It seems that whenever the expansion Seattle Kraken take a couple of baby steps forward, backward steps are right on their heels.
After a four-game East Coast trip in which they went 2-2 and played some of their best hockey of the season, the Kraken resumed play after the All-Star break with a home gam against the Arizona Coyotes, one of the two teams in the NHL with a worse record than Seattle.
The result? A 5-2 Kraken loss, though two of Arizona’s goals were empty netters.
The Kraken will try to regain their footing Friday night when they travel to Anaheim to meet the Ducks.
“In reality, all three goals came off our sticks, one on a (zone) entry and two on breakouts,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said of Arizona’s first three scores. “We weren’t sharp with the puck … but we’re not making excuses.
“We had good looks. We generated enough looks. It’s the other side of the game we have to control, especially getting up the ice with the puck.”
Coyotes rookie goaltender Karel Vejmelka was sometimes spectacular in making 34 saves.
“We had our chances to win the game for sure today,” said Seattle forward Calle Jarnkrok. “But we just couldn’t put it in the net. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to their goalie. He had an outstanding night.”
Trailing 2-0 after two periods, Colin Blackwell scored just 16 seconds into the third for the Kraken.
But Arizona restored its two-goal lead barely a minute and a half later. It’s the 12th time this season the Kraken have allowed a goal within two minutes of scoring one of their own.
“It’s frustrating, we seem to have a knack of that this year,” Blackwell said. “We need to win faceoffs and get out of our zone.”
Jarnkrok scored 15:52 into the third period to pull the Kraken to 3-2, but 2:31 later, there was Alex Galchenyuk sliding it into the empty net for Arizona, and Nick Schmaltz followed with another at the 19:00 mark.
The Ducks haven’t played since a 2-1 overtime defeat Jan. 31 in Detroit.
They have made plenty of news since, however, hiring Pat Verbeek as their general manager and naming Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Niedermayer as a special advisor.
“I look forward to building this team into a Stanley Cup winner,” Verbeek said at his introductory news conference last week.
Verbeek played 20 years in the NHL before assisting Steve Yzerman for nearly a decade in shaping the Tampa Bay Lightning and serving as Yzerman’s assistant GM in Detroit the past three years. The Ducks (23-16-9) give him something to work with, entering the break tied for second in the Pacific Division.
“It’s going to be easier,” Verbeek said of building a team that has a base of talent, rather than from scratch. “Certainly you don’t have to come in there and look to take a long time. There’s good players on the NHL (roster), and there’s also good players in the minors. There’s also players that have been drafted. So there’s lots coming to support the growth of this team.
“That’s truly what I’m excited about … (A typical rebuild) takes five years. I’m hoping to shorten that, but that’s kind of the reality of how long it really takes you to be a consistent, serious contender.”
The Ducks have won both previous meetings with the Kraken, 7-4 on Nov. 11 in Seattle and 4-1 on Dec. 15 in Anaheim.
The Ducks are 7-2-3 against Pacific Division opponents while the Kraken are 3-10-0.
–Field Level Media