Happy New Year! I hope all Kraken fans had a safe, happy, and healthy Holidays and that they treated you kindly. Unfortunately the team wasn’t as kind as they have started another losing streak that began right before the temporary pause in the season due to uptick in COVID-19 cases. Previously before the pause, they had lost to the Anaheim Ducks (on the road) and Edmonton Oilers (at home). This week Seattle suffered losses all at home to the Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, and rival Vancouver Canucks in their second matchup. Let’s take a look back at the week that was:
Kraken lose in OT to Philly 3-2 (12/29/21)
Flames too hot for Kraken in close game (12/30/21)
Canucks own rivalry so far, beat Kraken again 5-2 (1/1/22)
How’s it Kraken? My thoughts on the week that was
The Kraken are back to the same old same old of what was plaguing them before which was poor defense and goaltending (not having superstar scoring doesn’t help either). Out of the three games this week, the game against the Flyers was the Kraken’s best one as they managed to get a point out of it. It was close throughout the entirety however, due to not having enough scoring it cost them in the end as the Flyers had a small deficit that was easy to come back from (being down one goal) and they were left to hang around in the game which gave them the opportunity to win it in OT. Obviously, this is on management as they decided to go with a long term approach instead of a short term one. They played OK against the Flames but that wasn’t enough and it showed again in the offseason there needs to be upgrades to the forward personnel. Against Vancouver, they got taken to school by the Canucks who totally outplayed them on all fronts. At this point, what we’re seeing now is what we should expect from the Kraken the rest of the season which is the games will be fun to watch and have some excitement having this new team around but, it will be painful to see losses at times due to not having enough offensive firepower. The Kraken will win some more games during the rest of the season but it won’t be nearly enough to get back into the playoff race (barring a miracle and really long winning streak). If you had or still do have high expectations, you need to lower them now as this team is building towards the future and clearly isn’t the Vegas Golden Knights of 2017-2018. The Golden Knights went for a win now approach their inaugural season and spent to the cap which is the difference here and why you can’t compare this Kraken team to that team. Things will get better for the Kraken, it’s just going to take time. Next week, the Kraken only play against the Ottawa Senators at home as their other games against the New York Islanders (home game) and Winnipeg Jets (away game) have been postponed. I feel the game against Ottawa is a very winnable one but the Senators have shown their young talent can play very well despite their shortcomings, we’ll have to wait and see how this one turns out…Stay tuned Seattle!
Next Weeks games:
1/6/22- Seattle Kraken vs Ottawa Senators @ 10pm EST/7pm PST
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