Success on special teams is a key to winning an individual game as well as winning throughout the season.
The Kraken were 1-for-1 on the power play Saturday and their penalty kill was 2-for-2. Early in the season, the power play struggled and went through a 10-game stretch when it was 1-for-33. Seattle started to find its footing with the man advantage early in a Nov. 9 game in Las Vegas.
Marcus Johansson came back to the lineup and helped set up an early power-play goal in the first period. Since then, the Kraken power play has been 10-for-37. That 27 percent success rate would be good for fourth best in the NHL if they had played at that pace the entire season.
"The group talked about it earlier today in their power play meeting," Hakstol said Saturday night. "We've been on a good run for close to a month where we've been on top of it, and really efficient. The last couple of games we haven't been at our level, you know, a level that we expect out of ourselves."
It was a good bounce back for the Kraken power play after a 0-for-5 night in a 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday - although a couple of the chances in that game were shortened by overlapping penalties. Special teams can be streaky and the fact the Kraken scored Saturday was an encouraging sign moving forward.
The Kraken have tried different combinations on the power play due to injuries and looking for the best combinations. Thirteen players have registered at least one point with the extra man this season, led by Jared McCann who has scored five power-play goals and Jordan Eberle who has a pair of goals and three assists.
Killing penalties is the other half of having good special-team units.
Just like Schwartz's power-play goal was important Saturday, so were the two Columbus power plays Seattle killed in the second period when the game was scoreless. Failing on those penalty kills may have the put the game out of reach.
On the season, the Kraken penalty kill is middle of the pack, ranked 16th in the NHL at 81.7 percent. Defenseman Adam Larsson has played the most while shorthanded for the Kraken, logging over 52 minutes of ice time on the penalty kill. Among the forwards, Donskoi has been leaned on the most with over 40 minutes this year.
The Kraken have scored twice while shorthanded on goals by Carson Soucy and Branden Tanev - both of whom scored shorthanded during the same game. The leaders aside, it takes several players to effectively kill penalties and the Kraken have used 19 different players on the kill this season already.
Not only is the penalty kill important because it keeps the other team from scoring, but it can help generate huge momentum swings. If you kill off power plays your opponents can sag, having lost a chance to capitalize and score.
The Kraken penalty kill is going to get tested this week. Wednesday they'll be in Anaheim to take on a Ducks team with the fifth best power play in the league at 25.6 percent. On Saturday, they'll host the Edmonton Oilers and their league-best 31 percent. The next night, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be at Climate Pledge Arena, and they own the league's second ranked power play at 30 percent.
Winning at special teams will be key in all the games this week - including Tuesday night in San Jose - and the Kraken have a chance to knock off more top teams, like they did at the end of November.
It will take a full-team effort, but Seattle has shown they can perform on both sides. The key will be finding consistency as they move through a tough portion of their schedule.
