“We just didn't have a lot of energy tonight,” said Dave Hakstol post-game. “We couldn't find that burst of energy to get us going on the right track in terms of momentum.”
Though the game was 0-0 at the second intermission, Hakstol said Winnipeg turned the momentum in the middle period, keeping the puck in the Kraken end and forcing long shifts for Kraken defensemen. Losing Jaden Schwartz to an upper-body injury (no update post-game) didn’t help reverse matters.
“He's a factor there for sure,” said Hakstol when asked about Schwartz not returning after just eight minutes into the game. “That changes the rhythm of our four lines. We rely pretty heavily on being able to roll four lines.
“What [Schwartz] does, specifically at net-front, is important ... but that's that's not the difference in the hockey game. Not tonight. We didn't execute well enough to push momentum our way. I'm not disappointed with our effort or how our guys worked. It was a night that you know, we didn't just didn't feel like we had a whole lot of gas in the tank.”
Puck luck was missing too. Tomas Tatar hit a crossbar in the first period that could have been a momentum-changer if inches lower. Both Tatar and Daccord brought up shaking off the loss and getting ready for a huge game with Vegas on Tuesday.
“We had our chances,” said Tatar. “It’s just one game and we have to put it behind us. We know it's all in front of us. We have to battle for that [playoff] spot.”
Zeroing In
The first two periods were scoreless here for the Friday night rematch between wild-card contender Seattle and the visiting Winnipeg Jets, who have their sights set on the best record in the Western Conference. There wasn’t even a penalty called.
Instead, Jets backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit and Kraken goalie Joey Daccord (going for two wins against WPG this week) dueled with timely saves. Winnipeg outshot Seattle, 18 to 12, in the first 40 minutes but Brossoit faced six Grade-A chances to two for Daccord to stop. In all, both goalies kept this game knotted, ratcheting up the suspense of Period 3.
Riding and Streaking on the Rollercoaster
During a longer conversation with Jordan Eberle Thursday in anticipation of playing in his 1,000th NHL game when Vegas visits Tuesday, the veteran forward mused on his 14 seasons and how each one is like getting a roller coaster at the start of training camp in the fall and not getting to undo the safety bar until spring. When Ron Francis met with the media Friday for a post-NHL-Trade-Deadline availability, he was practically channeling the alternate captain with whom he agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension ($9.5 million, $4.75 million average annual value) Friday.
“The season’s a long one and you have your ups and downs, right?” said Francis, who buckled up for 23 NHL rollercoaster seasons as a player. “This year, we went 0-6-2 early and you’re thinking we’re kinda done. Then we go 11-0-2, only to get stopped by some kind of weird bug where 10 guys got sick and we end up losing four more in a row.”
Going into Friday’s rematch with Winnipeg, the Kraken had posted a 7-2-1 record for a much-needed upward trend to stay in the Western Conference wild-card hunt. No so coincidentally, Francis offered that the lineup he and his hockey operations staff envisioned to play the majority of games this season didn’t suit up as a group of 18 until, oh, about 10 games ago.
Then that group of 18 reformulated again with Francis voluntarily taking Alex Wennberg out of the mix until either re-signing terms were reached or the now-ex Kraken center was traded. Vince Dunn missed his second straight game Friday due to what Dave Hakstol called a “garbage” hit from behind perpetrated by Calgary forward Martin Pospisil (who was summarily banned for three games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety).
All bad enough, but the rollercoaster dipped here Friday night when Jaden Schwartz was announced during the second period as out for the night due to an upper-body injury he sustained during this matchup.
