Taylor Raddysh managed Chicago's lone goal as the Blackhawks were outskated shift-after-shift in third straight loss
The Kraken came out flying against the Blackhawks in Seattle on Thursday night and didn't take their skates off the gas.
Kailer Yamamoto celebrates his second goal against Chicago in Seattle's dominant win.Except for a goal by Taylor Raddysh, Chicago didn't muster much of response in a 7-1 loss, its third straight overall and eighth on the road. The Blackhawks, outscored 11-2 on their trip to Edmonton and Seattle, have dropped seven of their last nine (2-5-1).
More potential bad news: Rookie defenseman Alex Vlasic left the game in the third period. Along with Connor Bedard, the 6-foot-6 D-man has been one of Chicago's bright spots this season.
Coach Luke Richardson said Vlasic was "just a little sore" and that it made sense to pull the 22-year-old to "be precautionary." He hoped Vlasic would be able to play on Sunday against Vancouver at the United Center.
"The way the game was going, thought it was best to shut him down" Richardson said after his players held a postgame meeting. "Hopefully he'll be good to go.
"We've got to regroup from this one. It wasn't a good performance and the players know it wasn't acceptable." See video.
The Kraken won their second straight following a seven-game slide of their own (0-5-2). The Blackhawks beat Seattle 4-3 on Nov. 28 during that stretch.
Goalie Relieved
Richardson replaced Arvid Söderblom with Petr Mrazek 3:28 into the third period after Jared McCann and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare connected 21 seconds apart to cap Seattle's scoring.
Söderblom stopped only 17 of 24 shots. Goaltending wasn't the Blackhawks' biggest shortcoming in a stinker when they were outplayed shift after shift.
"We weren't great in front of him and it probably wasn't his best performance either," Richardson said of the 24-year-old Söderblom. "I'm not really worried about his confidence. He usually re-sets well."
Seattle Starts Quick, Keeps Sailing
Fourth-line energy helped fuel Seattle, which took a 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Washington state native Kailer Yamamoto. Yamamoto was credited with his second when he batted in a loose puck after Vince Dunn's shot struck defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and dropped to the ice
Raddysh cut it to 2-1 at 3:03 of the second with his sixth goal. He beat Joey Daccord from the right circle off a pass from Anthony Beauvillier, who fed Raddysh after picking of a Kraken pass.
Taylor Raddysh and teammates celebrate his goal, the only bright moment in a 7-1 loss at Seatle.But any momentum for Chicago was short-lived.
Oliver Bjorkstrand made it 3-1 just 1:19 later. His centering pass deflected in off the skate of Chicago's Jason Dickinson after rookie D-man Louis Crevier didn't manage a puck on the boards and it stayed in the zone.
The Kraken took off from there, penning in the Blackhawks for long stretches, then adding goals by rookie Tye Kartye and Eeli Tolvanen late in the second to extend their lead to 5-1.
On one shift, the line of Bedard, Philipp Kurashev and Lukas Reichel, was stuck on the ice for 2 minutes and 20 seconds.
McCann added his 14th goal, on the power-play, and Bellemare stuffed one in to complete the rout.
The rebuilding Blackhawks were way worse than they should have been, once again, prompting a team meeting. See video with veteran forward Tyler Johnson.
Depleted D, Again
The Blackhawks skated again without top defenseman Seth Jones and rookie rearguard Kevin Korchinski.
Jones sat out a second straight game after suffering an upper-body injury late in a 4-2 home loss to Washington on Sunday. The 6-foot-4, 29-year-old leads the Blackhawks with an average of 25:25 minutes of ice time per game, a mark that's also fourth highest in the NHL. He hasn't scored this year, but has 11 assists.
Korchinski missed a fourth contest after he was placed on non-roster last Friday to deal with a family matter. The fleet 19-year-old has two goals and five assists in his first 25 NHL games, and is fifth among rookies in ice time per game, averaging 19:31 on 22.4 shifts.
For a second straight game, Chicago started with a defense corps led by veteran Connor Murphy. Zaitsev, 32, was the only other Blackhawks blueliner with more than 47 games of NHL experience. Rookie D-men Vlasic, Isaak Phillips, and recent call-ups Crevier and Filip Roos filled out the lineup.
Late Arrival
The Blackhawks left Edmonton immediately after Tuesday's 4-1 loss on their chartered jet. The flight had to divert to Portland, Oregon, however, because of fog in Seattle.
The team didn't arrive at its hotel until Wednesday morning and wasn't able to practice as planned.