Playing first game in 11 days, Seattle Kraken fall to Flyers in overtime
For the first time in 11 days, the Seattle Kraken played a hockey game.
But every player wasn’t back on the ice.
As COVID-19 continues to surge throughout the NHL, teams have become accustomed to last-minute line-up changes and significant absences. Wednesday night’s game was no exception.
The Kraken had three players, including Adam Larsson, emerge from protocol in time for the 3-2 overtime loss to Philadelphia. But three others — Ryan Donato, Vince Dunn and Mason Appleton — remained in protocol. Seattle was also without Brandon Tanev, who will miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury. On the other side, the Flyers were missing five players due to COVID protocol, including goalie and former Everett Silvertip Carter Hart.
The uptick in COVID sent more than 100 players and staff members into protocol and canceled a slew of games before the league closed all team facilities on Dec. 22 — two days before the planned holiday break. Teams could resume practice on Sunday, but regular-season play remained paused through Tuesday.
The layoff did little to change the current trend of the Kraken’s season. With the loss to the Flyers, they’ve now dropped three straight and six out of their last seven. In his first game back since leaving COVID protocol, Larsson was openly disappointed during his post-game press conference.
“Frustrating to lose after a night like this,” he said. “We had enough chances to win the game. I thought we did a lot of good things out there. I thought we controlled most of the night. But we lost and that’s the frustrating part.”
The Kraken controlled the majority of the game but were only able to salvage a point for their effort.
“We created enough opportunities and defended really well,” said head coach Dave Hakstol. “There’s not a whole lot out of the script that I would change coming out of an 11-day break. I thought our structure was good. Our effort was really good. It’s really disappointing not to come away with two points.”
The Kraken and the Flyers traded power-play goals in the first period, with James van Riemsdyk getting Philadelphia on the board first before Yanni Gourde tied the game, 1-1.
Even with the Kraken dominating possession, both teams went scoreless in the second period.
It appeared Jeremy Luzon gave Seattle the lead early in the third, but the goal was overturned due to goalie interference. Ten minutes later, Lauzon scored again. But the lead lasted just 15 seconds as van Riemsdyk scored his second goal at the 14:47 mark of the third period to send the game to overtime.
That quick response from opponents is an issue that’s plagued Seattle all season — and it didn’t vanish during the league’s extended break.
“They came right back and scored right away after we scored two, so obviously it’s the timing of goals against that’s been costing us,” Larsson said. “I thought we played a pretty solid game, but you’re got to find a way to win in this league and there is no moral winner.”
Ivan Provorov then scored a breakaway at the 2:14 mark of overtime to hand Philadelphia the victory.
“We haven’t had a whole lot of time there,” Hakstol said of Seattle’s performance in the extra period. “Tonight, we gave up a breakaway. There’s nothing hidden there. You can’t allow people to get in behind you. … It would be a great time for a timely save on that one, but ultimately we gave up a breakaway in overtime.”
The Kraken have two more home games scheduled this week — Thursday against Calgary and Saturday against Vancouver. But even as the NHL emerges from its pause, COVID remains an issue.
But modifications to the league’s protocol could get players back on the ice faster.
The NHL and NHLPA announced Wednesday afternoon that the isolation period after a positive test from 10 days to five days for fully vaccinated players, operations staff and coaches. Games that have been postponed or will be postponed will be made up during the February period originally allocated for the Olympics.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 10:29 PM.
