Final Buzzer: Ring in the 'W'

The Kraken started the New Year off right, even if the third period ended wrongly the first time around due to a game clock malfunction, with an eventual 4-1 win over the visiting New York Islanders. The Kraken are now 19-12-4 with 42 standings points, tied with Edmonton (with Seattle having played three fewer games), the opponent Tuesday to begin a seven-game road trip through Jan. 14.
Once five-plus minutes were put back on the clock, the Kraken continued a period-long forechecking and back-checking effort to disrupt much of the offensive flow for New York. Actually, make that a game-long checking effort, confirmed by head coach Dave Hakstol during his post-game remarks.
"We got back to it tonight," said Hakstol. "That's the bottom line. From the start, we were ready to check and play with a lot of purpose. Our specialty teams did a good job. Our goaltender [Martin Jones] made a couple of big saves in the last five minutes when it counted. Those are all the little pieces. Everything mixed in through the 60 minutes was a solid, not spectacular, but a solid 60-minute performance."

Jones was required to come up with a couple of Grade-A chances early in the final period and then held steady with those two big saves mentioned by Hakstol in the bewitched final five minutes, including when NYI emptied their net for a sixth attacker in the final two minutes, with Brandon Tanev scoring on that empty net to make it a 4-1 final. Jones is now 15-5-3 on the season.

Strong Start Marred by Late Goal

The Kraken controlled the pace of the first 17 minutes of Sunday's final game of a challenging homestand. They were up 1-0 on the scoreboard and holding a decisive 12 to 3 margin in shots on goal.
Seattle D-man Adam Larsson opened the scoring thanks to more stellar net-front play by Ryan Donato, who muscled the puck in on a wraparound move to the right side of the Islanders crease with NYI defenseman Noah Dobson on his back. Donato then swung a pass to Larsson, who got inside on New York forward Zach Parise and wristed it past NYI goaltender Ilya Sorokin. It was Larsson's fourth goal of the season and extends his current point streak to six games.

But former Seattle Thunderbirds star Mathew Barzal spoiled the New Year's Day fan vibes with his fourth goal in the last three games. Barzal took a cross-ice pass from Brock Nelson and partially whiffed on the redirected puck just outside Martin Jones' crease. The fluttering puck beat Jones between his leg pads, the dreaded five-hole.

Tolvanen Debuts, Scores on Power Play

Veteran forward Jaden Schwartz was whistled off for hooking with five seconds left in the first period, essentially awarding the visitors with a power play to start the second 20 minutes. But the Kraken penalty killers took care of business and, soon after, 20-year-old Aatu Raty committed his first NHL penalty, going off for tripping Schwartz.
Forward Eeli Tolvanen, claimed on waivers from Nashville on Dec. 12 and playing his first game for the Kraken, delivered a goal with a one-timer as part of the second power-play unit. Vince Dunn picked up the primary assist and Jared McCann earned an assist starting the play.

Tolvanen said Dunn told him on the bench to shoot the puck "as soon as I got it" on the power play when the second unit took their shift. Ryan Donato called his new teammate's shot a "bomb" in the post-game locker room.
"It's been a while since I played my last game," said Tolvanen, estimating it at "a month and a half" between appearances. "Of course, it's nice to get the first goal out of the way in the first game. We've been talking a lot about just getting pucks on net and shooting it right away when we get in the zone ... that's what I did."
"That power-play goal ... you can't teach that," said Hakstol about Tolvanen's shot. "That's an ability that he has and that was heavy. He got all of that. He beat a good goaltender on that play."
Watch: Kraken Sound: Eeli Tolvanen - Jan. 1, 2023 Postgame

Lineup Shake-Up

Dave Hakstol and the SEA coaching staff made some changes to the forwards group after two disappointing losses earlier in the week. Andre Burakovsky, playing his natural left side after a number of games at right wing, joined the first line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle. The second line moved Jared McCann to the right with Alex Wennberg centering and Jaden Schwartz manning the left.
The aforementioned power-play goal scorer, Eeli Tolvanen, played with Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. The former Nashville first-round pick looked in sync with his linemates. On the Kraken's third goal, scored by Bjorkstrand, Tolvanen was perfectly placed near the NYI crease to disturb Kraken defenders while Bjorkstrand deftly moved cross-ice and pivoted to score on his forehand from the right side.

The fourth line kept the pair of Daniel Sprong and Brandon Tanev on the wings, with Ryan Donato moving to center and Morgan Geekie listed as a healthy scratch. Sprong and Donato set up the Adam Larsson goal to begin the night's scoring.

Chasing the Elusive Two-Goal Lead

The Kraken had several good chances to take a 3-1 lead against Calgary in Wednesday's 3-2 loss. Instead, the Flames evened the game in the middle period and scored the game-winner in the final period.
Seattle fans and players alike were no doubt thinking Sunday the better idea is to get that elusive third goal. Oliver Bjorkstrand clearly agreed, showing his offensive extra gear to gather a loose puck net-front and rocket it past Ilya Sorkin, who made several Grade-A stops to keep this game close. Jamie Oleksiak (primary) and Yanni Gourde earned the assists. The second period finished with Seattle leading in shots on goal, 27 to 12, but trailing in Grade-A scoring chances (per Natural Stat Trick), 7 to 4. Martin Jones was clearly redeeming himself after what he is likely to call a soft goal himself.