By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Facing another opponent coming in on the second night of a back-to-back, the Seattle Kraken jumped all over the St. Louis Blues in blowout fashion. The Kraken were able to explode for three goals in the second period, while active and alert defensive play stymied a St. Louis team with firepower up and down the lineup. The past two wins have been assertive statements by Seattle that when they play their game, they’re not only exciting but also legitimately tough to beat. Seattle has a chance to head into the Christmas break on a three-game win streak, before closing out the calendar year with some key divisional matchups.
Brandon Tanev’s empty-net goal is celebrated by teammates Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
Donato's delivery starts a Seattle symphony of goals
Deep into the first period, Seattle was able to catch the Blues in a change as Adam Larsson’s stretch pass threaded the needle through three skaters to Ryan Donato for a filthy goal. The Kraken rode the momentum from that goal, and their alert, active play style into an electric second period. Seattle upgraded their pace from a strong hum into a chorus of offensive mastery, having their way with St. Louis in the offensive zone. Blues goaltender Thomas Greiss was pelted with 16 shots, as Seattle scored three of those all in their own unique style. None of the top three Kraken scorers found the back of the net in this one, displaying the depth of Seattle’s attack. Ryan Donato discussed how the team's momentum carried throughout the game.
“It's cliche to say, but we played simple. Against a good team like that, you can’t give them too much. I think that for us, keeping that simple mindset, getting pucks from the defensemen to the net, holding onto pucks, it was definitely a benefit for us tonight. If we do that right things, we’re gonna get chances. When the chances don’t come as often, you try different things. Really, you should just bear down and do the simple things, and it’ll turn in your favor,” Donato remarked.
Ryan Donato dangles and scores on Blues goaltender Thomas Greiss (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Halfway through the second frame, all Kraken defensemen Carson Soucy had to do was poke his stick out, redirecting a blocked shot by Will Borgen to double Seattle’s lead. Seven minutes later, Daniel Sprong decided he wanted to get in on the fun as he trailed the play perfectly, catching the Blues off guard. Morgan Geekie saw the Dutch forward flying ahead, found him in stride for Sprong to deke out Greiss to make it a three-goal lead. With their offense humming, leading goal scorer Jared McCann took his turn in the line as he collected his own rebound, that he then banked off Greiss’ pad into the goal. 10 minutes, three goals as the Kraken had St. Louis’ heads spinning.
Jared McCann celebrates his goal, coming in the final minute of the second period (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
Martin Jones hits mute on the Blues
The trend of Seattle’s stellar goaltending continued, as Martin Jones returned to solid form in this contest. In his first start since December 11th, Jones was rock solid from the opening faceoff, seeing the puck clearly and remaining calm the whole 60 minutes. The highlight of the night being his triple save on a Blues power play, Jones looked locked in just as he did in his past start after a string of ugly outings prior. The two goals that St. Louis scored in the third period were a case of Seattle getting too loose and getting away from their defensively active selves early on. In those instances, the Kraken left Blues skaters with plenty of room to operate twice. Outside of those two mistakes, Seattle locked down this previously high-flying Blues team and never allowed them to hit the ground running. Kraken goaltender Martin Jones discussed the win, postgame.
“We didn’t give them a lot of time and space, I thought we checked well all over the ice. They had a little push in the third, but I thought that up until then we didn’t give them a chance to get any momentum. We really smothered them,” Jones stated.
Martin Jones makes a save point blank on Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
Quick notes
Tonight marks the Kraken's first franchise win against the Blues.
With his first-period goal, Ryan Donato extended his goal-scoring streak to four games tonight against St. Louis, setting a new career high.
He now ties both Jordan Eberle (2021-22 season) and Jared McCann (2022-23 season) for most consecutive games played with a goal in franchise history.
Donato now has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his last eight games against St. Louis.
Jared McCann netted his 15th goal of the season and his third goal in the last four games. This is his second goal in as many games.
Of the Beniers-Eberle-McCann line, at least one of the skaters has scored in 14 of the last 16 games, dating back to Nov. 13.
Morgan Geekie tallied his second multi-point game of the season with his assists on Donato's and Daniel Sprong's goals.
This is also his seventh multi-point game of his career.
Vince Dunn's assist on Brandon Tanev's goal places him first among Kraken defensemen in points. The former St. Louis player now has 18 points this season (four goals, 14 assists).
Larsson's assist on Donato's goal is his second assist in as many games.
Daniel Sprong's second-period goal is his eighth of the season and is his third point in five games.
Brandon Tanev was taken down on a breakaway, earning a penalty shot, but his attempt was saved (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
What's next?
The Kraken will play one more game before the Christmas break, and like the last two games Seattle has played, it’s against a team that they haven’t beaten before. Seattle heads up North to Vancouver for a contest against the Canucks on Thursday, December 22nd with a 7PM PST puck drop. The Canucks have been thumped in their past two games, both times by a score of 5-1 and both times those respective teams headed down to play Seattle.