The Seattle Kraken have officially played their first game – preseason but it still counts – and they came out of it with a big win. Although, this game did not start in the Kraken’s favor. The Vancouver Canucks started with a strong 0-2 lead by the end of the first. The Canucks’ first goal came from Jack Rathbone. He shot right out of the box and hopped on the puck. Brock Boeser came up on the power play to get their second one.
Despite the quiet first period, the Kraken got crakin (sorry) in the second period. 3 goals in just 20 minutes. The first ever Kraken goal came from Riley Sheahan. Quickly after that Jared McCann and Ryan Donato added to their score and gave the Kraken their first lead. Nils Hoglander of the Canucks would swoop in to tie this game 3-3 before the third but overall, the Kraken dominated that second period.
The Kraken did not slow down headed into the third period. Morgan Geekie got a sneaky snipe to the back of the net just 50 seconds in to give the Kraken the lead once more. To sweeten the deal, Geekie got his second goal of the game towards the end of the period. Seattle finished this game out strong and they secured their first win in their first ever (perseason) game with a final score of 5-3.
Seattle and Vancouver also opted to do shootout practice at the end of this one. The goalies really stole the show here. The first 9 shooters (5 Seattle, 4 Vancouver) were denied before Rathbone was able to sneak one past Chris Driedger and get the Canucks some kind of victory today.
Overall, what a start for the Seattle Kraken. After the expansion draft where they make some questionable choices, leaving some of the best players undrafted, it was a real toss up for what this team might look like. They started rough tonight but it was their first real game as a team. They got their bearings pretty quick and came back stronger for that second period.
I am currently (internally) screaming over how the NHL didn’t have the Gamecenter tab for this game. That’s my go-to on powerplays, shots, and stats like that so I’m flying a little blind without that. However it’s clear to see that the Kraken are going to be an exciting team to watch. They will play again Tuesday night, this time against the Edmonton Oilers who just beat the Calgary Flames 4-0.
As for the Canucks, they’ve definitely got room to improve. One of those improvements I am praying for is that they re-sign Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. My brain will be a bit more at peace once they sign that dotted line.
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