Fifty is Not Enough for Kraken

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol talked this week about the importance of finishing strong at Climate Pledge Arena for the Seattle fan base, which has been faithful through thick, thin and substantial winning and losing streaks in the past months. The squad certainly left with a hefty thank-you effort, notching 20 shots on the goal in the first 20 minutes.

The good guys didn’t downshift much in the second period either. But mid-game, the Kraken had landed 31 shots on goal against San Jose goalie Devin Cooley, making just his fourth NHL start. But the score was 1-1 when Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs scored just his second goal of the season and fifth in a career that has spanned 165 NHL games.

Burroughs broke the tie with roughly five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the second period. SJS teammate Fabian Zetterlund doubled the lead less than a minute later, redirecting a bullet-train centering pass from linemate Mikael Granlund from below the goal line. Kraken starter Joey Daccord got his catching glove on Zetterlund’s ricochet shot, but the puck worked its way into the net. The period finished with 34 Seattle shots on goal to 16 for the visitors.

Third-period comebacks have been sparse for Seattle this season. Cooley, a San Jose area native (Los Gatos) who made 34 saves as the winning goaltender for the Sharks overtime 3-2 win over wild-card contender St. Louis last Saturday, was clearly in a zone making his case to get more crease time with San Jose, who sent a seventh-round draft pick to Buffalo to acquire the former University of Denver goalie at the March 8 NHL trade deadline. Cooley finished with 49 saves and his second win in four starts.

“I think we had over 100 shot attempts tonight,” said Dave Hakstol post-game. “My focus would go back to the first period and finding a way to get on the board, finding a way to open up the hockey game. That's what we weren't able to do tonight."

When asked what his squad might have done in that opening period—or Periods 2 and 3, for that matter—Hakstol offered some perspective: “You can always do more. [Cooley] saw some of the pucks in the first period a little too easily. They were uncontested. But you also had some that were through traffic. He did a really good job sealing off the bottom of the net tonight. Some of the rebounds, we couldn't quite get up [past Cooley].”

The Kraken are now 33-32-13 and will embark on a four-game Central Division road trip to finish the season. Seattle plays back-to-back home games this weekend at Dallas (Saturday, noon) and St. Louis (Sunday, 10 a.m.) to start the trip. San Jose picked up its 19^th win of the year and currently has the NHL’s lowest standings points total, four less than Chicago.

And the Fan Awards Go to...

Not exactly how you want to draw up the annual fan awards with Thursday’s result, but the team provided plenty of thrills and high points, including a 3-0 shutout in the 2024 NHL Winter Classic and putting a nine-game winning streak inside a 13-game points streak that put Seattle squarely in the Western Conference wild-card race. Joey Daccord was in the goal for the New Year’s Day shutout and a huge reason for those winning/points streaks, filling in for an injured Philipp Grubauer and putting up a save percentage that was top-three in the league during that stretch. The “Joey! Joey!” chants were plentiful throughout November and December.

No surprise then, that Daccord was announced as Fan Favorite for the 2023-24 season as voted by fans and also earned the Three Stars of the Year Award, winning the points race (three points for each First Star of the Game designation at home games, two for Second Star and one Third Star). Daccord joins past winners Yanni Gourde (2021-22) and Matty Beniers (2022-23) as a fan favorite.

Leading goal scorer Jared McCann was selected as Pete Muldoon Award winner as most valuable player by media vote, his second MVP title in the first three seasons of the Seattle franchise (Vince Dunn, last year’s winner, remains on the injured list).

Veteran forward Jaden Schwartz won the Guyle Fielder Award for the second straight year, as voted by teammates. The award goes to the player who exhibits perseverance, hustle and dedication in honor of Seattle hockey great Guyle Fielder, who won professional Western Hockey League titles and scoring titles with the Seattle Totems during the 1960s and ‘70s. Yanni Gourde was the Guyle Fielder winner for the inaugural season.

Making Some Noise

On Fan Appreciation Night to mark the Kraken’s final home game of this third NHL season for the franchise, the cheers started early when Joey Daccord was announced as the night’s starting goalie, then soon after when anthem singer Tommie Burton stepped to the mic to Big Noise and next a very sweet standing ovation for all those 50-50 raffle volunteers who have helped raise more than $3 million for One Roof Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena.

The home squad did their best to generate more mega-decibels, putting up 20 shots on goal during the first period with nine attempts deemed high-danger or Grade-A or pick your description by Natural Stat Trick. The Kraken Grade-A scoring chance count nearly reached 20 on the night. But San Jose’s Cooley kept his teammates in the contest with big stops on the likes of young guys Shane Wright and Ryker Evans (twice), plus Oliver Bjorkstrand hacking away net-front. Veteran D-man Brian Dumoulin did break the Cooley spell mid-period, not long after the 50-50 raffle vols ovation and just a minute and 16 seconds after an opening goal by San Jose forward Luke Kunin.