SEATTLE – Brandon Tanev didn’t have to wait long after the trade deadline to face his former team.
In fact, just nine days after being traded from the Seattle Kraken to the Winnipeg Jets, the 33-year-old found himself walking into the visitors’ room at Climate Pledge Arena for the first time.
“I’ve never been in this room before,” Tanev said with a grin, standing by his stall. “It’s one of those things where it’s going to be nice to see some old teammates and some friends. But when the puck drops it’s business as usual. It’s nice to be in a familiar place so soon.”
The speedy forward was an original member of the Kraken, selected in the Expansion Draft from the Pittsburgh Penguins in July of 2021. All told, he played 239 regular season games for the Kraken and racked up 83 points (with 41 of those being goals).
“You’re grateful for the opportunity and the experience here in Seattle,” said Tanev. “The expansion draft, we were able to build something, had some great memories over the almost four years. I made some great friends. The organization and everyone within it treated me extremely well. Nothing but great things about everyone here and it’s exciting to be back.”
Tanev registered his first point, an assist, in his second go-around with the Jets in Winnipeg’s 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night. The victory was Winnipeg’s second in a row and improved their record to 9-4-3 against the Pacific Division.
More importantly, it pushed Winnipeg’s lead over Dallas to 10 points for the Central Division lead with 15 games left on the schedule. Still, the Jets (46-17-4) aren’t getting ahead of themselves, and are focused on getting a season series sweep over the Kraken tonight.
Nothing has come easy for the Jets against Seattle this season. The first meeting went to overtime, which saw Nikolaj Ehlers notch the game-winner in overtime in the Emerald City (a game that remains Seattle’s lone overtime loss this season). In the rematch in Winnipeg in January, Dylan DeMelo put the Jets ahead 2-1 with just 27 seconds left in regulation, a lead they wouldn’t give up.
In fact, eight of the last nine meetings between the Jets and Kraken have been decided by one goal.
“They’re a team now that looks a bit different than they did. It’s a time of the year when guys are trying to prove themselves and are maybe playing in elevated roles, or trying to earn another contract,” said Mason Appleton. “It’s a Seattle team that’s going to look a little different than in the past, but it has been a lot of one-goal games. We have to focus on what makes us good and how we play the game and how we win in this league.”
Eric Comrie was the first goalie off the ice for the Jets and is expected to get the start tonight. Overall, Comrie is 7-8-1 this season with a 0.914 save percentage. His last start came back on March 6, when he made 21 saves on 22 shots in a win over Philadelphia.
“We have the (game) every other day going here,” said head coach Scott Arniel. “We have to be good in front of Coms. We have to give him some run support and he’s given us good goaltending. We have to make sure we do the right things, just like we did the other night.”
In front of Comrie, the Jets line-up is projected to look like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Namestnikov-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Tanev-Barron-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Samberg-Schenn
Fleury-Miller
As for the Kraken (29-34-4), they currently sit 11 points out of a wildcard spot in the Western Conference and will wrap up a three-game home stand tonight. Seattle is a perfect two-for-two on the home stand with dramatic wins over Montreal and Utah.
Brandon Montour scored the fastest overtime goal in National Hockey League history against Montreal, potting the winner just four seconds into the extra frame. The Kraken followed that up by breaking a 2-2 tie with Utah in the third period and hanging on for the victory.
“They have a real good rush game, a real good attack game,” said Arniel, who referenced the December match-up at Canada Life Centre as an example of Seattle’s ability to create opportunities off the rush.
“It was a back and forth, bit of a track meet at times early on. We don’t want to get into one of those. They’re still coming hard and doing the things they need to do. That rush game, us recognizing the D coming, we’ll have to be good in that area.”
No matter where their opponent is in the standings, Winnipeg’s focus doesn’t change. All the principles that gave them success against Dallas will need to be duplicated tonight.
“At the end of the day it’s two NHL teams. They have a lot of skill over there,” said Appleton. “You have to honour that and you have to work your butt off if you want to win in this league.”
Puck drop is set for 8 pm CT.
