Final Buzzer: Battling Back-To-Back

Playing in the back end of their first set of back-to-back games in the span of a week the Kraken fell behind early, as Vancouver notched two highlight-reel goals in the first period. Yanni Gourde cut the lead in half late in the first period to keep the game manageable heading into the second.
Kicked off by a Brandon Tanev shorthanded goal just over five minutes into the second period, the Kraken would roar back with two more goals from Jordan Eberle to break the tie, followed by Jaden Schwartz who became the 4th Kraken skater this season to reach the 20-goal mark by tipping a Daniel Sprong shot from the point past goaltender Collin Delia.

Vancouver's Usual Suspects Strike In First

In nearly two complete seasons of Kraken hockey, few players have terrorized Kraken fans more than Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland. The former logged a five-point performance (2G 3A) against the Kraken on December 22nd in a 6-5 shootout win for the Canucks. The latter scored the game-winning goal in the Kraken's first-ever home game at Climate Pledge Arena. Each had 9 career points against the Kraken heading into tonight's contest and both would provide some magic in the first period.
Pettersson would strike first with a clever goal, accepting a pass from linemate Andrei Kuzmenko in tight while jostling in the crease with Will Borgen. The crafty winger hooked the puck behind his body and slid it into a mostly open net.
Garland would get the primary assist on Vancouver's second goal of the period, pulling off a highlight reel fake shot, that likely caught everyone in Rogers Arena off-guard. Garland wound up for what looked to be a one-time shot but instead went cross-crease to Anthony Beauvilier who had a wide-open net to put Vancouver up two.

'Power Kill' Magic

In an April 2022 edition of '
Analytics With Alison
,' Kraken analyst Alison Lukan detailed changes that the Kraken made to their penalty kill in an effort to, "apply more pressure to opponents' power plays and look for triggers that could be opportunities to take over possession of the puck and go on the offense."
A year later the 'power kill' has provided goals in back-to-back nights. On Monday it was Jared McCann igniting the Climate Pledge Arena crowd in a win over Arizona with a shorthanded goal. On Tuesday evening it was Brandon Tanev. 'Turbo' applied pressure at the blueline, gained possession and streaked up ice with McCann flying down his opposite wing. Tanev would fire the puck high blocker past Delia, grazing the post and crossbar to give the Kraken their first lead of the game.

Before Tanev's go-ahead goal, Vince Dunn, fresh out of the box, nearly had some PK magic of his own after the Kraken valiantly killed 55 seconds of a 5-on-3 Canucks powerplay. As the penalty expired, Kuzmenko misfired a shot that rung around the glass and up to a waiting Dunn. Dunn skated in on a breakaway but couldn't beat Delia.
Prior to tonight, since January 16th the Kraken penalty-kill ranks 3rd in the league with an 86% success rate. They were able to improve upon that tonight, killing off all five penalties they took, including a double minor to Alex Wennberg in the 3rd period.
After the first period, Piper Shaw asked Yanni Gourde what he thought the catalyst for the recent success was. "We're detailed right now," said Gourde, catching his breath from killing a penalty moments prior. "We're executing but there's still a lot to improve."

Bjorkstrand Out, Froden In

Kraken fans were probably a bit concerned for a few moments when Oliver Bjorkstrand wasn't present during pregame warm-ups with his Kraken teammates. Bjorkstrand played a remarkable game Monday, netting his 19th goal of the season.
Just before puck drop, Kraken play-by-play man John Forslund announced that Bjorkstrand was heading back to Seattle to welcome he and his partner's first child. Some relief and celebration for fans of Bjorkstrand.
Jesper Froden was tapped to dress in place of Bjorkstrand and skate on his line with Eeli Tolvanen and Yanni Gourde. It was Froden's first action since February 23rd in a 6-5 loss to Boston where he registered an assist.
Froden would find the scoresheet late in the 1st period setting up Yanni Gourde's 12th goal of the season. On the play, Gourde picked up the Canucks soft dump as their forwards headed off for a change. The veteran quickly sent a pass to Froden on the near wall, who entered the zone and delayed just enough for Gourde to rejoin the play as the trailer. Froden passed it back to Gourde who shot, using center Nils Aman as a screen, to beat Collin Delia and cut the deficit to one.

Streakless In Seattle

No matter how you slice it, Kraken fans should be largely satisfied with their team's result as the 2022-23 regular season comes to a close. They defeated every team in the Pacific division at least once and achieved 4 winning streaks of 5 games or more, most notably an 8-game winning streak that began on New Year's Day that saw the franchise become the first team in league history to sweep a road trip of seven games or more. They've also prevented six 3-game losing streaks from reaching four.
In recent weeks, the Kraken have yo-yoed a bit, alternating wins and losses for 9 straight games since March 13. They put a halt to that trend with a win Tuesday, stringing together back-to-back W's for the first time since March 7th.