Final Buzzer: Kraken Lose Goalie Duel in Nashville

NASHVILLE – On a night when Philipp Grubauer deserved a better fate, the Kraken couldn’t solve goalie counterpart Juuse Saros on the Nashville end. Seattle falls, 3-0, and will look to salvage standings points on the opening road trip in St. Louis on Saturday.

The third period started with Andre Burakovsky getting an open look in the first half-minute but shooting high and one shift later, on another choice look, Burakovsky shot wide. During the second power play of the night just a handful of game minutes later, the Kraken put up extended offensive-zone possession but couldn’t solve Saros or the Predators shot-blockers for that matter. Nashville skaters recorded four blocked shots to support their elite goaltender.

“The puck isn't going our way right now,” said Yanni Gourde after the game. “We’ve just got to slow down a little bit, keep it simple ... we're kind of going too quick and out of our structure.”

Gourde explained that “slowing down” is more about mindset than cutting speed: “To me, it means don't get too far ahead. Don't look at the next play when the puck is not even on your tape yet. Focus on what you have right now.”

Veteran and fellow alternate captain Jaden Schwartz echoed Gourde’s remarks, suggesting the Kraken might have erred trying to make the "extra play.”

“When you’re not scoring goals you have to get inside,” said Schwartz. “We’ve got to get into the goalie’s eyes [line of vision] and find some rebounds.”

Nashville Seals It

Nashville didn’t muster their first shot on goal in the final period until the eleventh minute. Grubauer stayed patient and made the stop on all-star Filip Forsberg, but just 46 seconds later free agent signee Gustav Nyquist scored for Nashville during a delayed-penalty situation (whistled on Adam Larsson) in which Nashville was playing 6-on-5 and moving the puck efficiently and swiftly.

Grubauer stopped Forsberg a second time during the 6-on-5 but the puck ended up on Nyquist's stick down low on the goal line to Grubauer’s left. The veteran winger moved the puck to net-front and ricocheted off Larsson’s skate past Grubauer.

Oliver Bjorkstrand hit a post inside of three minutes remaining in the game with Dave Hakstol sending out an extra attacker. But the Predators buried an empty net goal to make it a 3-0 shutout.

Powering Down, Turning Point

The Kraken’s first power play of the game and fifth of the season didn’t produce the first-man advantage goal on the young hockey year for Seattle. Unfortunately, there was a score involved with Nashville fourth-liner and penalty killer Colton Sissons winning a race for a lofted loose puck at center ice and beating Philipp Grubauer with a backhand shot on a breakaway with Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen attempting to slow down Sissons.

Sissons' linemate and fellow PK specialist Cole Smith earned an assist when he intercepted a mishandled Kraken exchange between Kailer Yamamoto (entering the zone) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (already in the zone along the right boards). Smith seized the puck and lofted it to the neutral zone. Heads-up play and Sissons did the rest.

The shorthanded goal was 90 seconds into the Kraken power play, which to that point didn’t seem in sync with Nashville's earlier working puck possession that led to Grubauer even having to freeze the puck on one Predators scoring attempt.

“It was a tight hockey game,” said Dave Hakstol post-game. “That’s a turning point at the middle of the game, giving up a shorthanded goal. They took a lot of momentum from that for the second half of the second period.”

Grubauer offset that momentum through the 40-minute mark. Just a shift after the power play expired, Grubauer spectacularly dove to stop another Predators attempt, this one by all-star defenseman Roman Josi to keep it close. The Kraken goaltender kept busy, facing 14 shots on goal in the second frame and 29 total after 40 minutes. Seattle managed six shots on goal in the middle period.

Net-Net Opening Period

Both teams were generating shots on goal and scoring chances in the first 20 minutes here in a matchup of squads angling for their win of the nascent season. The shots total favored Nashville with 15 to a dozen for Seattle, while the Kraken generated four Grade-A chances against three for the home team, per Natural Stat Trick.

Juuse Saros kept his net clean (he surrendered four goals in Tampa Bay Tuesday) while Philipp Grubauer, who turned in an official quality start in the road opener at Vegas, played his best period to date. Memorable stops included one near-crease save on Cody Glass just seconds into an early 4-on-4 segment set up by Kraken D-man Will Borgen and Nashville first-line Filip Forsberg going off for penalties.

You figure the “Gruuuuuuu” chants could be heard in the sports bars back in the PNW (shout out to the Anchor Alliance establishments) when Grubauer stopped the aforementioned Smith on a break mid-period and then came up with a stellar move on 22-year-old Juuso Parssinen to keep his own clean sheet.

“Grubi has been great,” said Gourde. “I thought he was unreal again [referring to Tuesday in Vegas]. He kept us in the game the whole night. Especially on that 5-on-3 [early second period when the game was still scoreless]. He’s been great. We’ve got to give him more, find a few goals.”