Driedger Douses the Flames

Early in the Kraken’s now seven-game points streak, Chris Driedger was walking from the home dressing room at Climate Pledge Arena to the player's parking lot. The goaltender, always friendly, fell into a casual conversation and brisk stroll through the event-level hallways.

It was mentioned that Driedger, no doubt, was happy to be back in an NHL uniform after his last appearance in May 2022 for the final game of Kraken’s inaugural season. Driedger smiled and confirmed he was ready when called. “I’m champing at the bit,” said Driedger, using the correct verb when many people might innocently but incorrectly say “chomping.”

Champ, chomp, either way, Chris Driedger sunk his teeth deep into his first NHL start since May 1, 2022. The Kraken scored the first and last goals to outlast Calgary and jump ahead of the Flames in the Pacific Divison standings.

Driedger finished with 37 saves and a couple handfuls of heart-in-throat saves for Kraken fans everywhere hoping first that a tie game would stay that way. Then, after Alex Wennberg put the visitors up, 2-1, on a gorgeous saucer-pass from linemate Jared McCann, the 2-1 lead would hold up for a second feel-very-good story for a Kraken goaltender during December with Joey Daccord the backbone of the first six games of this point streak.

“[Chris] was outstanding for us right from the first period,” said Dave Hakstol post-game. “A couple of saves on the PK actually were more difference makers and he made one more for us right towards just before the end of the buzzer [in the second period]. I’m happy for him. He's worked hard.”

The slim lead from Wennberg’s fifth goal of the season did suffice and Seattle’s point streak extends to seven with a record of 5-0-2 and 12 points out of a possible 14 standings points.

Hometown Hero, Part 1

Chris Driedger played three seasons for the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen and set a number of franchise goaltending records and finished second all-time on other career marks. The goaltender who holds those other Calgary team records? Martin Jones, who signed with the Kraken in the summer of 2022 to fill a void prompted by Driedger suffering a serious knee injury during the gold-medal game of the men’s world championship about two months before Jones was signed. Wednesday night, Driedger was manning the crease for the Kraken with familiar sightlines in Calgary’s home arena.

“It's been a long time coming,” said Driedger to ROOT Sports’ Piper Shaw after the game. “It’s really special, especially to do it here in Calgary. It's my home in the summer. I’ve got some friends and family here so that is a lot of fun.

“The guys played a heck of a match out there. Huge [shot] blocks especially on the PK [he specifically mentioned Jamie Oleksiak and Alex Wennberg. Just an all-around team effort.”

Early to Rise, Early to Score

The Kraken flew into Calgary early Wednesday morning to respect the three-day agreement with the NHL Players Association for mandatory holiday time off. But pre-sunrise wakeup calls and phone alarms didn’t deter the Seattle squad from feeling fresh once on the ice.

Fourth-line winger Kailer Yamamoto scored his seventh goal of the season and fourth in the last seven games just two-and-a-half minutes into the first period. The Kraken generated four more Grade-A chances in the opening frame and then three more in the middle period.

Calgary Fired Up

But the hometown Flames, tied with Seattle in the Pacific Division standings and also looking to get more squarely into playoff contention, answered with 13 shots in the second period and even more in the final period (seven in the first four minutes of the final frame).

Part of the early third-period survival mode for Seattle included killing a penalty after dousing a pair of back-to-back penalties (overlapped by 10 seconds of 5-on-3 play) during the second period. One Driedger stop during the PK second-period marathon, his diving across the crease to stymie Calgary forward Elias Lindholm, was most memorable. Same for a couple of close-in saves on the aforementioned Kadri, who seemed to be at one goalpost or another too much for comfort. The second period ended with a big stop by Driedger on former Yanni Gourde Tampa Bay teammate Blake Coleman.

Nazem Kadri did knot the game seven seconds into a first-period powerplay goal off a faceoff that surprise starter-in-net Chris Driedger would like back. But the night – and the third period as it so dramatically turned out – belonged to Driedger, who earned his last NHL win more than 600 days ago.

Nazem Kadri did knot the game seven seconds into a first-period powerplay goal off a faceoff that surprise starter-in-net Chris Driedger would like back (seemingly a slight breakdown in communication with D-man Jamie Oleksiak). But the night – and the third period as it so dramatically turned out – belonged to Driedger, who earned his last NHL win more than 600 days ago (and he probably feels like the same number of rehab workouts). He stopped 18 total shots on goal in the third period.

Hometown Hero, Part Two

Kraken rookie defenseman played in his ninth NHL game Wednesday and woke up to consume a big breakfast to fuel up for the 17:03 minutes of time on ice he has been logging. Only this time, rather than the team’s training table or a dedicated breakfast spread at the team hotel, Evans was waking up in his childhood bedroom. His mom, Lisa, prepared all of his favorite morning foods. Evans, who was already in Calgary to see his family during the league's three-day holiday break, told ROOT Sports’ Piper Shaw he felt like it was a “second Christmas morning.”