By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Every win streak must come to an end, but for the Seattle Kraken, it came in brutally ugly fashion. The Kraken had their franchise long seven game winning streak ripped to shreds by the Florida Panthers, as Seattle never really got their boat off the dock. After immediately giving up a dangerous chance just ten seconds in, the Kraken stacked mistake on top of mistake until the final scoreboard showed a four-goal defeat. Jared McCann scored the only goal in the beginning of the second period, but any potential spark that it could have provided was washed away by the constant attack of Florida. Seattle needs to regroup, work on their defensive structure, and improve their penalty kill in order to start a new streak.
Jared McCann scored Seattle’s only goal, a minute and a half into the second period (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Starting out on the wrong foot, and then falling flat on their face
Right out of the opening faceoffs, things began poorly for the Kraken. Two growing issues for Seattle have been their defensive lapses (remember that from the inaugural season?) and penalty kill, neither of which have seemed to show much improvement lately. The Kraken weren’t able to get the puck out of their own defensive zone, failed to restrict Florida’s possessions, and simply could not stay out of the penalty box. Seattle’s penalty kill once went 18-consecutive appearances without a goal, and those days now seem like ancient history. While the Kraken have shown their offensive prowess for the large majority of the season, Seattle’s defending struggles are a constant issue. Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol discussed what he saw in the loss.
“There weren’t many parts of our game that were very good tonight. That’s gonna be a tough way to win a hockey game, that’s just the bottom line... It’s been different things that have caused our specialty teams to struggle. Our special teams had several opportunities to answer at the right time, and we weren’t either to on either side... it’s not just one part of our game tonight, our entire game was not at the level it needed to be,” Hakstol stated.
Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer was done no favors by his defensemen tonight (Photo by Liv Lyons)
I'm staring at the man in the mirror (and you should too)
While the negatives are prominent following this loss and they sting especially sharp due to difficulties with officials and being blown out, a team could use a loss like this here and there throughout the course of an 82 game season. While teams should be able to address their issues even after wins, losses obviously press the problem a bit more and make them more fresh in your mind. The Seattle defending is in a FUNK this season, and tend to allow goals in bunches when they aren't seemingly going to overtime. The Kraken have allowed at least four goals in eleven of their 24 total games, and that should not be happening with the defensemen on this roster. Too often have players such as Jamie Oleksiak been caught watching a player go by them to score, or players such as Carson Soucy failing to clear the puck out of his own trapezoid and it turns into an opposing goal. Those same issues end up happening on the penalty kill, and it would be simple enough to just say that they should stay out of the box but they cannot do that either. Defender Carson Soucy spoke about the issues on the penalty kill.
"It's hard, we just can't catch a break... shooting it wide the last couple games where it hits us or hits one of them and goes in... it's hard, we're just trying to do the right things. We know that it is going to come around," Soucy stated.
Chaos ensues in front of Philipp Grubauer in net (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Time for a reality check
While it was to be expected that this win streak was going to find it’s end for the Kraken, the fact that it was the result of two of the team's biggest issues points Seattle in the direction of where they need to improve. The Kraken have shown on a consistent basis that they are far improved from their inaugural roster, but with where they currently sit the team is not worried just about improvement, but making the playoffs. Seattle is currently ahead of general manager Ron Francis’ three-to-five-year plan to reach the postseason, but considering the talent level and resulting results, the issue can and should be pushed now. Seattle looked like a different team tonight than the dangerous one we have seen through these first 20+ games this season, and Jared McCann discussed that postgame.
“We were a little slow to pucks, didn’t have any jam or finishing our checks. We were not playing the way that we normally do that gives us success. It’s something to learn, we have to reset and refocus, we have to come back down to Earth here... We have a lot of veteran guys here who are able to calm us down and let us play hockey, so that helps,” McCann remarked.
Kraken forward Matty Beniers had several hard shots, but none could find the mark (Photo by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
With his goal tonight, former Panther Jared McCann has eight points (six goals, two assists) in his last eight games.
McCann’s 11 goals lead the Kraken this season.
Jordan Eberle assisted on McCann's goal. He now has six points (two goals, four assists) in his last six games against the Panthers.
Eberle has 13 points (five goals, nine assists) in his last 11 games, dating back to Nov. 8 vs. Nashville.
He also has six points (two goals, four assists) in his last six games at Climate Pledge Arena.
Matty Beniers set a new career-high with four hits in tonight's game.
Brandon Tanev recorded a season-high seven hits, which is tied for the most by a Kraken player in a game this season.
The Kraken’s 37 shots tonight set a season-high at Climate Pledge Arena.
What's next?
The Kraken will get a day off and a practice day before their next game on Tuesday, December 6th. Seattle will finish up their three-game homestand by hosting the Montreal Canadiens, the team that the Kraken recorded their first ever home win against. Young stars Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and the Canadiens will drop the puck against the Kraken at 7PM PST as Seattle will look to begin a new winning streak.