Kraken Feast on Seven-Goal Meal 

On a night when Kraken scored four goals in the first 20 minutes, tying a franchise record for second-most goals in a period, Seattle scored three to put Seattle on 7-1 cruise control. It was the laugher this squad was looking for after a recent run of tight games to make it eight standings points in the last five game.

The home crowd was all-in all game, no doubt knowing Thursday’s big meal of thanks will provide plenty of recovery protein and carbs.

“I said this morning [talking to media after the team’s morning skate],” said Dave Hakstol, “if we can just get over the hump a little bit, feel a little bit better about ourselves offensively, have a little bit more confidence, that's a good brick in the foundation for us.

“Tonight makes it seven of our last nine games we've earned [standings] points. That's not easy to do in this league. We also know there's areas we want to keep pushing to improve.”

Grubauer Listed Day-to-Day, Daccord Steps In

Joey Daccord faced only eight shots on goal through two periods (and just nine by mid-third period) but he made some point-blank saves to keep his clean sheet to near-end, including memorable stops on former University of Wisconsin star Luke Kunin early first period and another point-blank attempt on Filip Zadina late in the opening 20 minutes. The Kraken are now 8-8-5 with Vancouver visiting for a rematch Friday night.

Daccord has now helped Seattle gain standings points in eight of the 10 games in which was the Seattle goalie of record. By his own estimation, Daccord would like to have closed out some of those games with two points by regulation/overtime/shootout, but there’s no denying he is delivering performances that give his teammates the chance for advancement in the standings.

Turbo Revs Up

That Daccord stop on Kunin that rapidly morphed into a Brandon Tanev breakaway. Tanev opened the scoring with his second goal of the season (both here at home) by sending a knuckler of a shovel shot between San Jose goalie Kaapo Kahkonen’s legs.

Roars ensued, of course, for the fan favorite. But it is debatable whether Tanev’s goal or his rollicking fight with Sharks defenseman Kyle Burroughs late in the middle period. Tanev landed a number of wind-up-and-let-it-fly haymakers before the on-ice officials sent the pair off to the locker rooms since their five-minute major penalties would spill over into the third period.

Get Out The Calculator

Some hockey math to peruse in this game, aka laugher: Oliver Bjorkstrand enjoyed a four-point night with his eighth goal of year and hat trick of assists. Adam Larsson scored his first goal of the season while Jordan Eberle now has a six-game point streak going with two goals and six assists. Don’t look now but alternate captain Yanni Gourde scored his second goal in three games and has three-game point streak in hand and is no doubt looking to outdistance a five-game point streak he notched a couple weeks back.

More happy data: Jared McCann scored his team-high ninth goal of the year and would be at double-digits if a first-period goal wasn’t disallowed by a San Jose challenge for offside. Eeli Tolvanen, who continues to make Nashville look foolish waiving him last December, reach double-digit assists and also scored his fourth goal of the year to make 6-0 in the third period.

“Everybody contributed a little bit of swagger offensively, and most importantly, at the start of the hockey game,” said Hakstol. “We did not give them really an opportunity to grab momentum tonight. And that's one of the things that we wanted to try to accomplish.”

Eberle Shakes Head (Twice), Extends Point Streak Anyway

Kraken alternate captain Jordan Eberle now has eight points in his last six games, notching the primary assist on defensive stalwart Adam Larsson’s first goal of this third season and third straight Thanksgiving Eve home game. But Eberle was shaking his head and looking slightly mad at himself for not scoring on two early chances. San Jose goalie Kaapo Kahkeonen stopped Eberle on a first-minute breakaway, then smothered a Eberle backhand on the veteran forward’s next shift with linemates Matty Beniers and Jared McCann.

A couple of shifts later for the Beniers line, Eberle set up his young centerman on a Grade-A opportunity. Close, but no third-time charm concept. Kahkonen delivered another stellar save to prevent Beniers’ third goal in four games.

No matter, with a 2-0 lead, Eberle was deep in the Sharks zone with the puck. He sent a pass net-front only to have Kahkonen deflect the puck, which bounced toward Jared McCann, who tried to gather it with a skate. It ended up on the blade of Kraken D-man Adam Larsson, aka the pinball wizard for the night sending the caroming puck past Kahkonen for another helping of Thanksgiving Eve noise here at Climate Pledge Arena.

Then There Was One

Larsson joins the ranks of Kraken defensemen with at least one goal by the quartermark of 2023-24. Only Will Borgen is without a score among the Seattle blueliner and he figures to break through soon enough as a regular at jumping into the offensive flow. Borgen’s maturation as top-four defenseman is making GM Ron Francis and the rest of the Kraken hockey operations look smart for select the 26-year-old defenseman from Buffalo in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. He leads the team in hits and, along with partner Jamie Oleksiak, is routinely facing opponents’ top forward lines night in and night out.

As for Larsson, he works more on his shots and offense than some fans might think. He is sneaky good at playmaking no one should wonder why if Dave Hakstol ever sends out the D-man for a shootout try. On his goal, Larsson was holding his gloved right high long before he reach the bench for the customary handshake, then deftly raised his left glove too, high-fiving goalie Joey Daccord who skated bench-side to offer his congrats.