Seattle, WA – The Seattle Kraken lost to the Pacific Division leading Calgary Flames, one to three in their April 9th matchup. On the day where the Kraken held their pride night, things started out hot. After the Flames scored just under four minutes in, the Kraken answered with a goal of their own a minute later. Calgary took hold of the game with two unanswered goals, and never looked back. For warmups, the Kraken would wear pride jerseys designed by non-binary Seattle artist Glynn Rosenberg. Rosenberg opted against the rainbow LGBTQ+ flag for the design, instead opting to use the colors of pink, blue, and white from the trans flag.
Forward Daniel Sprong with his Pride warmup jersey and beanie
The Kraken power play negatively factored into this loss, as Seattle simply couldn’t do anything with the advantage play. Seattle went zero for five on the power play in the loss, and even had a five on three advantage in the second period. Seattle has had issues with their power play unit all season, and it isn’t something that has been fixed. The Kraken sit at 29th in the league, and it often seems more like a hinderance as opposed to any real advantage. Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol spoke about the unit's performance in the post-game press conference.
“Our power play was good, other than the fact that we didn’t cash in tonight. Their goaltender became the difference in the second half of that hockey game, especially on specialty teams. Our execution was good, we had good looks... he made saves through traffic. He was the difference in those situations,” Hakstol would state, referring to Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Kraken forward Riley Sheahan lines up for a faceoff with Flames forward Trevor Lewis
Perhaps the lone bright spot in the loss was Karson Kuhlman’s response goal five minutes into the game. Kuhlman has been a bundle of energy all season for Seattle, and his play as of late has been a positive. Kuhlman, who was claimed off of waivers by the Kraken back on January 17th, has now recorded three points in Seattle’s last two home games. Kuhlman is currently set to become a restricted free agent this offseason, and his play only makes a case for him to be brought back in some capacity. The young forward would reflect on his play in the post-game press conference.
“Sitting out whenever you’re injured, watching the game a little bit is helpful from time to time. We did a good job rehabbing, and I’ve been feeling more comfortable by the day,” Kuhlman would remark.
Forward Karson Kuhlman celebrates his goal
This loss was your classic example of how the Kraken have looked for the majority of their inaugural season. A poor power play, an offensive attack that has a tough time finding ways to score, and an inability to answer goals. Seattle has been able to turn that around for a solid part of this latter half of the season, but not for sustained periods of time. In their quest to establish an identity in the last month of the season, Seattle will have the chance to do so against some good teams, many of them headed to the playoffs. Hopefully the Kraken can find a way to establish their identity and play spoiler to some playoff teams before the inaugural season ends.
The Kraken will play their first home and home series ever as their next matchup is against these Calgary Flames, but on the road. On April 12th, Seattle will take on Johnny Gaudreau and the Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome with a 6PM PST puck drop.
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