Toronto Edges Past Kraken

The Kraken and goaltender Joey Daccord held the high-scoring Toronto Maple Leafs to just a pair of goals through most of Sunday’s encounter. Daccord was especially standup (well, and butterfly down) in a third period during which Toronto had fired eight threatening shots on goal before Jordan Eberle logged the first one for Seattle.

“Joey was good tonight,” said SEA coach Dave Hakstol, who later praised Daccord’s stops during penalty kills. “The first goal is a quick turnover on a pass out and he came real close to sealing in the post [on star Auston Matthews] ... He had to make some good saves at the right time, and was solid with his decisions with the puck again tonight.”

Eberle’s shot required an exceptional save by Toronto backup goalie Ilya Samsonov. Otherwise, this 3-1 loss (late empty-net score for the visitors) for the Kraken would have likely resulted in overtime and at least a standings point. Instead, the Kraken losing streak extends to four games with Chicago next on Wednesday in the current homestand. Seattle is now 19-18-9.

Keeping the Game (and Drama) in Reach

When Toronto went up 2-0 in the early going of the second period (not long after the Kraken had killed off the potent Maple Leafs power play units), everyone in Climate Pledge Arena and out in TV land (per play-by-play man extraordinaire John Forslund) knew the next goal would be vital. Either Toronto effectively salts the game or a Seattle score makes the third period more alluring to the Sunday night faithful that included new Washington football coach Jedd Fisch (the last name certainly fits and apparently so did 10 wins with surprising Arizona).

The Kraken chose drama and suspense for the pending third period. Tomas Tatar, the newcomer who continues to impress as a playmaker and get-pucks-to-the-net forward, skated from behind the goal line to spin a full 360 degrees and shoot. The puck bounced around crease-front with Jared McCann battling to the positive to shove the puck toward linemate Jordan Eberle, who cleanly snatched the puck, pulled away to the right, and flipped the puck past Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov. Eberle now has three goals and two assists in his last five games.

Blending Lines

One of the bigger challenges coming into this homestand was the coaching staff needing to juggle lineups with injuries and a roster-wide illness affecting both player availability and energy levels if they did play. Post-game Dave Hakstol answered a question about forwards adjusting to the lineup switches, especially who would center between Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen with Yanni Gourde out. But another question identified and addressed by Hakstol and his coaches who goes out against Toronto’s top line with NHL goals leader Auston Matthews.

“We kind of kept changing them throughout the game,” Hakstol fully admitted about forward line combos except for letting the Jared McCann stay together as a productive unit once again. “The McCann line [with Jordan Eberle and Tomas Tatar on the wings] has been pretty good and has generated [scoring chances] over the last few games. So that that line remained consistent.

“We made some switches throughout with Wenny [Alex Wenberg} and Eeli playing against Matthews the whole night. We flipped Turbo [Brendan Tanev] into that spot. That threesome did a pretty good job against the 34 line. It's a load to play against every single shift ... as we got into the third period, we had probably four or five shifts where we changed [combinations on the fly] ... once we had Schwartzy [Jaden Schwartz] Ollie [Bjorkstrand] and Burky [Andre Burakovsky] out there, right? so just able to play on the fly and one of those three would play down low [with none of them true centers].”

No Déjà vu for Leafs

Toronto fell behind 3-0 after the first period during what turned into a 6-3 loss at Vancouver Saturday. On Sunday, the visiting Maple Leafs played like a squad that didn’t want that to happen again and the Kraken responded as the team figured as much.

The result was a handful of Grade-A chances for each team with both goalies making big stops, especially Toronto's former No. 1 turned backup Ilya Samsonov twice holding off both Jared McCann (booming shots) and Jaden Schwartz (one net front that had to be partially smothered by a Leafs defenseman before Samsonov could get enough of the puck to barely keep Seattle scoreless.)

Tomas Tatar hitting a post mid-period helped Samasonov keep a clean sheet with six saves, including four Kraken Grade-A chances, per Natural Stat Trick. Daccord faced eight shots on goal but couldn’t corral one of them, a net-front deke and backhand by star scorer Auston Matthews seven minutes into this first of a four-game homestand. That’s a league-high 38 goals for Matthews, who had room to operate after a pass from linemate Mitch Marner.

The bottom-six forwards took to the scoring spotlight early second period. Third-liners Max Domi (with a centering pass) and Nick Robertson (quick-release shot near-net) made it 2-0 in what could be described as a family affair. Domi’s father, Tie, played for Toronto and probably would have been looking to fight Brandon Tanev, too, after the Kraken fan favorite got into not one but two scraps to the capacity crowd’s decibel delight. Robertson’s older brother, Jason, is a proven goal scorer who has topped 40 goals each of the last two seasons. Little brother’s goal is his seventh of the season. The two Filipino-American brothers are just the third and fourth players of Filipino descent to play in the NHL. Arizona’s Matt Dumba and former NHL center Tim Stapleton are the others.

Tanev Tantalizes

Just more than two minutes into this contest, Brandon Tanev took exception to a hit from Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins, who was subsequently whistled off for cross-checking. Tanev immediately bounced up to challenge the hit and Timmins’ D-partner Simon Benoit obliged by trading punches with the Kraken fan favorite. Big roars from the Climate Pledge Arena assemblage. Both players went off for two-minute minors for roughing.

During Tanev’s shift, Toronto forward d Tyler Bertuzzi was looking to mix it up. But it was settled by the officials. No worries, Tanev later period squared off with veteran Leafs D-man Jake McCabe for more fists thrown and a long, pretty much airplane-loud ovation for Tanev on his way to a five-minute stay for fighting in the penalty box, same for McCabe.