Kraken offense disappears in disappointing 6-3 loss to Flames
From the very beginning of the game’ it was clear that the Seattle Kraken’s night was going to be a challenging one. Jared McCann’ the Kraken’s scoring leader’ found himself in a precarious situation as he had his head slammed into the ice by an opposing player. This unfortunate incident foreshadowed the difficulties that awaited the team as they faced the Calgary Flames on a Saturday night.
The Flames’ who had been struggling in the early part of the season’ presented a deceptive challenge. These are the kinds of games that the Kraken sometimes fall victim to’ often referred to as “trap” games. Despite the Kraken managing to score an early power-play goal after McCann’s injury’ the following two periods of the game turned into an excruciating experience as the team’s offense seemed to vanish.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’ a Kraken forward’ emphasized the importance of not underestimating any opponent in the league’ regardless of their season’s situation. He stressed the need for the Kraken to match the desperation and intensity of their rivals to avoid being in a precarious position.
Bellemare’s reference to “desperation” could easily be interchanged with “intensity.” In the third period’ he tried to display this intensity by engaging in an extended wrestling match with Nikita Zadorov in front of Calgary’s net. By that point’ the Flames had built a two-goal lead’ and the Kraken had been outshot 8-0 in that period before finally registering a shot on Calgary’s net.
Despite the Kraken’s struggles’ Jaden Schwartz managed to score a late goal with 1:42 remaining in regulation’ and the team pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. However’ the Flames sealed their victory with two empty-net goals from Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson.
Bellemare acknowledged that this was not the way the Kraken had hoped to play the game’ especially before embarking on road games against Arizona and Colorado. He emphasized the need to move on’ put in the work’ and wear their “work boots” to improve.
The game started positively for the Kraken’ with Oliver Bjorkstrand scoring on the power play following Mangiapane’s major penalty for cross-checking McCann. However’ the Flames quickly equalized as Martin Pospisil took advantage of a rebound allowed by Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer. This marked the ninth consecutive game in which the Kraken surrendered a lead.
The Kraken regained the lead a little over two minutes later when Eeli Tolvanen converted a cross-ice pass from Yanni Gourde. Nevertheless’ the Flames managed to tie the game again late in the second period’ during which the Kraken struggled and only recorded three shots.
The Kraken’s woes continued as they couldn’t maintain their lead’ despite being outshot 13-3 in the second period. A crucial turning point occurred when Alex Wennberg broke his stick during a penalty kill’ leading to a goal by Noah Hanifin’ which leveled the score at 2-2.
The third period saw the Kraken fall behind’ with Ygor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund scoring for the Flames. The Kraken struggled to generate shots’ and the Flames took control of the game’ outshooting their opponents 21-3 from the start of the second period until the Kraken’s first shot in the final frame.
Coach Dave Hakstol believed his team was in control until late in the second period when Wennberg’s broken stick allowed the Flames to equalize. He dismissed the notion that the Kraken had fallen into a “trap” and admitted that the team was out-hustled in the first 10 minutes of the third period’ emphasizing the need for improvement.
