On Saturday, March 21, the Seattle Kraken faced off against the Columbus Blue Jackets for their second and final game of the season. The Blue Jackets won the first game 2-1 after a shootout.
Columbus started out strong, scoring three goals in the first period. The Kraken answered back with one, but the Blue Jackets still had a two-goal lead after 20 minutes. The Kraken kicked off the second period, scoring first, but Columbus scored again to keep their strong lead. The third period was an all-out battle from both teams, but the Blue Jackets scored again to take a 5-2 win. Columbus also swept the season series.
Kraken Off to a Late Start
In the first 15 minutes of the game, the Blue Jackets scored three goals. They scored on three of their first 10 shots of the night. The Kraken finally got on the board with their seventh shot of the night.
Adam Larsson gained control of the puck in the Blue Jackets’ zone and passed it to Kaapo Kakko in the neutral zone. He skated into the Kraken’s zone and paused near the boards. He waited until Vince Dunn crossed the blue line and reached the zone, and then he sent a pass to him. From there, he took a shot to get the Kraken on the board.
This was a beautiful goal from Dunn, his 11th of the season. He currently has the most points out of any defenseman with 41 and has the fourth-highest points total out of everyone on the team. Dunn has stepped up his performance and has become a great two-way defender for the Kraken this season.
Kraken Were Outplayed
The Kraken attempted a comeback, but there is no denying they were outplayed the entire game. On their first and only power-play chance of the game, the Kraken got to work.
Brandon Montour received the puck after the faceoff and passed it up to Eeli Tolvanen. He skated it into the middle of the ice, where he spotted Kakko near the goal. He passed it to him, and Kakko sent the puck into the back of the net.
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With two points in this game, Kakko should be proud of his performance. He did his best to put the Kraken in the best possible position to win this game. Unfortunately, the entire team was outplayed.
The Kraken gave up three penalties to Columbus, but luckily for them, the Blue Jackets didn’t score on the extra-man advantages. Seattle won only 42% of the faceoffs, with the home team taking the other 58%. As for the shots, the Kraken only had 17 shots on net compared to Columbus’s 28. It was a low shot total for both teams, but worse for Seattle by a mile. They only had five shots in both the second and third periods, which was not nearly enough to try to complete the comeback.
Kraken Need to Evaluate Their Goaltending
Joey Daccord was in the net for the Kraken, and there is no denying he made some brilliant saves. He made 23 saves and earned a save percentage (SV%) of .852. He did his best to keep his team in the game, but when the rest of the team can’t put pucks in the net, it’s hard for them to pull out the win.
Although Daccord had a good performance, it might be time for the Kraken to consider playing their third goalie, Matt Murray. He has been injured since November but was recently activated off injured reserve (IR). So far this season, he has earned an SV% of .922. Murray has yet to record his first win with the Kraken, but with the standings as tight as they are, it might not hurt to give Murray a chance.
Murray was great in net for the Kraken earlier in the season; who’s to say he won’t be now?
Kraken Continue the Road Trip
The six-game road trip has not kicked off in the Kraken’s favor thus far, losing their first two games. Seattle will look to get back in the win column when they take on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, March 24.
