The Seattle Kraken took a short jaunt across Lake Erie from New York to Michigan to face the Detroit Red Wings, who have been playing surprisingly good hockey. The Wings were sitting in the fourth spot of the Atlantic Division and had won three straight entering Wednesday night. Seattle was playing solid hockey as well, winners of four of its last five contests.
Seattle was without quite a few players, as the injury hammer hit them hard Wednesday morning. Kraken captain Mark Giordano remained in COVID-19 protocol, while goalie Chris Driedger and Calle Jarnkrok were put on the injured reserve list. The Kraken’s leading goal scorer, Jordan Eberle, as well as forward Jaden Schwartz and defenseman William Borgen were listed as injured and scratched.
The first period was a rather timid one. Both teams felt each other out with little action. Detroit looked to have taken the lead on a Lucas Raymond goal, but the play was reviewed and deemed offside. The Kraken held a slim 7–6 lead in shots while German-born starting goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Philipp Grubauer held the game scoreless. The fun was just around the corner, though.
The goals started just under five minutes into the second period, as Robby Fabbri broke the deadlock on the power play with his fifth goal of the season. Detroit held the slim 1–0 lead for six minutes when Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn scored a power play goal of his own.
Seattle took a brief 2–1 lead on Ryan Donato’s fourth goal of the season off a brutal Detroit turnover late in the second, but the Wings answered two minutes later on a Vladislav Namestnikov goal. This resulted in a 2–2 deadlock heading into a tense third period. Shots in second were 13–9 in favor of the Red Wings in the second, but Grubauer helped keep his team as close as possible.
The third period was a great example of tight, fun hockey, as both teams fought to take the lead. Raymond scored a seeing-eye goal that counted this time at the 6:30 mark to give the home team a 3–2 lead, which held for eight minutes. That was when Donato scored his second of the game and fifth of the season to knot the score at 3–3. As a result, the teams treated the Little Caesars Arena fans to some free extra hockey.
Grubauer with a big stop on Erne. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/6vracJfLwa
— Alison (@AlisonL) December 2, 2021
Overtime was not the usual run-and-gun that fans are used to and only yielded one Seattle shot on net. On to the first shootout in Seattle Kraken history, where Greiss stopped two of the three attempts he faced, only giving up a dribbler to Joonas Donskoi, to secure the extra standings point for Detroit.
Given the absence of significant offense in the lineup, Head Coach Dave Hakstol should have been fairly happy with a point after a long road trip against some tough competition.
Anchor points
⚓ The power play seems to be running smoothly, and Dunn looks to be heating up a bit. As long as the Kraken can continue to convert on at least one per game, they will have themselves in a good position to win every night.
⚓ Not to rain on Grubauer’s parade but he still seems to be giving up loose chances on these weird shots that do not always end up in the net. His defensemen are there to bail him out much of the time, but he needs to tighten up his initial saves and keep them in front of him rather than trickling in behind him.
⚓ Riley Sheahan (Corsi 25%), Donskoi (Corsi 37.5%) and Dunn (Corsi 39.3%) had rough nights as far as 5-on-5 possession goes. The oddest stat of the night is that Detroit was credited with seven giveaways while the Kraken had none.
⚓ As has been the norm this season, the Kraken held the possession advantage, but still managed to lose the game. This team has been a bit of an anomaly.
🔱 5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 
52%–48%
🔱 5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 54%–46%
🔱 5-on-5 High-danger chances for 50%–50%
🔱 5-on-5 Expected goals for 
51%–49%
🔱 Face-off percentage 53%–47%
⚓ The Kraken are off Thursday but head back home to face the Edmonton Oilers Friday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST. Join us tonight as we have Darren Brown from Sound of Hockey on the Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast to talk about the Kraken road trip and injuries.