Seattle rolled into the District on Thursday seeking to match its franchise record for consecutive wins, and it did so with a 4-1 victory over the Capitals at Capital One Arena. The Kraken have been riding steady and sturdy goaltending from Joey Daccord, a staunch team defense, and four lines that are capable of contributing offensively, and the formula worked for the eighth straight game, matching the franchise’s longest winning run in its brief history, a streak that was established at the same time last year (Jan. 1-14, 2023).
The Kraken got goals from four different skaters – including two defensemen – and nine different Seattle skaters picked up at least a point in the game.
“I thought we had a few breakdowns where we give them opportunities, where we just have to be way tighter,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “And the third period, too, that’s disappointing. There should be way more push from our leadership – top to bottom – and there wasn’t.”
Daccord stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced on Thursday, earning his seventh straight victory. He has yielded two or fewer goals against in all seven wins, and he has earned points in 11 straight starts (9-0-2), the second longest streak of its kind in the League this season.
“I’m just trying to bring the same mindset every night, and just trying not to get results focused,” says Daccord. “Every night, I go back to the drawing board and you look at the game plan – whether it’s the team or myself – and how you want to handle every situation. Just stick to the process, do the right things, and good things will happen.
“It’s been a lot of fun here, this last month now, maybe. I’m just trying to enjoy it, and to ride the wave.”
Twenty minutes into Thursday’s game with Seattle, it was easy to see why the Kraken has had so much success of late. The Caps had the best of the early scoring chances, but Daccord had the answer for a pair of early Alex Ovechkin opportunities – a one-timer from the right side off a Seattle turnover, and terrific tee-up from Joel Edmundson on a rush opportunity – and a pair of excellent Connor McMichael chances from in tight as well.
“I think I should have done the opposite of what I did on both shots,” laments McMichael. “On the first one, I should have got it up. And on the second one, I could have slid it right along the ice. But obviously, he made a really good save.”
As the period wore on, Washington’s offensive zone time dipped a bit while the Kraken went to work on the scoreboard. Seattle’s Tye Kartye broke the seal on the scoresheet at 8:50 of the first, scoring off the rush from the top of the left circle, just 18 seconds after the Kraken lost a draw in its own end.
The hole got a goal deeper for the Caps late in the frame when Seattle struck again, this time scoring in transition. After a Washington foray into Seattle ice was thwarted at the Kraken line, the visitors took off in transition and doubled their lead when Alex Wennberg scored from between the circles at 18:12.
The Kraken needed very little offensive zone time to score each of those first two goals, and it needed only six shots with which to score twice.
Early in the second, the Caps cut into the Kraken’s lead with a rush goal of their own. Trevor van Riemsdyk started the scoring play from deep in Washington’s end, sending Alex Ovechkin into Seattle ice with a long stretch feed. In turn, Ovechkin hit Max Pacioretty coming down the right side. The lefty shooting winger managed to squeeze a shot through Daccord from the right circle at 5:47, making it a 2-1 contest.
“Personally, I’ve been getting more and more comfortable, for four games in a row now,” says Pacioretty. “But you still want to obviously win the game, and to contribute a little more. We had a couple of chances there to get us within one. And you never know; if you bury one and the crowd gets into it, then you give yourself a chance to win. It would have been nice to get another one or help the team get another one to get back in it.”
But the Caps couldn’t quite get to the second intermission with the deficit at one. For the second time in as many periods, Seattle struck in the 19th minute, restoring its two-goal lead ahead of the final frame. Washington iced the puck with an unforced puck error, and nine seconds after the Kraken won the ensuing offensive zone draw, ex-Caps defenseman Justin Schultz bit the hand that once fed him, chipping a backhand shot past Kuemper from the top of the paint on the unsecured short side at 18:20.
“The third one is a crushing goal,” says Carbery.
When the third period got underway, it was quickly evident how crushing that third goal was. Washington waded into the third in rather lackluster fashion. Too many of its offensive zone entries were one-and-done or none-and-done. The Caps’ lone power play chance came seven minutes into the third, but Washington again wasn’t able to close the gap; it didn’t manage to get a puck on Daccord in the third period until that power play.
Shortly after the midpoint of the final frame, Seattle blueliner Adam Larsson blazed down Broadway and beat Kuemper with a backhander from in tight, accounting for the 4-1 final. It was another reminder of how Seattle’s offense came from the middle of the ice, an area the Capitals continue to have difficulty finding in their offensive zone shifts.
“It’s just a struggle for us to string [together plays]; the offensive polish just wasn’t there,” says Carbery. “You could see, we get pucks into a certain situations and it looks like it’s going to be a good scenario potentially, and we just can’t find a way to make that final tape-to-tape pass, or that final play that will give you a good look.”
