The 27-23-and-5 Detroit Red Wings will attempt to earn their 7th straight win when they face the 23-28-and-3 Seattle Kraken this evening (10 PM EDT on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/KHN/KONG/97.1 FM).
Seattle sits 10 points behind the Calgary Flames for the 2nd Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, and they’ve lost 3 of their past 4 games and 4 of 6, including a 3-2 loss to the aforementioned Flames on Sunday night.
SeattleKraken.com’s Bob Condor reports that the Kraken believe that they can build upon the their play over the second half of Sunday’s game against Calgary.
Condor also hints at a pair of goal reviews which helped determine the course of Sunday’s game:
One: Second Half of Sunday is Welcome Tuesday
Following a first period marred by confusing goal interference reviews (whether you think the two calls were right/right, wrong/wrong, right/wrong, or wrong/right), the Kraken started the middle 20 minutes down 3-0. To the home squad’s credit, it battled back into the game, looking particularly strong in the last 10 to 13 minutes of the second frame. There was extended offensive zone puck possession, stick-to-tape crisp passing, and Kappo Kakko’s fifth goal and 16th point since joining the Kraken 21 games ago. An early third-period net-front goal by Brandon Tanev afforded Seattle a chance to get back to even in a pivotal game.
“The last 30 minutes, 33 minutes of [Sunday’s] game, there’s a lot of good, there’s a lot of battle, there’s a lot of you know how we want to play,” said coach Dan Bylsma after practice Monday. “It is how we want to compete and how we want to grow as a team. We want to keep getting better.”
Field Level Media has also posted a preview of tonight’s game from the Kraken’s perspective, explaining what happened in terms of the goal reviews:
The Kraken are coming off a disheartening 3-2 loss to visiting Calgary on Sunday that dropped them 10 points behind the Flames in the chase for the second and final Western Conference wild-card spot.
Seattle appeared to take the lead in the first period, only to have a video review disallow the goal due to goaltender interference.
Trailing 1-0, the Kraken allowed a goal on a delayed penalty call. They challenged for goalie interference on their end, but the play stood. The Flames scored on the ensuing two-man advantage to take a three-goal lead, and Seattle never caught up.
“I think from going up 1-0 to down 3-0 with goalie interference calls, the power play, the five-on-three that ensued for three minutes, I think a lot of events in that period were not how we wanted them to go,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said.
Kaapo Kakko and Brandon Tanev scored for Seattle, and Kakko is hoping that the Kraken can apply some more offensive pressure on Tuesday.
“(It was) a hard first 20 (minutes),” Kakko said. “I think we battled after that. It’s pretty close in the end. We got some chances, but it’s not enough.”
There will be more game previews posted by the media over the course of today, given that it’s a 10 PM EST start, but I want to get this out to you, so here are today’s game notes:
I will update this post with further game previews.
Update: From NHL.com:
Detroit Red Wings at Seattle Kraken (10 p.m. ET; FDSNDET, KHN, KONG)
The Red Wings (27-21-5) wrap up a four-game road trip seeking their seventh win in a row. Shane Wright, the No. 4 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, has five points (one goal, four assists) on a five-game streak for the Kraken (23-28-3), who have lost three of four.
