Seattle, WA - On Halloween night, the Seattle Kraken welcome the New York Rangers to Climate Pledge arena. Seattle brings a two game win streak into their final game of the first homestand in franchise history. The Rangers will be the fourth team that the Kraken face from the Metropolitan division, and the best one ranking wise. New York is starting off strong after a disappointing 2020 that saw them miss the playoffs, looking to avoid a similar fate this season. This is a big meeting between two teams that are very different in terms of where they are at historically, Seattle being the newest franchise in NHL history and New York being part of the "Original Six."
Leading into this game:
Seattle is coming off of two big wins on home ice against Montreal and Minnesota, teams that sit at very different places in their respective divisions. Montreal sits in the basement of the Atlantic division of the Eastern conference, with a two win seven loss record. Minnesota rests at third in the central division of the Western conference with a five win three loss record. Taking both of those things into account, the Kraken were able to put up similar offensive outputs, scoring five and four times respectively.
Where both teams stand heading into this matchup:
New York Rangers: 5-2-1
3rd in Metropolitan division
Seattle Kraken: 3-4-1
5th in Pacific division
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox has 8 points this season
Injury report:
OUT: Centers Marcus Johansson and Colin Blackwell remain on injured reserve, while Center Mason Appleton was placed on IR on the 30th of October
In a corresponding move, Forward Max McCormick was recalled from the Charlotte Checkers.
Questionable: None
Key points to this game:
Improve on the power play: Seattle has had some offensive success as of late, but the power play scoring has not been a bright spot. By the end of the second period against Minnesota on the 28th, Seattle was 0-14 and had not scored a power play goal dating back to Nashville, their first win of the season. If you know anything about Seattle as a team, the criticism has always been about the "lack of firepower" since the expansion draft finished up.
Continue to incorporate McCann: While most of the spotlight has been put on the names of Brandon Tanev and Philipp Grubauer (And, rightfully so), Jared McCann has been Mr. Underrated. The 25-year-old leads the team in points, and is second in assists. The left winger has played an important role in the teams success, and keeping him involved is a key to continuing that success going forward.
Close out the first homestand strong: Seattle started out the season on a long road trip, that did see the first victory in franchise history, but also saw some ugly losses. Those will come with an expansion squad, but should dwindle going forward. The reasoning behind that is that chemistry will be built and these silly mistakes that are being made by their defensemen (like puck watching) will be tuned up. Going forward, homestands like these will show up come late regular season. The crowd has gotten better in each game, and the teams performance seems to follow. Have faith, Kraken fans. This will be an exciting hockey team to watch, and it only gets better from here. Literally, there is no prior season to compare to.
Kraken LW Jared McCann
Comments