Seattle 46.0%.

Blocked Shots- Los Angeles 19 (Jordan Spence 3), Seattle 24 (Adam Larsson 4).

Referees- Chris Schlenker, Graham Skilliter. Linesmen- Joe Mahon, Killian McNamara.

Three Stars- 1. Jaden Schwartz 2. Kaapo Kakko 3. Joey Daccord

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seattle's first major league team?

-
Image
With the widely rumored return of the Seattle Sonics, the Emerald City would surely be considered a `major league' city in the sports world. Of course, that wasn't always the case. The ill-fated Seattle Pilots came and went in 1969, but if you were a local sports fan your appetite was wetted by University of Washington football (Seattle's primary sports team for many years) and minor league baseball and hockey. But not many people know that a major league team - a world champion no less- moved to the Pacific Northwest in the winter of 1959-1960. The Chicago Westerners, the 1959 world champions in the wild-and-wacky pseudo sport of the Roller Derby appeared at the venue that was known as various times as the Seattle Civic Arena, Seattle Ice Arena and Mercer Arena. While the Ravens also skated games in Spokane and Portland, four games that were televised from the Civic Arena can be found on YouTube - two games apiece against the New York Chiefs and the Los Angeles Braves.  It...
Read more

Farewell to Pete Carroll

-
                                                  Farewell To Pete Carroll The Seattle Seahawks made longtime coach Pete Carroll a `special advisor’ two days after the 72-year-old Carroll announced he had no plans to leave coaching. Kudos to Channel 7, which accurately posted a cutline under a Carroll interview which read accurately ‘Carroll Fired.’ Seattle nation- `the 12’s’- registered their displeasure on social media. Well, some of them did. After all, Carroll’s the winningest coach in team history, including two Super Bowl appearances. But it was a different story 23 years ago when the New England Patriots announced they were relieving Carroll of his duties after three seasons with the team. Ironically, Carroll’s 27-21 mark as Pats’ head coach was the second-best winning percentage in the team’s history behind guess who? - Bill Belichick. But author J...
Read more

Kraken acquire Larry David's favorite player

-
Image
The Seattle Kraken acquired Kaapo Kakko today from the New York Rangers today in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen and a third round and sixth round pick in the upcoming NHL amateur draft. As often happens, Seattle fans were sorry to see Borgen go. An original Kraken, one of the more physical players on the team, a fan favorite, and Matty Beniers roommate. To say that New York fans feel the same way about Kakko would be an understatement. Ranger Nation has universally panned the deal of social media and coupled with the trading of captain Jacob Trouba last week, fans are calling for the scalp of Ranger GM Chris Drury. However, the most interesting aspect of this trade is that Kakko was a particular favorite of longtime New York sports fan and star of TV’s  Curb Your Enthusiasm,  Larry David. The iconoclastic comedian appeared on Michael Kay’s ESPN radio show a couple of years ago berating then Rangers’ coach David Quinn for benching Kakko. (on a personal note, this writer co...
Read more