Kraken's scoring woes continue

 

The good news for the Seattle Kraken is that they’re in the thick of the race for a playoff berth in the Western Conference of the NHL. The bad news- the Kraken are officially the lowest scoring team (59 goals) in the National Hockey League.

And it has become a problem.

Yesterday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena the Kraken were blanked 4-0 by the Edmonton Oilers. Stuart Skinner earned the shutout in the Oilers’ net. In his previous start against the Dallas Stars, the Oiler netminder was chased to the showers after allowing four goals on eight shots before being unceremoniously pulled with 14 seconds remaining in the first period.

While the Kraken haven’t been a high-scoring machine all season long, the scoring draught first became noticeable last weekend. In a Sunday game against the New York Islanders, the Kraken had a mere 11 shots early in the third period.

Edmonton had the first eight shots in yesterday’s game, but the Kraken would take an 12-11 SOG lead at the end of the first period, thanks in part to a 5-on-3 advantage that Seattle held for 1:45. However, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returning from the injured list, beat Joey Daccord for the only goal of the frame.

“Clearly, a lot of times when you don’t score on a 5-on-3, it sort of reaches up to bite you in a game,” said Kraken coach Lane Lambert. ``We had a long time on that 5-on-3 and the fact we didn’t capitalize on it was disappointing.”

``We can move pucks quicker (on the power play),” Lambert said. “When we get teams on the ropes, when there’s a shot and there’s a rebound, we’re too slow to move the puck, and therefore, (opponents) are able to reset.”

The second and third periods belonged to the Oilers’ elite superstars. Leon Draisaitl made it 2-0 at 12:30 of the second period, scoring on a 3-on-2 rush. Zach Hyman extended the lead with a power play goal at 18:30 of the second and then Connor McDavid, the Oilers’ biggest superstar, finished the scoring in the third period.

Rookie Berkly Catton may have been the closest thing to an offensive standout for the Kraken. Early in the second, he fired a 20-footer off a rush that Skinner stopped. Later in the period, Catton went in on a partial break but couldn’t get off a good shot with the bouncing puck.

With the game decided, there were two fights- Freddy Gaudreau of the Kraken against Connor Clattenburg and Tye Kartye versus Alec Regula. Ironically, both fights were near Seattle Mariners’ first baseman Josh Naylor, who had a front row seat. He appeared to enjoy the action.

Seattle’s Mason Marchment and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse also received ten minute misconducts ostensibly to get them off the ice in the final minutes. Nurse had a hit on Marchment early in the game and a few minutes later Marchment drilled the Oilers’ defenseman with an open ice hit. Nurse had unsuccessfully tried to draw Marchment into a fight for much of the contest.

With the loss, Seattle (11-7-6) still leads Edmonton (11-10-5) the two-time Western Conference champion, by one point in the standings. The Kraken won the first meeting of the year between the teams in Edmonton, 3-2.

After going scoreless for 65 minutes against the Islanders, the Kraken did have an uptick in offense on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars. Seattle outshot their guests 28-21, but the Stars, second best record in the NHL, scored a late goal to win 3-2. Defensemen Brandon Montour and Vince Dunn had the Kraken goals.

In fairness, the Kraken have been missing arguably their two best natural goal scorers in Kaapo Kakko and Jared McCann due to injuries for much of the season. McCann returned to the lineup on Wednesday and Kakko returned yesterday afternoon.

However, the Kraken announced yesterday that Jaden Schwartz, who has been the team’s leading scorer with eight goals and seven assists, would be sidelined for six weeks with a lower body injury. Schwartz is also proficient in screening and causing havoc in front of the net, which the Kraken are sometime missing.

The Kraken will have four days off, a rarity in today’s NHL, to work out their offensive kinks. Seattle’s next game won’t be until Thursday when they travel to Edmonton for a rematch with the Oilers.