Defenseman Vince Dunn Contributes To All 3 Seattle Goals
Here's the list of Seattle Kraken MVP candidates through the season's first 35 games.
Joey Daccord.
To paraphrase ESPN's Tony Kornheiser, that's it. That's the list.
Starting his 7th consecutive game in goal, necessitated by a long term injury to Philipp Grubauer, Daccord has stabilized a Kraken team trying to recover from a wobbly opening month.
Saturday at Honda Center, Daccord stopped 32 of 34 Anaheim Ducks shots, leading the Kraken to a 3-2 victory in the final game before the Christmas break. In his seven straight starts, Daccord has allowed more than two goals once. Once. That's it. That's another list.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn contributed three points. He assisted on Oliver Bjorkstrand's 1st period power play goal, making Dunn the first player in franchise history to reach 100 assists. Before the period was done, Dunn added a goal of his own, and also assisted on Tomas Tatar's 3rd period insurance tally.
1st Period
Got to be wide awake for a 5 pm start between Pacific Division rivals.
Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann returned to the lineup tonight after missing Wednesday's game in Los Angeles. The game got interesting when McCann, minding his own business to the right of the Anaheim goal, got interfered with by Mason McTavish.
When McTavish went to the box, it was the Ducks who had the first grade-A scoring chance. Goalies, they say, are supposed to be a team's best penalty killer. In the 1st period, Joey Daccord was the Kraken's best power play player. Brett Leason broke in alone shorthanded, but Daccord stoned him.
Another thing They say: a great save at one end often results in a goal at the other end. Seconds after the breakaway save, Oliver Bjorkstrand took McCann's cross ice pass and beat Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal high on the glove side. Bjorkstrand's 11th on the PP at 13:26 gives Seattle a 1-0 lead.
The Kraken doubled their lead three minutes later. Dunn will never have a more wide open net to score into, thanks to a perfect saucer pass from Matty Beniers. Dunn's 5th makes it 2-0 Kraken.
2nd Period
Daccord stopped all 14 Anaheim shots in the 1st period.
Worse than coal in his stocking: Brandon Tanev gets hit in the face with the puck AND takes a double minor for high sticking. How could the refs even think of penalizing sweetheart Turbo?
Alex Wennberg to the rescue - he breaks his stick blocking a Jamie Drysdale shot, then puts his stick-less body in the way to block a second shot.
Nevertheless, Anaheim scores on the front end of the double minor. Frank Vatrano's team-leading 15th makes it 2-1 Seattle at 6:18.
As impressive as his goal-scoring - maybe more so - is Vatrano's effort in the defensive zone. He blocks a Kraken shot off his knee; though limping, he manages to block a second shot before exiting for the bench in visible pain.
Anaheim should have tied the game. Daccord makes a snappy glove save on Urho Vaakanainen, but the rebound kicks into the crease. With an open net yawning, Alex Killorn slides a backhand just wide of the left post.
Didn't we see this Ducks movie in the 1st period? A stretch pass frees McTavish for another Anaheim breakaway. The sequel ends like the original, with Daccord making a 10-bell save to preserve the lead.
3rd Period
Shots were 23-13 Ducks through 40.
Defenseman Will Borgen interfered with Pavel Mintyukov at 5:39, a penalty the Kraken killed.
For the second time tonight, a Daccord save is turned into a counter-attacking Kraken goal. First, the goalie fights off an 85 mph rocket from Anaheim's Leason.
Dunn carries into the Ducks zone, dropping the puck for new addition Tomas Tatar. The veteran uses puck-handling and patience to add insurance, a backhand from a severe angle. Tatar's 2nd as a Kraken, and second point of the night, builds the Seattle lead to 3-1 at 8:25.
Trevor Zegras, back in the Ducks' lineup, makes his presence felt. His "Michigan," an almost inconceivable lacrosse-style skill goal - which Connor Bedard also used to score a goal for the Blackhawks tonight - narrows the deficit to 3-2 at 14:01.
Daccord, with the short memory a goalie must have, recovers to perform highway robbery on Leason. The Anaheim winger's re-direction is ticketed for under the crossbar. Daccord, though, lifts a lightning-quick glove hand to make the save.
Late Kraken possession doesn't allow Anaheim to lift its netminder until the final 20 seconds of the game, and that's not enough to pierce Daccord a third time.
Postgame
Matty Beniers, with two assists tonight, has five total points on the three game road trip.
The Kraken improve to 6-3-9 in one-goal games. More importantly, Seattle has secured at least one standings point in a season-high six consecutive games (4-0-2).
The team, like every one in the NHL, now head home for the Christmas break. They'll return to action in Calgary Dec. 27, and host Philadelphia at Climate Pledge Arena two nights later.
