‘We got to find something’ Kraken’s losing streak reaches eight games after winless road swing
After the Kraken’s loss on Wednesday, forward Jared McCann wasn’t shy about voicing his frustration.
“Enough’s enough here,” he said. “Everybody’s getting pretty frustrated. We know, in order for us to win, we have to play a full 60 minutes and it hasn’t been the case lately.”
It wasn’t the case again on Thursday.
The Kraken had a 1-0 lead heading into the third period, but the St. Louis Blues scored two goals to pull ahead. Seattle then had a 6-on-4 advantage in the final 2 minutes, but couldn’t find the back of the net. The result: Seattle has now lost eight straight games and 10 of its last 11.
“We’re finding ways to lose the games,” forward Alex Wennberg said after the loss to the Blues. “We had the lead and, again, it’s the third period for us when we gave away some goals. We got to find something here. We got to step up and take responsibility for what’s going on.”
This isn’t the first extended losing streak for Seattle, which makes the stretch even more concerning. At the end of November, the Kraken snapped a six-game skid with a win over the Washington Capitals. Entering that game, they had lost eight of their last nine.
Seattle followed the win over the Capitals with its best stretch of the season, winning four of the next six games. Unfortunately for the Kraken, they’ve only won back-to-back games three times this season — and two came during that seven-game period.
The lack of consistency has the Kraken in last place in the Pacific Conference with 24 points, 11 points behind seventh-place Vancouver. The road to a possible playoff berth is looking more and more daunting. Unless Seattle can put together some winning streaks that rival its downturns, a significant turnaround will soon be impossible.
The Kraken’s issues are widespread. They are 22nd in the NHL in goals scored per game (2.77) and first in goals against per game (3.71). Starting goalie Phillip Grubaueris 83rd in the league in save percentage (.880) and 72nd in goals-against average (3.37). In contrast, Grubauer had a .922 save percentage and a 1.95 save percentage with Colorado last season.
Add in a Kraken defense that hasn’t lived up to the billing, a tendency to give up late goals and a habit of allowing quick response goals and it’s little wonder Seattle has struggled to find any rhythm this season. It doesn’t help that the Kraken have had two extended lay-offs from games thanks to a COVID-19 surge throughout the league.
Even when the Kraken have strong performances — they played well against Colorado on Monday and got a solid outing from back-up goalie Chris Driedger on Thursday — it often hasn’t been enough. Despite Driedger and the penalty kill keeping the Kraken in the game against the Blues, they managed just one goal.
“We got to figure out a way to win,” Driedger said. “We’re going into the third period and giving it away. We have to do a little bit of soul-searching here and get the job done.”
During the most recent eight days without a game, head coach Dave Hakstol said he wanted Seattle to use the time to recover mentally and increase the competitiveness of practice. The Kraken hoped to start quickly when their games resumed.
Instead, they dropped all three of their road games this week.
“It’s frustrating,” Driedger said. “It’s a competitive group of guys in there, myself included. We just want to win. We’re playing a game we love and it’s tough losing.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 7:54 PM.
