Kraken Waste Crucial Homestand with ‘Mind-Boggling’ Mistakes
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="5005"]
Seattle Kraken head coach Lane Lambert yells to his team during the first period against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images [/caption]
The Seattle Kraken arrived back in the Emerald City after dropping the first two games on the road following the Olympic break. Then, Kraken fans perked up as the team rattled off wins against the lowly Canucks and talented Hurricanes. Things were looking up. The fanbase was rejuvenated. There were still four games left in the longest stretch of consecutive home games on the entire Kraken schedule.
They played three very beatable teams before a date with the top team in the entire NHL, the Colorado Avalanche. Instead of taking advantage of a stretch of winnable games at home, the Kraken dropped all four.
The St. Louis Blues came to Seattle with a losing record. Seattle even out-shot St. Louis 36-27. Yet, the Blues beat the Kraken 3-2.
Next up was Ottawa, a team with a better record, but the Kraken had the advantage at Climate Pledge Arena. Despite the Senators gifting the Kraken 23 penalty minutes, they ambushed Seattle with seven goals.
Nashville then came with a nearly identical record to the Kraken. Seattle even jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Then, the Kraken defense with Joey Daccord in goal allowed three goals in the second period.
Seattle finished the six-game homestand at a puzzling 2-4. They went from being just one point behind the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific and comfortably in a Wild Card spot, to fifth place in the Pacific and out of a playoff spot altogether. The Sharks leapfrogged the Kraken for the last Wild Card spot.
When this homestand started, the Kraken’s playoff chances were above 65%. After going 2-4 in this stretch, according to MoneyPuck.com, their chances are now cut in half, down to 32%. Head coach Lane Lambert sounded like he was at his wits' end in the postgame press conference.
“We got to wake up,” he said, clearly frustrated on Thursday night. “We need to have poise and composure. We are doing things that are absolutely mind-boggling to me.”
Lambert called the goals they allowed to Colorado “systematic breakdowns.” That is not exactly what you want to hear from the team’s head coach 64 games into the season when their playoff hopes are on the line.
Over the four-game losing streak, the Kraken have even out-shot their opponents 131-117. Yet, they’ve been outscored 19-9. They’ve had more power play minutes than their opponents, yet just one power play goal in those four games combined.
After the first period against Colorado, Lambert replaced goalie Joey Daccord with Philipp Grubauer. That’s akin to a coach benching a quarterback midway through the game. Clearly, Lambert is frustrated and searching for answers.
So what now? The Kraken still will stay local, heading up to Vancouver to face the last-place Canucks. Then they return to Seattle over the weekend for two games against the Florida teams, the Panthers and Lightning, marking three games in a four-day span. There’s still time to turn this around.
Perhaps the silver lining is that their new trade acquisition, Bobby McMann, hasn’t even suited up for Seattle yet. There's no confirmed debut date yet as the visa immigration process from Canada is taking longer than expected.
Hopefully, the arrival of McMann into the lineup can jolt this time awake. The clock is ticking.
