The Seattle Kraken opened the 2022-23 season with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks. The next night, they beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 and then went on a three-game losing skid with losses to the Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, and St. Louis Blues. It wasn’t an ideal start, but coming off a season of 27 wins and finishing with 60 points, was this unexpected? No. The Kraken now have five games to go, with 94 points, and sit in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Was this unexpected? Yes. However, if there is one about this season, it’s to “expect the unexpected.”
Kraken’s Favorable Schedule – Tough Part
From March 21 to the final game of the regular season on April 13, the Kraken had 13 games and 26 points up for grabs in order to secure a playoff berth. Of those 13 games, seven would come against playoff teams, with the other six against clubs outside the playoff picture. Here’s a look at how they’ve done.
The Kraken beat the Dallas Stars 5-4 in overtime on Tuesday, March 21, before splitting their back-to-back meetings with the Nashville Predators (Thursday and Saturday), earning three of a possible four points. Their next two games against playoff teams were vs. the Minnesota Wild on March 27 and the Kings on April 1, losing both by a combined score of 8-2.
Head coach Dave Hakstol’s experiment to find his number-one netminder was on full display in these games, with Philipp Grubauer starting against the Wild and Martin Jones in goal vs. the Kings. However, Hakstol came nowhere closer to figuring out the goaltending dilemma. The Kraken have two games left to close out the season, both against the Golden Knights, who currently lead the Pacific Division.
Kraken Favorable Schedule – Easy Part
Back to the 13-game stretch beginning on March 21, 2023, and the six games against teams outside the playoff picture. When I say outside, I mean in the bottom seven in league standings. These are games the Kraken should win, and so far, so good. On March 30, they beat the Ducks 4-1. On Monday, they blew away the Arizona Coyotes 8-1 and followed that up with a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. The club looked poised and confident in these games and got production from the players who should be producing.
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Matty Beniers had a combined four points in the three games, Jordan Eberle chipped in with three, while Brandon Tanev, Jared McCann, Daniel Sprong, and others had strong outings. As for the goaltending, both Grubauer and Jones split the duties and came away with victories, albeit against weak opponents. To date, the Kraken are fifth in the NHL with a 3.53 goals per game average and, over their last eight games, have scored 32 goals.
What’s Left for Seattle
Any coach will say that the worst thing a player can do when fighting for a playoff spot is worry about the standings and what other clubs are doing. That is doubly true for Seattle, who controls their own fate. The Kraken have five games left in the regular season – two against the Coyotes, one vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, and two against the Golden Knights. Based on what the team has done in the first eight games of this 13-game stretch, there is no reason to think Seattle won’t punch their ticket to the postseason, and soon.
The Blackhawks and Coyotes should be an easy six points (not always the case, as we know), but anything less than four points from these three games is unacceptable. Then there is the Golden Knights who have already locked down a playoff spot. The Kraken have played them twice this season – a 5-2 loss on Oct. 15, and then coming back with a 5-2 victory on Nov. 25. It’s a tough test to close it out, but one the Kraken need to pass.
I assume that by April 11, when the Kraken face the Golden Knights in the first of their final two games, that they will have already secured a playoff spot. If they haven’t, it will come down to the wire, a wire they do not want to cross.
