One: Home Cooking
This will be the first time the Kraken have ever opened a season at home. They’ve been competitive in all three prior road openers, two of them losses against Vegas and one an overtime defeat to Anaheim two years ago in a game they led by multiple goals and largely dominated.
Can playing at home turn the trick? Well, it’s worth noting the Kraken have also never won a home opener. They lost to Colorado last season and Vegas and Vancouver in years prior. Now seems the time to reverse that trend after a preseason that finished strong. With three road games up next, taking advantage at home seems key to getting off to a solid start. The Blues were 3-0-0 against the Kraken last season and are 3-1-1 lifetime at Climate Pledge, so it’s time for the Kraken to change the dynamic.
Two: Roll out the Welcome Matty
Matty Beniers has a bigger, stronger frame and used it amply throughout the preseason. He’s now back to centering the team’s “top” line alongside familiar faces Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle. While they could have used the last preseason game to get in sync, that was rendered impossible by a late scratch of McCann.
That said, given the trio’s successes in seasons past, they should know one another’s tendencies by now. That comfort level should help Beniers take the next step in his NHL progression. The threesome was split up multiple times last season due to injuries and circumstances that likely contributed to scoring declines by all three players. So, a successful Beniers this season should have ripple effects across the entire line and, by default, the team’s goal-scoring prowess as a whole.
Three: Seize the New Moment
It isn’t just Brandon Montour, Chandler Stephenson, Shane Wright and Ryker Evans making their opening-day lineup debuts for the Kraken to consider. The Blues are in a similar, even more crowded predicament, working in a plethora of new faces to go with perennial threats Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich.
Among newcomers making Blues debuts today: Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph, Alexandre Texier and Ryan Suter.
So, the Blues, who lingered as a playoff threat up until the final days of last season, could take time to get what they hope is a postseason contender up to full speed. The Kraken don’t have as many new faces, while Wright and Evans have at least played sparingly for them before. Stephenson finding early chemistry with new linemates Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky and Wright doing the same with Eeli Tolvanen and Andre Burakovsky could enable the Kraken to seize the edge on an unusual early weekday afternoon of familiarization for both sides.
