Kraken Comeback Stalls in OT 

In a game that proved both encouraging and disappointing, perhaps the best part of the night was the Kraken recovering from a dreary first period with a fiery second period in which Seattle scored three goals with one called back for offsides. No matter because Jared McCann put the home team ahead, 3-2, on the first shift of the final 20 minutes of regulation.

But Tampa tied it at 3-3 to force the Kraken’s 10th overtime game of the season and a longer night that resulted in one standings point when Lightning star Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game and 19th on the year. The Kraken are 0-5-2 in their last seven games. Nonetheless, coach Dave Hakstol sees his team trending upward in Thursday’s loss to New Jersey and the Saturday OT affair.

“It's a rugged stretch,” said Hakstol. “It's tough. It's hard mentally on everybody. But if you take a look at the battle level of our group to come back from the two-nothing deficit and continue to push, that battle level was excellent.

“For me, for the group, really competitively digging in and showing real signs of turning that corner, you look at the New Jersey game, you look at tonight's game ... One point? It stinks and nobody feels good. But if you look at the way this hockey game went, you can still speak to a lot of belief in this dressing room, as there should be.”

Supporting his coach’s viewpoint, Jordan Eberle (two assists on the night, turning his own corner) contended the Kraken are still most definitely in the playoff hunt and noted lots of teams repair their regular seasons from December to mid-April.

Jamie Oleksiak spoke post-game about the players being vocal about the first period as not how this wants or needs to play with Tampa outshooting Seattle 13-4. The Kraken looked like a different team from the first intermission on.

The first period did not go well for Seattle here Saturday, but the second period, that’s more like it guys. After falling behind 2-zip after the opening 20 minutes, the Kraken rallied with a pair of highlight-reel goals to make it 2-all at the second intermission.

Grubauer, Schultz Both Injured

Some good stuff in the middle 20 minutes, except, painfully, for the final sequence when goaltender Philipp Grubauer came up favoring his right leg after splitting his leg pads to be in position for a 2-on-1 odd-man rush. Grubauer did not return for the third period, with the team citing a lower-body issue as the reason. Joey Daccord took the net for the third period and overtime. Dave Hakstol said in the media scrum it would be a day or two before Grubauer could be fully evaluated.

To add injury to injury, the Kraken also announced Justin Schultz would not return for the third period due to a lower-body issue, which turned out to be a puck to the face early in the middle frame.

The final period delivered a rollicking showdown with Jared McCann scoring his 13th of the season just 14 seconds into the action and Tampa Bay’s Nick Paul answering with a tying goal assisted by Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov, both of whom scored a goal in the first period.

Period Pieces

In Thursday’s first game of the current homestand, the Kraken heaped on 16 shots on goal in the third period, including six Grade-A scoring chances but no scores. Saturday night’s first period here at Climate Pledge Arena was a polar opposite. The Tampa Bay Lightning racked up 13 shots on goal, including six high-danger opportunities and two goals compared to four shots for Seattle. 

Philipp Grubauer earned lots of “Gruuuuuu” chants in the early going, especially during a four-shot power play for the Lightning with kicking away and gloving all attempts on rookie Ryker Evans’ first NHL penalty minutes. There were acrobatics involved and the home crowd loved it. 

But just under two minutes after the penalty, Tampa Bay’s Tanner Jeannot won a puck back and rushed Grubauer’s net with no success, the puck next ending up at the right point for TBL defenseman Nick Perbix to slam a low, hard shot that veteran forward and second-line center Anthony Cirelli tipped high-slot for the first goal of the night. 

In the final minute of the opening frame, Lightning star scorer Nikita Kucherov posted his 18th goal of the season. It also marked his 22nd point in the last 13 games. He later added an assist and the game-winning goal.

Second period, Second Story

Kraken play-by-play man John Forslund likes to inform viewers on ROOT Sports that a game’s developments often lead to “a new story.” After Tampa Bay put the Kraken on their heels in the first 20 minutes, it looked like Seattle would halve the deficit in the first minutes on a Devin Shore redirection at star goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy’s crease-front. Shore was the last Kraken skater to realize the puck was in because he had his back to the goal. Alas, Tampa Bay coach John Cooper challenged the play on the basis of an offside infraction on Seattle. The goal was called back. The Kraken faithful? Not happy and, yes, vocal about it.

No fear, the Kraken proceeded to tie matters by the 13-minute mark of the middle period. The scoring started on what is a familiar sight to Kraken fans this season. Forward Oliver Bjorkstrand quickly released a longer-range shot that beat the opposite goaltender not ready for that puck to arrive so fast, in this riveting past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove short-side upper right corner.

The scoring play is a textbook example of NHL players wisely using the sideboards. Defenseman Will Borgen got it started by stepping up to send the puck from the right point all the way circled to the left side boards, where Bjorkstrand’s linemate, Eeli Tolvanen, instantly rimmed it back to the right side boards and an awaiting Bjorkstrand. It’s Bjorkstrand's eighth goal of the season.

For Tolvanen, he notched his 12th assist of the season and continues to be a vital part of the Yanni Gourde line plus a top-three deliverer of hits and tops among Kraken forwards. Last Dec. 12, the Kraken officially claimed the Finland-born forward on waivers from Nashville. Tolvanen worked hard in practices and morning skates, getting his first chance on Jan. 1. He contributed 16 goals and 11 assists in 48 regular-season games, then three goals and five assists in the playoffs.

'Rig’ Goes Big

Jamie Oleksiak picked up his second goal of the season and the Kraken’s second goal here Saturday on a longer-range shot that beat Tampa Bay’s Vasilevskiy, who looked to be screened by a teammate. Oleksiak unleashed his shot with full force of his 6-foot-7, 257-pound stature and provided another example of Dave Hakstol’s systems of play that exhorts D-men to jump into the offense.

All props to the player called “Rig” by Hakstol, but must be said that the score was another example of brilliant hockey moves by veteran forward and alternate captain Jordan Eberle. Though he entered the night with a single assist in his half-dozen games, Eberle took ahold of the puck in the offensive zone later second period and showed the patience of a knowing pro, not rushing to find a taker for his pass, waiting another couple more beats before setting up Oleksiak. Eberle doubled his assist total in the game when he helped Jared McCann and the Kraken to take a 3-2 lead just 14 seconds into the third period.