Kraken @ Jets RECAP: Kraken try hard, can’t comeback in 4-3 Loss

This was actually a lot better than the score implies

The Highlights

Game Notes

• Your TOI leader was Adam Larsson, who played 21:44
• Y’know? I’m not nearly as broken up about this game as maybe I should’ve been once the horn sounded. Because after the first I was sitting here with my head in my hands going “oh god here we go again”. Another game where the Kraken had a bunch of defensive gaffes and got on the board to struggle hard for a comeback that wouldn’t come. But then the second period happened! The Kraken got a good tip-in from Yanni Gourde and then began taking ample advantage of the Jets’ somewhat stunning lack of care with the puck through the middle frame, tying the game just before the horn. That was, frankly, something the Kraken have badly needed to show us for some time; the ability to forecheck and flummox the opponent, and credit where credit’s due; they actually found a way to do that. Yanni’s line in particular, which had become a startling non-factor for a number of nights, absolutely overwhelmed the Jets in this game. And sure, they lost, but they looked good for an entire period and change and they were genuinely efforting hard. Given how the last few games have gone, that’s a major step forward.
• Special teams once again reared their ugly head as the difference maker in this game was Tyler Toffoli effectively being untouched as he makes his way to the net. Net-front defense has been good, and has been a problem intermittently in games, and boy did it look really…really…really checked out on that one. That’s gotta stop. Maybe too late for that to happen now, but one thing that’s been a real issue for the Hakstol system is a whole lot of puckwatching in their own zone. Again! It doesn’t happen often!…but it’s a feature; not a bug. Across 5v5 and special teams. Has to end.
• If it makes you feel any better however…this was something that Winnipeg dealt with tonight as well. Something about the way the Kraken play just seems to get the Jets off their game
• Honestly I thought Philipp Grubauer had a decent game; especially given that a sub-.900 SV% was actually kind of good compared to Team USA’s once and future starting goaltender dropping a .870 SV% and that frankly, all scoring plays may as well have been shooter tutor drills; for Seattle and Winnipeg. Hellebuyck did get one absolutely incredible save off which might’ve changed the course of the whole thing, but otherwise both goalies played their low-event game pretty well. It was everyone else who didn’t get the memo.
• Draft Update: The Kraken are dangerously close to what Zaiem has referred to interchangeably as the eating your vegetables/going to the dentist/taking your medicine portion of the season where they need to lose out in order to secure the highest possible draft odds. Odds that may in fact change dramatically at the Draft Lottery which does not yet have a set date. Great League, Gary! Either way, Tankathon sez that the Kraken are currently locked into the 8th overall pick of the Draft; In five simulations, the Kraken remained in 8th for all but one, where they moved up to 2nd. That would be cool! But that’s odds we can’t hinge our hopes on. Players available at this place in the draft are ones like Cole Eisermann, Zayne Parekh, Sam Dickenson, and Konsta Helenius. I know which one I want (and it’s the one from my actual, factual hometown), but any one of them would be good.
• The Kraken only have one more game left to play. This deeply frustrating season is at long last over. We can go give our spirit and effort to the Firebirds, and look forward into the future with clear hearts and eyes full of promise…we just have to get through Minnesota first.

Was there anything good about this game?

Absolutely!

• Yanni Gourde has badly needed a game like this. Directly responsible for two goals scored by the Kraken not just from his own effort, but from creating a turnover and then set Tye Kartye up for the game tying tally against a very good goaltender.
• Tomáš Tatar got a real pretty goal through traffic that beat just about everybody; catching Connor Hellebuyck asleep at the wheel. They’re gonna be a helluva lot faster than that come Saturday; Helly.
• Honestly, this is just a team thing; they kept battling for it. They kept battling and battling and they got a really good team to cough up the puck more than once in a compromising place on the ice and got this game closer than it ever deserved to be. Good on you, Kraken.
• DRAFT POSITION BABY

The NaturalStatTrick.com Charts

Yeah, nobody’s gonna look at either effort and call this a defensive struggle in any way that doesn’t describe defensemen struggling.

The Kraken’s final game of the 2023-24 season is on Thursday, against the Minnesota Wild. That game drops the puck at 4pm PT.

Thank you for reading, and Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.