Calgary Pushes Past Kraken in OT

The Kraken looked to be halfway to sweeping Division Week, aka four games against Pacific rivals in seven days to make up standings ground. They dominated the second period, but Monday’s hard-fought divisional tilt see-sawed with a Flames early lead, then a Kraken advantage, then a tie game, then another Seattle lead, and tie game late. The outcome of the usual 60 minutes was another Kraken overtime, the eighth of the season in 20 games.

Rasmus Anderson scored the OT game-winner for Calgary with 1:32 left in extra time. The Kraken now have gained six standings points in the last four games.

Seattle outshot Calgary, 17 to 5, in the second period, scoring twice to build a 3-2 lead. The situation turned upside down for the Kraken with the visitors firing 16 shots at Joey Daccord’s net while the home guys finished with three shots.

“They’re gonna push, they're gonna get some volume, they're still a shot volume team,” said Dave Hakstol post-game when asked about the abrupt third-period turnaround. “We spent a little bit too much time in our own end. A lot of that comes off two things: faceoff losses [in the defensive zone], plus being under pressure and not making that next play to spend time in the offensive zone. When you do that, it's going to create and push momentum to the other side.”

Hakstol was openly disappointed about not earning the full two standings points, especially at home where Seattle is still looking to get above .500. He didn’t have much inclination to consider the good. Same for alternate captain, Jordan Eberle, who now has seven points in his last five games with a two-game furlough to mend from an accidental cut in practice.

“We’ve got to find games to close out if we have leads or find a way to come back,” said Eberle, adding he and his teammates need to figure out how to upgrade an overtime record that now includes two OT wins, three OT losses, one shootout win, and two shootout losses.

Middle March for Seattle Scoring Leaders

The second period was stellar and fan-noise-friendly with Vince Dunn and Jared McCann supplying goals and a 3-2 Seattle lead on the strength of a dominant 17 shots of goal and five high-danger scoring chances for the Kraken, the latter per Natural Stat Trick.

Breaking through on Flames goalie Dan Vladar was satisfying in its own right. He’s turned in quality starts against Seattle in recent times. But perhaps even more rewarding for Dave Hakstol and his squad is the roaring back into this game when the first period went a bit off the rails. Players and coaches alike will admit to some dud second periods during November (probably could point to October too). It’s encouraging to see the game turn Seattle’s way lately (Vancouver Saturday, for example).

Jordan Eberle tied matters with his third goal of the season and second in two games. He’s now on a five-game point streak with two goals and five assists. It was Dunn’s 15th assist of the season; he now leads all Kraken scorers with three goals and those helpers to slot at 18 points.

Note about the Eberle goal. He was on the ice with Yanni Gourde and Tye Kartye following power play shifts when some linemates needed a breather. Both forwards were digging and buzzing to generate chaos around Vladar. Gourde cycled the puck along the boards back to Dunn to shoot from the point. Eberle sent the rebound back at Vladar, the puck trickling in while Kartye was working his big body net-front to screen Vladar, impressive for a rookie.

Jared McCann is still chasing Dunn in a friendly scoring-leader race. The winger scored his eighth goal of the year as he fought off traffic net-front to get his stick blade waist-high to deflect an Adam Larsson stinger of a shot from the blue-line vicinity, right point. Hey, if Larsson’s defensive partner can do it, so can he.

Goalie Gab

With seconds left in the opening 20 minutes, Calgary worked a play toward Grubauer. The shot never reached him but the Kraken goalie appeared to labor as he tracked the puck. At the horn signaling the end of the period, Grubauer bent over enough to make some onlookers wonder if maybe he tweaked something. Another indicator: Grubauer skated off the ice swiftly and made a beeline for the player's tunnel.

Dave Hakstol said after the game Grubauer was replaced because he was shaken up near the end of the first period, not just on the final sequence but during other rushes toward his net. Hakstol said the team will find out more Tuesday about Grubauer’s status.

It would be sensible enough for fans not to see Grubauer potentially fighting some sort of ailment to conclude Joey Daccord was a replacement based on performance. Daccord came off the bench to make a couple of early clutch saves in the second frame and add some timely freezing of pucks to slow down the game when needed. The when-needed concept was sparing in the period with the visitors managing just six shots on goal.

But Daccord and his teammates were tested in the final 20 minutes, with the rookie making a huge save, smothering a tip-in attempt by first-goal-of-the-game scorer Elias Lindholm about four minutes into the period. Daccord and the penaltykillers survived a late power play awarded to Calgary with more standout work. But Calgary’s Andrew Mangiapane, who left the Nov. 4th contest way early with a match penalty for an illegal hit on Jared McCann, got the puck past Daccord with just under five minutes remaining in regulation to push.

Getting Past the ‘First Guy’

Alex Wennberg won a faceoff clean during play between the two Flames goals, drop-passing the puck to an awaiting Vince Dunn. The Kraken’s leading scorer wound up and logged his third goal of the season to go with 14 assists, the latter good for top five among NHL defensemen going into the night’s action.

“To be honest, I was just trying to get it past the first guy [Calgary’s Blake Coleman],” said Dunn, when ROOT Sports’ Piper Shaw asked how the Kraken D-man found a shooting lane on the goal.