Seattle Kraken search for answers as struggles continue
There was an air of frustration around the Kraken players who spoke to the media after Thursday’s 7-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Despite Seattle’s struggles — the Kraken have lost five of their last six games and are in last place in the Pacific Division — that hasn’t happened often this season. Head coach Dave Hakstol and his team have been mostly positive, more likely to say they played well enough to win than critique a loss.
But that changed against the Ducks. As forward Jordan Eberle put it, the Kraken are just “finding ways to lose.” And when he spoke to reporters after an optional skate on Friday, Hakstol said Thursday’s loss felt different.
“When we’re off a little bit like we were last night, it can look tough at times,” Hakstol said. “We haven’t had many nights when we’ve been off, but I look at it and we didn’t have it last night. We tried to regain it at times, especially in the second half.
“Give our players a lot of credit for trying to find ways to push back into that game. We didn’t have it to start the game and as I said it last night, you play from behind in this league and it’s awful hard. You have to be perfect if you’re playing from behind in order to give yourself to dig out.”
The Kraken fell behind 2-0 against the Ducks and spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. While they were able to pull within a goal several times, they never tied the game or took the lead. Jared McCann pulled Seattle within one goal, 5-4, midway through the third period. But the Kraken couldn’t build on that momentum, and Anaheim sealed the victory with two empty-net goals to close the game.
Hakstol was hesitant to put too much of the blame on goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who has a 3.17 goals against average and a .882 save percentage in 11 games this season. Last year for Colorado, Grubauer had a 1.95 GAA and a .922 save percentage in 40 games.
“(Grubauer) was in a pretty good groove, especially early on when we weren’t scoring a whole lot of goals for him but we were able to get some results,” Hakstol said. “He was a huge part of that. In a game like last night, we haven’t had a lot of games where we’ve come out and had a lot of holes. Last night was one of them.
“It was kind of two sides of things last night for (Grubauer). Just speaking directly to it, he got us through the first period. He gave us a chance to go into the second period and regroup our game and try to get back into it. In terms of his game last night, he’ll tell you he was probably disappointed in the fourth (goal). But he was a big part in even giving us a chance to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
The Kraken have a 3.64 GAA on the season, which ranks 31st in the NHL. Only Arizona (4.08 GAA), whose only win so far this season came against Seattle, allows more. The Kraken’s .874 save percentage is last in the league.
And the trouble doesn’t end there. Seattle’s power play continues to struggle — its 9.3 percentage is also last in the NHL. They are only second in a statistic they’d rather not be — penalty minutes. Seattle’s 170 minutes only trail the Coyotes’ 180.
The Kraken aren’t just starting games slowly, they’ve also started their inaugural season that way. It’s still early, but Seattle will now have to dig out of the bottom of the division to enter playoff contention. Only three teams in the NHL currently have fewer points than Seattle’s nine.
“We talked about where we’re at right now,” Hakstol said of the conversation after Seattle’s latest loss. “We went through some of the things from (Thursday) and some the specifics from early in the game and just talked a little more on the broader scale as well, a little more big picture.”
The Kraken will look to get on track Saturday when they face Minnesota — a team Hakstol called “hard, heavy, (and) consistent — in the second game of a six-game homestand.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 2:32 PM.
