Takeaways From Kraken’s 4-3 Overtime Win Against Maple Leafs, Road Trip At Large
After their 4-3 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, the Seattle Kraken are halfway through their six-game road trip.
All three games went past regulation so far, but the Kraken got back into the win column Saturday when Josh Mahura took a backhand entry pass from Jordan Eberle at the blue line and skated in to beat Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz at 3:05 in overtime.
The win extended Seattle’s season-opening point streak to five games (3-0-2), which is the best start in the franchise’s short history.
Here are some takeaways from Saturday’s matchup, and the first half of the road trip as a whole:
Next Man Up
Playing without Freddy Gaudreau (upper body) and Brandon Montour (personal) in the lineup on Saturday, the Kraken relied on players like John Hayden and Cale Fleury to take their spots not only in the lineup, but on special teams as well.
Both made contributions, with Fleury on the ice in Montour’s spot on the second unit for Shane Wright’s power-play goal at 7:29 of the first period. Fleury sent the puck inside to Eeli Tolvanen, who dished it out to Mason Marchment behind the right circle.
Marchment drifted in and ripped a shot off Stolarz’s pad, which rebounded directly to Wright in the left circle for a quick shot to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.
Hayden, meanwhile, had 1:19 of ice time on the penalty kill, where Gaudreau typically plays a large role. With Hayden on the ice at 4-on-5, Toronto did not manage to put a shot on goal.
“John Hayden did a really good job,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert told reporters in Toronto. “He helped out on the penalty kill, and obviously Mahura with the goal at the end, stepping into a situation or a position. … It was really good to see. I thought our guys stuck with it.”
To close things out, as Lambert alluded to, Mahura received ice time in overtime that otherwise would have gone to Montour, and he rewarded Lambert’s decision by scoring the winner.
“Just ready to go,” Mahura told reporters in Toronto after the game. “I feel comfortable and confident in any situation, so just when my name got called, I was just excited and ready to take the opportunity.”
For an injury-riddled team to be unbeaten in regulation through five games, it takes contributions from all over the lineup, and so far the Kraken have seen that in ways big and small.
Productive Adjustments
Since the beginning of training camp, Lambert has stated that he won’t be afraid to make adjustments to the lineup if he feels a combination is not clicking, and he did just that on Saturday.
While Marchment’s shot on the power play set up Wright’s goal on the rebound, their line with Ryan Winterton was getting beaten at 5-on-5. The trio posted a blank Corsi For Percentage (0-5) in 4:10 of 5-on-5 ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick, producing zero shots on goal while Toronto had three in that span.
Lambert swapped out Winterton with Jani Nyman, and it made an instant difference. In 8:03 of 5-on-5 ice time, the new third line outshot Toronto 6-2 with a 61.54 Corsi For Percentage (8-5). One of those six shots wound up in the back of the net.
After working together to win the puck along the boards, Wright and Marchment gained control in the neutral zone to create a 3-on-2 rush. Marchment dropped it back for Wright, who skated in before dishing it back to Marchment on the outside edge of the left circle.
As the Maple Leafs defense shifted towards Marchment, Nyman positioned himself on the inside edge of the right circle, where Marchment found him for a one-timer to make it 2-1 at 14:19 of the second period.
The Maple Leafs would tie it 2-2 just 1:42 later, but that switch made a real impact on the outcome of the game.
“It was just a great play by (Wright),” Marchment told reporters in Toronto after the game. “He just kind of sucked the guy in, gave me some time, so it was good.”
Grinding Out Close Results
For the fourth time in a row, the Kraken took the game to overtime, which is indicative of the type of style this team will want to play this season.
“I think just really focusing on defense,” Vince Dunn – who made it 3-2 at 17:44 of the second – told reporters in Toronto. “I know that we’re happy with low-scoring games, and if that’s how we have to win them, then so be it. We’ll do that all year. So I think just having a lot of passion with that, and being okay with one-goal leads, or if we’re playing the right way and we’re down a goal, be okay with that too.”
After falling 5-4 in a back-and-forth game with the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and losing 4-3 in a shootout with the Ottawa Senators, Seattle managed to piece together a winning effort in Toronto.
Every team will take points in the standings however they come, but Lambert believes avoiding a third straight loss in the extra periods gave the team a big boost entering the back stretch of the road trip.
“It’s huge,” Lambert said. “To maybe not come away with two points tonight would have been super disheartening because we’ve been in that situation the past couple of games. But we’re in tight hockey games, it’s the way it is, and that’s the fourth overtime game in a row, so we expect to be in tight hockey games for the most part, and we have to be comfortable playing in those games.”
