One: Second Pair Playing Like First Pair
The continuing improvement of young defenseman Will Borgen is one of the under-the-radar stories of the Kraken’s three-year NHL journey. The expansion pick from Buffalo was handed a regular gig as Jamie Oleksiak’s partner about halfway through last season and he hasn’t let go. The two D-men complement each other’s skill set and share a willingness to do the necessary heavy lifting of the position and when to jump into the offensive scheme. Proof of heavy-detail work. Oleksiak leads the team in blocked shots with 23 while Borgen is top-five and likely to add multiples to that total in the games ahead. As for hits, Adam Larsson leads the Kraken while Borgen is third with 13 and Oleksiak is 4th best with 11 hits.
Borgen sends a lot of shots net-front and Oleksiak seems less and less afraid to get deep in the offensive zone with Borgen’s ability to thwart opponent’s scoring chances. Oleksiak is averaging about 18-some minutes a night with penalty-kill work while Borgen is in the 17s most nights without special-teams shifts. Both are reliable and both are capable of finding eight to 10 goals this season and let’s call it double-or-more that potential in assists.
Two: Breakout Performances to Emerge?
The Yanni Gourde line is overdue and you have to figure Gourde, Jared McCann (his production skews to power play work), and Eeli Tolvanen will start burying shots past goaltenders soon enough, perhaps as soon as Saturday night against Florida. Matty Beniers has turned in two stellar outings on this road trip to date (picking up assists and winning a healthy majority of puck battles) and clanged a goal post on Thursday. Jordan Eberle broke a five-game scoreless streak in dramatic fashion Tuesday night in overtime and his hockey history shows he can get on an extended production streak on offense once the points start to come.
Three: Know the Foe: Florida (3-3-0): Panthers Won Three of Last Four Games
Clutch playoffs star Matthew Tkachuk is looking for a first goal this season himself. He has five primary assists and six helpers overall to show he is involved in the FLA offense. He is due and his stat line suggests it. He leads the Panthers with 28 shots on goal and 32 scoring chances, with a remarkable 75 percent of those chances categorized as Grade-A.
Star center Aleksander Barkov is back in action after missing a 3-1 win over LA earlier this week. Sergei Bobrovsky gets the Panthers' nod as the starting goaltender on Saturday. He is 2-3 on the season with a .899 save percentage and a goals-against average of 3.06.
