3 takeaways from the Seattle Kraken’s loss to Vancouver in home opener
The Seattle Kraken continued a difficult start to their inaugural season on Saturday night with a 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the home opener at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Kraken will try again to earn their first home win against Montreal on Tuesday. Until then, here are three takeaways from the defeat.
1. Another loss, but plenty of optimism
The loss to Vancouver was the Kraken’s fourth straight defeat. Despite the difficult stretch, both the players and head coach Mike Hakstol remained optimistic on Saturday. Even with the loss, Hakstol said, the team corrected many of the issues they had in earlier games.
“It was our best third, and probably our best (game) of the year,” Haksto said “Pretty even first period. I thought we were able to tilt the ice a little bit in the second period, which you want to be able to do against a team that’s at the end of a road trip (like Vancouver). We were able to do that in the third period. After getting the lead 2-1, we had three or four great chances to extend it and couldn’t do that.”
Captain Mark Giordano said the Canucks “made Seattle pay” on a couple of mistakes. Still, he said if the Kraken play the way they did on Saturday night, they’ll win more games than they lose.
“I think we generated a lot more tonight, we created a lot more and that’s a game which can go either way,” he said.
The Kraken seemed confident they made significant strides in the right direction after spending two practice days after the road trip getting more comfortable with the system, making tweaks and focusing on speed and aggressiveness.
“That was definitely a step in the right direction,” Giordano said. “We played a lot quicker. We moved the puck better. We generated a lot more quality chances and at the end of the day, it’s a 3-2 league. Usually, that’s what the score ends up around in this league — 3-2 or 2-1. We’d like to score one or two more and maybe extend the lead when it was 2-1. We had some chances.”
2. First goal in Climate Pledge
Ryan Donato etched himself into Kraken history when he scored the franchise’s first goal during the season-opening loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. On Saturday, defenseman Vince Dunn joined him.
Dunn scored the first goal in Climate Pledge Arena history when he put the Kraken up 1-0 with seconds left in the first period. It was the first goal of the season for Dunn, who scored three goals in his final two preseason games.
The Kraken had plenty of scoring opportunities, finishing with 31 shots to Vancouver’s 26, but had trouble converting.
3. A budding rivalry?
A Seattle and Vancouver rivalry makes sense based on geography alone. But judging by some comments from the Canucks’ players after Saturday’s game, a rivalry built on more than just location seems likely to bloom.
Conor Garland mentioned a fan near Vancouver’s bench that was “giving (him) the finger and yelling” while he taped his stick.
“I just happened to score the next shift,” he said.
Vancouver’s players and head coach Travis Green all talked about the raucous atmosphere at Climate Pledge Arena, comparing it to Vegas — which has one of the loudest arenas in the NHL. Bo Horvat said tensions on the ice matched the environment.
“Things got heated out there a couple of times today,” Horvat said. “Fans are going to be coming back-and-forth when the border opens, too. It’s going to be a big rivalry. I’m going to be excited when they come (to Vancouver).”
The teams will next meet on Dec. 27 when the Kraken travel to Vancouver.
This story was originally published October 24, 2021 at 3:17 PM with the headline "3 takeaways from the Seattle Kraken’s loss to Vancouver in home opener."
