Seattle, WA - The Kraken would see their losing streak extend to nine games as the LA Kings would beat Seattle in a tight three to one game. LA got their first two goals off of rebounds that Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger got the initial save on, but the Kings had someone in perfect position to tip in. Seattle would get a powerplay opportunity in the final few minutes with an opportunity to tie, but the Kraken could not put a real shot on Kings goaltender Cal Petersen.
A positive to take from this game would be the Kraken continuing their positive momentum on the powerplay. The powerplay was a major struggle for the Kraken earlier in the season, but since then the team has crawled into 18th in the league in power play percentage. Seattle was able to draw four power plays and get eight power play minutes out of the Kings, converting once. Marcus Johansson would tap in a rebound off of a slapshot by Calle Jarnkrok to put Seattle on the board in the second period. That goal would mean that the Kraken have scored a power play goal in four consecutive games.
The main negative to look at in the loss would be rebound control. If the first two goals that LA scored had been controlled rebounds off of saves, we may be looking at a Kraken win instead of a ninth straight loss. On the other hand, Driedger made good efforts to make that initial save on both shots. The Kraken defensemen need to be better at denying opponents from having copious amounts of free space around their goalie. Outside of the rebound control, the Kraken did a great job of minimizing turnovers around the net and most of the 2 defensive miscues that we have grown accustomed to seeing from them.
The main takeaway from this game would be what captain Mark Giordano said after the December 31st loss to the Calgary Flames: This team continues to find new ways to lose. The majority of the games that Seattle has lost have had bad turnovers, poor passing, and poor defensive marking in addition to a few others here and there. The Kraken were able to limit those factors to an extent, enough so that this game was tight and close with the exception of those rebound goals. The inaugural season woes roll on, and this group of players continues to search for ways to right the proverbial ship.
Seattle looks to end their nine-game losing streak in their next contest on Monday, January 17th against the Chicago Blackhawks with a 2PM puck drop at Climate Pledge arena.
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