Andre Burakovsky – back in the lineup and a sight for sore Kraken fans’ eyes – picked up his third assist of his interrupted season (he notched the first two on Oct. 19 in a 7-4 home win over Carolina before sustaining an upper-body injury on Oct. 21). Burakovsky, known for slick playmaking and a wicked shot, earned the so-called apple by forechecking the puck away, availing it to Wennberg. Those little things can lead to bigger things for Burakovsky, if not Thursday, then soon.
Burakovsky appeared to favoring his upper body after a couple of short shifts early in the third period and wasn’t available for the remainder of the game, per Dave Hakstol post-game “We'll have to evaluate that as we as we go into tomorrow morning.”
The tie game was short-lived with New Jersey answering with a response goal (within two minutes of another goal) from rookie Simon Nemec, a Slovakia-born defenseman who was the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft and playing in just his third NHL game. It’s Nemec’s first goal. He, too, like Ryker Evans for Seattle, has been developing at a fast clip at the American Hockey League level.
Power Play Near-Misses
By the time the Kraken were afforded their power play of the night in the middle period. Seattle had nearly doubled the visiting Devils in shots on goal. They proceeded to double it with a couple of tantalizing chances but couldn’t solve 23-year-old Swiss goaltender Akira Schmid playing in just his 35th NHL game. Fans got a brief glimpse of first-game rookie Ryker Evans quarterbacking the second unit. Make no mistake, we will see a lot of the lefty D-man in seasons to come and perhaps more this weekend.
Evans Evaluated
When Ryker Evans took his traditional NHL debut-game solo lap before Thursday’s matchup with New Jersey, he was about to be the first player in franchise history to get his first NHL minutes at Climate Pledge Arena. He comported himself solidly during the first period on seven shifts totaling six-plus minutes, breaking up a scoring threat early on and riding an NHL veteran forward out of the scoring lane later in the opening 20 minutes.
That he was here at all in December took Evans by surprise, even if the klatch of Kraken scouts who believed in him back in the summer of 2021 predicted he would in fact be in the lineup in relatively short order. When AHL affiliate Coachella Valley coach Dan Bylsma called his star defenseman (he made the AHL all-rookie team last season and represented the Firebirds at the league’s midseason all-star game) into his office earlier this week, Evans assumed it was a normal catch-up session. Hardly, Bylsma casually mentioned the call-up and pending trip up to the PNW in time to practice Wednesday.
“Yeah, he kind of caught me by surprise,” said Evans at his locker positioned in the middle of defensemen’s corner at Kraken Community Iceplex.
But the Kraken players in the locker room were definitely taken aback, nor were Dave Hakstol and the coaching staff, especially defenseman whisperer and assistant coach Jay Leach. Alternate captain and defensive stalwart Adam Larsson was vocal about Evans playing impressively during the preseason, punctuating his comments by saying the soon-to-be 22-year-old (Dec. 12) would be playing in the NHL for a long time. No small thing to evoke such from Larsson.
Hakstol frequently has raved (contextually in the coach’s even-keel scale of praise) about Evans’ work on the offensive portion of the ice (“confident, skilled”) and growing competence in the defensive end. To that end, Evans patrolled another seven shifts in the second period, holding his defensive assignments and firing his first NHL shot on goal. He had a couple of hits through 40 minutes for good measure.
Evans finished the night with nearly 18 minutes of time on ice and was on the ice for his Firebird buddy Tye Kartye’s goal and none against. He exhibited strong passing chops and poise, all enough to believe he will get more shifts this weekend as the homestand continues.
“He played with a real good veteran [Brian Dumoulin]and the two of them communicated well,” said Dave Hakstol. “Their play was good. I was real happy with Ryker’s game tonight. He looks comfortable and confident. I thought he displayed that right away from the start of the hockey game and all of the way through. We played against a team that's got some pace and transitions really quick. Ryker looked comfortable and he handled that.”
