Final Buzzer: Grade of '100'

The Kraken didn't do anything here to dissuade fan hopes for the squad to win an upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs series or more. While Vegas won the game, 3-1, and finished ahead of Edmonton in the Pacific Division, Seattle brought the type of energy and pace needed to stay with whichever Central Division winner (Dallas or Colorado, the latter if Avalanche win at Nashville Friday night).
Seattle's bid to finish third in the Pacific fell short when Los Angeles beat Anaheim to finish with 104 points. The Kings will face Edmonton in the first round.

"We looked like ourselves tonight," said Dave Hakstol, adding there was "no comparison" to Thursday's close loss versus Tuesday's 4-1 defeat in Vegas. "We did a ton of really good things. We played at a good pace overall and defended pretty well.
"We made a couple of mistakes for goals against. The first one just caught Grubi, right? He was a little bit unaware on that one. Then on the second one we're just trying to do a little bit too much [attempting to make a play that turned into icing] instead of getting a line change and living for the next play."
Hakstol mentioned the Kraken hitting three posts while pursuing the tying goal after Vegas went up 2-1 after two periods. Not surprisingly, Hakstol offered no preference on whether his team faces Dallas or Colorado. He pointed out that the Kraken finished the 2022-23 season with a 10-10-2 against Western Conference playoff teams and didn't bite on the fact Seattle has earned wins at both Colorado (early in the year) and Dallas (recently).
"You've got to be above .500 to win a playoff series," said Hakstol. "Either one of those series obviously presents a great challenge, two really good teams playing really well and have a ton of depth up and down their lineups and a ton of experience. We'll be ready for that test and challenge."

Burakovsky to Miss First Round

The Kraken announced after the game Andre Burakovsky is expected to miss the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after undergoing a surgical procedure Tuesday to address a recurring lower-body injury. Burakovsky was injured on the opening shift of a Feb. 7 road game against the New York Islanders in the Kraken's first game back after the NHL bye week and All-Star Weekend.

Knowing the Scoring

Vegas opened the scoring on a fluke goal when a Vince Dunn defensive zone pass intended for Jaden Schwartz caromed off VGK forward Reilly Smith's skate and past SEA goalie Philipp Grubauer, who likely wishes his stick blade was on the ice at the time.
But the Kraken answered with a bonafide scoring play started by another puck-battle win by depth forward Morgan Geekie (hello, Geek Squad and the fan fave's solid bid to get ice time in the postseason), who passed to Alex Wennberg. The Kraken center found Jaden Schwartz, who ripped his 21st goal past Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit.

Wennberg has been one of the underrated players on the Seattle roster all season, delivering big minutes, playing on both the power play and penalty-kill units, and showing up big as a two-way player. One sequence from Thursday: Wennberg extinguishing the final seconds of penalty-kill by holding off three different Vegas players trying to win back a puck Wennberg was protecting in the VGK zone.
Vegas forward Alec Martinez scored the game-winner in the middle period on a delayed penalty call, converting the 6-on-5 advantage and adding an empty-net score late third period. While no one in the Kraken locker room will be satisfied with moral victories or staying close Thursday night, the Kraken did outshoot the division winners 31-18 and doubled the high-danger scoring chances with 12 for and six against, per Natural Stat Trick.

Second Season to Savor

The best is yet to come in the form of Stanley Cup Playoffs competition, but the Kraken turned in one stellar and historic regular season for Seattle faithful and non-believers alike.
This wonderful hockey year started with most North American media observers not penciling the Kraken into the Western Conference top eight. Some writers, broadcasters, and podcasters leveled up to predict Seattle would be disrupters (if not postseason qualifiers) and much improved. Pretty sure no one out there in Expertland called the 19/20-win increase and 40 more standings points than the inaugural season. The Kraken set all kinds of records for a second-year expansion team since the Original Six to the current 32-team NHL.
But one Western Conference pro scout was in early on the Seattle turnaround. He was up in the press box in the Kraken's opening game at Anaheim, which turned out to be a 5-4 overtime loss despite 48 shots on goal. The scout called his boss the next morning to say "Seattle is a playoff team" and "they will be up there in the division, second or third."
His reasoning: Depth at forward (and that was before Eeli Tolvanen was claimed on waivers and Daniel Sprong was still working through the visa process). Multiple defensemen who are responsible at their own end and capable of pushing the offensive tempo, especially calling out the playoff pedigree of Justin Schultz. A full season of Matty Beniers.
All solid rationale. You can mix in Ron Francis making expansion draft choices that others may have questioned or glossed over: Vince Dunn's breakout season. The steady rise of Will Borgen from healthy scratch for the first half of 2021-22 to playing top-four minutes all second season long. Plus, Francis' signing the aforementioned Schultz plus Andre Burakovsky (leading scorer until his midseason injury) and Martin Jones (27 wins in goal).
There's more, but there's no playoff berth without Dave Hakstol and his coaching staff. Hakstol will play it down but if Hakstol is not one of three finalists for the Jack Adams Award for NHL Coach of the Year, it's flat-out robbery. Hakstol's ability to juggle minutes of a forward group that was 14-strong (only 12 dress for games) has been impressive. He was comfortable enough in his leadership capabilities to welcome an NHL head coach and veteran of 1,200-plus NHL games, Dave Lowry, into the coaches' room with undeniable results on not only the penalty kill but overall team morale.

Fan Appreciation Night Awards

Even though more games will be played at Climate Pledge Arena, the player awards on Fan Appreciation Night were announced to plenty of cheers and smiles:
Awarded annually to the player judged to be the most valuable to the on-ice success of the Seattle Kraken as voted on by both the Seattle media and Kraken players.
The player deemed the favorite by the best fans in the NHL (voted on by fans).
Kraken player who accumulates the most "points" on Three-Stars-of-the-Game votes over the 41 home games.
Goes to the player who best exhibits the qualities of perseverance, hustle, and dedication to hockey (voted on by players and hockey operations).