It would seem the Seattle Kraken couldn’t have picked a better spot for their fathers/mentors trip.
The Kraken filled a luxury suite with their fathers and mentors at home Saturday night and they got to watch a 4-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings.
Next comes a packed flight to San Jose, where the Sharks have, by far, the worst home record in the league at 5-14-7 (Anaheim is the only other team in the NHL with fewer than 10 wins at home with nine).
“I think I can speak here for the group. I think once the dads and mentors and brothers are here, we don’t want to lose those games because they’re a huge part of why we play and why we get to play,” said Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who made 21 saves against the Red Wings. “This (win) means a lot to us.”
Following three straight losses on the road after the All-Star break, the Kraken are riding a four-game point streak (3-0-1). They could move into a tie with Vegas atop the Pacific Division with a victory at the Shark Tank.
“The strength of this team is the depth we have,” said forward Jordan Eberle, who had two goals and an assist against Detroit to break the second-year franchise’s record for most three-point games.
“We get contributions from different lines each night, from the back end each night. For me, you go into playoffs and you have that, that’s a tough thing to beat.”
The Kraken put a stop to the Red Wings’ five-game winning streak, breaking a tie with two goals in the second and another early in the third.
“I was happy with the effort,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We got off to a good start, we built a lead. We didn’t manage the puck very well in the last 10 minutes and that caused a lot of trouble for us, but (Grubauer) was good and we got through it. We had the benefit of the lead that we built in the first 50 (minutes).”
The Sharks have lost three in a row, including a 4-2 home loss Saturday against Buffalo. The Sabres scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and added a late empty-netter.
“It really seemed like we got very demoralized after they went up 3-2. Whereas when it was 1-0 and 2-1 we kept playing,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we really played well the first two periods and controlled a lot of the play. I didn’t love our third. They turned it up a notch. I thought we took a step back, and just miscommunication on the (third) goal. It looked like we got easily demoralized after they went up 3-2. We didn’t do much after that.”
Evgeny Svechnikov and Alexander Barabanov scored for the Sharks and Kaapo Kahkonen made 27 saves.
“I thought we did a good job twice (of answering) and just ran out of time for a third one,” Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald said. “But I think that the mindset is there to do that. If things go a different way on a couple of shots, it’s a different game.”
This will be the second meeting between the Kraken and Sharks this season. Seattle won 8-5 at home on Nov. 23, with Jaden Schwartz scoring twice and Andre Burakovsky and Matty Beniers each adding a goal and two assists.
–Field Level Media
