Joey Daccord, Sunday’s starter in goal after Philipp Grubauer landed on the IR with a lower body injury Saturday night against Tampa Bay, made a couple of huge saves in the first eight minutes of the third period to keep the Kraken within shooting distance of a tie. Daccord’s save on Minnesota phenom Kirill Kaprizov ignited mega-decibels from a crowd yearning to cheer a tying goal that never materialized. Daccord made another big stop mid-period on a point-blank one-timer on Ryan Hartman.
But two minutes later, Marco Rossi doubled Minnesota’s lead and put Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson in the driver’s seat and shut out mode. A late empty net score by the Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek with less than four seconds remaining put a 3-0 final in the W column for the Central Division foe.
Daccord, who was in goal a week ago Saturday night in Ottawa when the Kraken were shut out 3-0, deserved a better fate Sunday. He finished with 23 saves with Minnesota Grade-A scoring chances in double digits.
“We’re 50-plus minutes into the game and he's done a nice job keeping the game at one,” said Hakstol about his goaltender’s night. “You know, we've got to get one for him. We're talking very highly of his performance.”
‘Power’ Buttoned
On page or digital screen, the prospect of Seattle scoring on a power play seemed a reasonable projection with the visiting Wild ranked 32nd of 32 NHL teams in penalty kill percentage. That scanned, the percentage is 70 percent so there is no gimme in any man-advantage situation. The Kraken came up empty on five shots on goal during two power plays in the first 20 minutes. During a third-period power play, Seattle couldn’t convert again, this time blanked with two more shots on goal.
Goalie Duel and New Goalie Duo
The game’s goaltenders, Joey Daccord for the Kraken, and Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson, entered the night with identical save percentages of .894. Daccord’s record of 3-4-6 had calculated to standings points in nine of 13 games while Gustavsson had proven a bit underwhelming at 5-7-2 after a stellar 2022-23 season.
Through two periods, Daccord faced eight Grade-A scoring chances off the sticks of Wild players contrasted to four such opportune scoring attempts by Seattle. Gustavsson finished with 24 saves and the shutout, plus bragging rights and a higher save percentage for the night.
With Philipp Grubauer scheduled to be evaluated again on Monday, Daccord is the presumed No. 1 goalie. He was joined in goalie gear by original Kraken Chris Driedger, who missed all of last season with a serious knee injury.
Driedger has been keeping sharp with AHL affiliate Coachella Valley and didn’t have to go far mileage-wise to join his many Kraken pals. Driedger and the Firebirds won two games against the Abbotsford Canucks in B.C. over the weekend with Driedger picking up both W’s in net, stopping 22 of 24 shots Saturday night after a 23-save night Friday. Jaycob Megna, with CVF on a conditioning stint, scored his first goal of the season (he’s been a reserve for all Kraken). He was recalled along with Driedger because of the uncertain status of defenseman Justin Schultz, who took a puck to the face Saturday during the middle people of the OT loss to Tampa Bay Saturday.
Evans Update
Playing three games in four nights on the third defensive pair and quarterbacking a power-play unit didn’t seem to faze 2021 second-round draft choice (35th overall) Ryker Evans’ debut in the NHL. Evans looked poised and confident from the first shift against New Jersey Thursday (Dave Hakstol agrees and said so post-game) and delivered simple, strong, and clean-sheet defense over the trio of games.
Most nights, Kraken fourth-line center and unwavering optimist Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who turns 39 in March, is the oldest player on the ice by a few years or even more. Sunday’s contest featured a couple of contemporaries of sorts for Bellemare. Minnesota leading scorer Mats Zuccarello is 36 and starred for Norway in the 2010 Winter Olympics, earning himself a contract with the New York Rangers despite his 5-foot-7 height, which prompted the nickname “Hobbit Wizard” that has since been tweaked by NHLers who refer to him as “The Lizard."
Pat Maroon, 35, is a third-line wing for Minnesota, acquired over the summer from Tampa Bay for his toughness and defensive-responsibility, is never going to buy a meal in St. Louis again after the hometown boy helped the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019, then completing his own sort of hat trick (one appealing to any hockey dreamer) by winning the two more Cups (with Yanni Gourde as a teammate in 2020 and 2021) and then getting to know Bellemare as a TBL team member in the last two seasons.
Maroon nearly scored on a hustle play (another reason Minny traded for him) in the second period, when the veteran skated to a long rebound after Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord stopped a breakaway attempt by 22-year-old Austrian-born Marco Rossi (drafted No. 9 overall in 2020). Maroon winged the puck past a moving Daccord but it clanged the far post and caromed back near-post. But somehow the puck stayed to afford Seattle a chance to tie matters on the next potential goal in this tight game.
Going Boldy Into the Net
Minnesota opened the scoring in the first period when Kirill Kaprisov carried the puck out of the defensive zone along the left wall, skating to a center lane in the neutral zone, opening up time and space for young forward Matt Boldy to receive a leading pass from Kaprisov, sneaking it behind the defense and dekeing past Joey Daccord for his seventh goal of the season.
Boldy has scored six goals in the last seven games since John Hynes, most recently the head coach in Nashville, took over in St. Paul, replacing Dean Evason. Hynes and the Wild started the new boss’ reign with four straight wins before dropping the last two games in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Evason replaced Bruce Boudreau midseason in 2019-20 and led the squad to four straight playoff appearances and a 147-77-27 regular season record. But with high expectations, the Wild’s 5-10-4 start this hockey year prompted GM Bill Guerin to switch up the coaching staff. Probably didn’t help that Minnesota never advanced past the first round in the four postseasons with Evason in charge.
