A look at the game “by the numbers.”
- On the game as a whole, Seattle split 5-on-5 offensive generation pretty much down the middle with Buffalo (51% of shot volume; 50.82% of shot quality) but that evening only came off a big push in the third period by the Kraken. The first 40 minutes tilted the ice in the way of the Sabres.
- Dave Hakstol reconfigured three of his forward lines and the trios of Andre Burakovsky, Jared McCann, and Oliver Bjorkstrand as well as Eeli Tolvanen, Matty Beniers, and Jordan Eberle paid off with both being on the plus side of the shot volume battle and the Beniers line generated 77-percent of all shot quality when on the ice in 5-on-5 play.
- The Kraken went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill marking their first perfect game short-handed in the last four contests.
- Jordan Eberle scored 24 seconds into the game it’s the third-fastest goal from the start of the game in Kraken history. Alex Wennberg scored 18 seconds into the Mar. 28, 2022 game versus Los Angeles and Eberle also scored 15 seconds into the Nov. 6, 2021 game versus Arizona.
- Both the Kraken and Sabres scored in the opening minute of the game. The last time two teams did so to start a contest was April 12, 2022, with the Blues (0:34) and Bruins (0:49).
- Tage Thompson’s goal was the fourteenth response goal allowed by the Kraken this season.
- The two Buffalo goals in the second period came 42 seconds apart and marked the seventh time an opponent has scored an OPP-OPP set of response goals (the Kraken have done this themselves seven times this season).
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen exceeded expectations by almost two goals (1.74) with the Kraken generating enough across all 60 minutes of play to have earned 3.74 goals according to Evolving-hockey.com
Here’s a look at our data-driven Instant Analysis from Sportlogiq (Click HERE for how to read this graphic):
