The Seattle Kraken wrapped up their Canadian postponed game road trip Monday night right up the coast against the rival Vancouver Canucks. After coming out of the All-Star break with two wins, the Kraken unfortunately had to go on the road, where they were 7–15–2.
Seattle Head Coach Dave Hakstol gave the start in goal to Chris Driedger with back-to-back games against the Canucks and New York Islanders.
Driedger barely had time to scrape up his crease before the Canucks took a 1–0 lead on a goal from Tyler Motte. The Kraken came back three minutes later and tied the game on a goal by Seattle’s leading goal scorer (and former Canuck) Jared McCann. Not only was McCann facing the team that drafted him, but he was also playing in his 400th NHL game.
in his 400th game – playing against the team that drafted him – and canner finds the back of the net.
we’re here for this. 😏 pic.twitter.com/yVQihGLKpd
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) February 22, 2022
Seattle wrapped up a successful first period with a shorthanded goal by captain Mark Giordano with 5:34 remaining. The Kraken were outshot 15–9, though, but Driedger found his footing.
If the first period was classified as a success, the second could certainly be labeled a failure. Vancouver outshot the Kraken 18–4 and added goals by Travis Hamonic and Vasily Podkolzin to give the home team a 3–2 lead heading into the second intermission.
The third period did not fare much better for the Kraken, as Vancouver forward Bo Horvat scored a power play goal 35 seconds into the period and Tanner Pearson scored an empty-net goal with just over 1:30 remaining in regulation. The Kraken did manage to attempt a comeback by outshooting Vancouver 14–13, but it was far too little and far too late once again for the expansion team.
Anchor points
⚓ Driedger played good enough (41 saves) to keep the Kraken in the game, but when four goals against is a “good game,” there is a lot going wrong in other areas. He mentioned in his postgame media availability that he would have liked the fourth goal back, but even without that goal, the Kraken still lose the game.
⚓ Penalty kills were good and power plays were bad. That is a quick assessment of what happened out on that ice regarding special teams. The teams were a combined 1-for-8 with the man advantage and Seattle scored one of their goals while shorthanded.
⚓ Giordano, McCann, Vince Dunn, Jordan Eberle and Morgan Geekie were the only players that were not under water 5-on-5. The line of Ryan Donato, Joonas Donskoi and Alexander Wennberg were just crushed all night, giving up 12 shots while generating only one. On the other hand, the line of Eberle, Geekie and McCann played only 1:40 together, but had a remarkable 8–0 Corsi advantage.
⚓ As one might expect from a 5–2 loss where you are outshot 46–27, the possession heavily favored Vancouver.
🔱 5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 
58%–42% 
🔱 5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 65%–35%
🔱 5-on-5 High-danger chances for 69%–31%
🔱 5-on-5 Expected goals for 72%–28%
🔱 Face-off percentage 52%–48%
⚓ Seattle will host the New York Islanders tonight at Climate Pledge Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.