Kraken (8-10-5) at Maple Leafs (11-6-3)  | 4:00 p.m.

One: Take Care of the Puck

After Tuesday’s loss in Chicago, both head coach Dave Hakstol and Matty Beniers talked about the importance of puck play especially against a team that is going to push offensively – just like the team the Kraken will face tonight.

“Our puck play was pretty sloppy through the first two periods,” Hakstol said. “That causes a lot of problems (against a team that is going to) push as soon as they have possession. They got us in that look a couple of times and that comes off of our puck play. We weren't sharp enough… and we gave up a couple of sloppy opportunities that ended up being goals against.”

The Kraken won just 45.7-percent of all puck battles versus the Blackhawks and gave up nine scoring chances off of turnovers. That’s not characteristic of this Seattle team so they will need to be back to their focused play in gaining possession and then keeping it to drive their offensive attack.

Two: Special Teams Focus

The Kraken power play didn’t score in five chances versus Chicago, but there are a lot of things to be optimistic about on both sides of the penalty differential that Seattle could capitalize on in Toronto.

The Kraken penalty kill has been perfect across the last three games and gave up just one power play goal against in 11 attempts across the last five games. And while the Leafs’ power play is potent, the team draws the third-fewest penalties per game (2.9) so the Kraken need to maintain discipline and continue to perform when the kill is called upon.

As for the power play, while Seattle hasn’t scored the last two games, they are doing all the right things to lead to the puck getting back in the net. The amount of shots they are creating and the quality of shots they are creating over the last five games exceed season averages to date.

Three: Know the Foe – Toronto

The Leafs remain an offensively talented team, this year led by William Nylander who has 12 goals and 15 assists for a team-best 27 points (Auston Matthews remains the goals leader with 14). Those two along with Mitch Marner (5-15-20) remain one of the most talented groups of forwards in the NHL. As a result, their attack is quick, high quality, and based on rush chances and creating follow-up looks off rebounds or forechecking.

But there is area for opportunity for the Kraken. Former Seattle captain Mark Giordano and veteran defender John Klingberg are both out of the lineup due to injury on a team that already ranks bottom five in terms of the chances they give up both in terms of quantity and quality.