The long-awaited first preseason game of the NHL’s newest franchise is in the books.
In case you missed it on Sunday, BedrockSportsHawaii.com hopped, skipped and jumped — via a new ESPN-plus streaming subscription — to the coolest sport ever invented to see what kind of puck vibrations are going to be emanating from the Pacific Northwest in 2021-22.
It was 3 p.m. Hawaii time when the Seattle Kraken, the NHL’s 32nd team, faced off for the first time in a real 60-minute game.
Despite never having played together, the Kraken came out flying at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena — the home of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs — and worked for a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
A screenshot of Seattle celebrating a goal by
Ryan Donato (second from right) in the second period.
In control of the play throughout, the Kraken couldn’t find the net in the early going despite heavy pressure.
A couple of bad bounces led to a 2-0 Vancouver first-period lead, but that didn’t faze the sea monsters. Jack Rathbone scored the Canucks’ first goal after emerging from the penalty box just in time to collect a loose puck, go in on a breakaway and beat goaltender Philipp Grubauer high to the short side. That chance materialized due to a major carom caused by a Vancouver shot block inside the Canucks zone.
A few minutes later, with Vancouver on the power play, the Canucks’ Brock Boeser cranked a slap shot off of Kraken defenseman Carson Soucy. The puck, instead of being deflected wide, went straight toward Grubauer and bounded into the low glove-side corner.
Boom, boom. It’s 2-0. Panic? No way.
In the second period, it was all Seattle. Riley Sheahan scored the franchise’s historic first goal from right in front of the crease on a pass from behind the net by Nathan Bastian.
Then, Jared McCann tied it 2-2 on the power play midway through the period on a hard wrist shot to the top blocker side from the left face-off dot.
A screenshot of Jared McCann trying to stuff
one past Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs.
A few minutes later, at 11:01 of the middle period, Ryan Donato took a flip pass across the crease from Jordan Eberle, and scored from in close on the right side to give the Kraken their first-ever lead — 3-2 — with their second power-play goal.
Yet another bad break allowed the Canucks to tie it 3-3 a minute and a half later against newly inserted goaltender Chris Driedger on the first shot he faced. This time, Vancouver’s Nils Hoglander lifted his stick up at least shoulder high to tip down Kyle Burroughs’ shot from the point into the net.
One of the RootSports announcers, either play-by play-man John Forslund or color analyst JT Brown, said the play would have been reviewed for a possible high stick if it was a regular season game.
And then came the Kraken’s first real heroic moments in franchise history, when Morgan Geekie scored twice in the third period to lock up the win.
The first was a shot right off the face-off from the left circle just 50 seconds into the period. The second was a hard wrist shot from high in the slot at 14:37.
NO REAL WEAKNESSES EVIDENT (YET)
All teams have weaknesses and you can be certain Seattle has them. However, there were no glaring holes in the team’s play in this game.
The Kraken get A or A-plus marks in forechecking, overall puck control, positioning, moving the puck, defense, goaltending and intensity.
Video highlights (above) of Seattle’s first preseason game in Spokane, Wash.
How Seattle’s overall game flows from this one to future matchups against upcoming opponents is something to keep an eye on. Success in any of those cateogories in one game does not necessarily translate to success in another.
In this one, Vancouver looked as if its full heart wasn’t in it, compared to Seattle and its high energy created by the buzz surrounding this highly anticipated inaugural NHL appearance.
Aside from McCann, Donato, Eberle and Bastian, the flood of offense leading to a final shots advantage of 38-14 was created by Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Tanev, Marcus Johansson and Joonas Donskoi, among others.
Soucy, Haydn Fleury and Mark Giordano were tough in leading the defensive side and the breakout and transition game.
Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke Was All Pumped Up
Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke was a guest on the Root Sports broadcast, and he was feeling fine now that the team is actually on the ice and playing games.
“I’m not going to add much to the broadcast,” Leiweke joked. “I’m so giddy I’m not going to add much. They’re going to go, ‘Get this guy off. It’s amateur hour.’ But it’s amazing seeing all of this come together and seeing the team travel for the first time … and it’s just preseason. You can see the building is filled. There were lines for concessions. I couldn’t believe the merchandise lines. I couldn’t believe the number of people wearing Kraken gear. It’s just so gratifying. We’ve worked really, really hard and to see these kinds of fan reactions is just amazing.”
Even though Leiweke’s comments came in the second period, maybe he knew a victory was afoot (with many more to come) when he said:
“And we’ve only just begun.”
Kraken Play Four Preseason Games Next Week
Seattle plays at Edmonton on Tuesday, at Calgary on Wednesday, and then head “home” for preseason games in Everett, Wash., on Friday against the Oilers and in Kent, Wash., on Saturday against the Flames.
When there regular season begins, Seattle will be on the road for four straight games, including the opener Oct. 12 at the Vegas Golden Knights, before playing its first real home game at Climate Pledge Arena on Oct. 23 against Vancouver.
According to its website, the arena is “the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable arena in the world.”
Bedrock Sports May Make The Big Pivot
Bedrock Sports, a website devoted to covering Hawaii sports, is considering becoming an unofficial home for the Seattle Kraken.
This is a test story. More to come. If Seattle Kraken fans decide to stop by for many reads, maybe it will lead to sponsorships (and team access) to keep this ship running in NHL waters.
By covering the first preseason game, albeit from afar, we are in on the ground floor, so to speak. In other words, we have covered every Kraken game ever played so far.
With each passing game, the hope is to build an invaluable base of knowledge about the franchise so readers will want to come back for more and more.
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MORE KRAKEN FROM ACROSS THE SEA at BedrockSportsHawaii.com: Piping Hot Lowest Ticket Price Is $595 For The Seattle Kraken’s Oct 23 Home Opener
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