Kraken head coach Lane Lambert and I were on the same page after watching Seattle’s 6-2 loss to the Flames on Friday night, we just expressed our disappointment or disgust in different ways.
I mentioned to fellow Pacific North Hockey reporter Glenn Dreyfuss that we’d just watched “two average NHL hockey teams” play “chip and chase” for 50 minutes. Volleyball. Rip the puck to center ice, deflect it in and try to go get it. Unfortunately for the Kraken, the Flames were better on the forecheck overall, after struggling themselves to make an outlet pass in the first period.
It was 1-1 after twenty minutes. After that, Halloween-eve horror.
Lambert arrived prior to last season. He described Friday’s second and third periods as his team’s worst ever forty minutes.
“Losing battles, turning pucks over ….. mistakes on the wall … allowing power play goals … the list goes on and on,” Lambert pragmatically told the media postgame.
When asked why he pulled goalie Philipp Grubauer after the 4th Flames goal, he answered in disbelief, “Really? He let in four goals and the game was half over.”
It obviously wasn’t all on Grubi. The starting netminder was victim to some blown assignments and a couple bizarre line change decisions leading to Calgary goals. He was replaced by Joey Daccord at almost the exact halfway point of the game, the 10:40 mark of the second period.
“Execution wasn’t there, we’ve just gotta learn from it,” Seattle forward Mackie Samoskevich said postgame. “Not let it happen again.”
His power play goal just before the end of the second period cut the Flames lead to 4-2, offering a glimmer of hope. That light was extinguished when Calgary scored their fifth goal just 39-seconds into the 3rd period.
“At 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill tonight, we lost battle after battle after battle after battle,” Lambert added.
A redemption opportunity occurs Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena when Seattle once again takes on the Flames, a culmination of the four-game season series. The Kraken won the first two matches by identical 6-1 scores.
Earlier Kraken:
— For Kraken, McCann Injury A Big Blow
Earlier Canucks:
— The Canucks Are On Their Own Sad, Little Planet
VIDEO RECAP: “Kraken Reaction!” — Simmer and Glenn with the deets …
