The Seattle Kraken won’t take any memories away from last Thursday’s curtain-closing Game 82 – except for one player who will never forget it.
It was the second game of a season-ending back-to-back (scheduling which coach Lane Lambert called “ridiculous”). The Kraken flight from Vegas didn’t arrive in Denver until 3 a.m. Seattle also lost an hour due to the time zone change from Pacific to Mountain time. No wonder Seattle looked listless in a 2-0 loss to the President’s Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.
A meaningless game to everyone else meant the world to Kraken rookie goalie Victor Ostman.
An undrafted 25-year-old, Ostman was making his first NHL start. His mother, father, and sister were flown in from their native Sweden to Ball Arena for the occasion.
Rookie Goalie Kept Kraken Close
Ostman acquitted himself well, making 33 saves against the potent Avalanche, 17 in the 1st period alone.
“Re
ally good showing for him in his first NHL start,” was coach Lambert’s review.
“I liked his size (Ostman stands 6-foot-4), I liked his rebound control. I thought he swallowed up pucks pretty good.”
Lambert helped out his goalie by winning a coach’s challenge for offside that wiped out a 1st period Colorado goal by Nick Blankenburg.
Ostman said afterward, “It would have been nice to get a win, but it was a lot of fun out there. A lifelong dream.
“Nothing really changed from a preparation standpoint. Once I got to the rink, I did my pregame routine. I tried to remind myself that it’s (like) any other game. It’s the same game I’ve been playing my whole life.”
With Seattle’s Coachella Valley Firebirds farm club this season, Ostman made 35 appearances, winning 17. He sported a 2.77 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. That save pct. ranked 13th in the AHL among goalies who played 25 or more games.
Ostman with the Kraken had backed up fellow Firebirds tender Nikke Kokko for the prior three games. The pair were summoned to the NHL with regular Kraken goalies Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer both nursing injuries.
Kraken Net Duo Ready For AHL Playoffs
Ostman and Kokko are back with Seattle’s farm club, which has qualified for the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. The Firebirds finished 4th in the 10-team Pacific Division. A best-of-three 1st round playoff series against the Pacific’s fifth-place team, the Bakersfield Condors, begins Thursday Apr. 23.
The opening game of the series will be played in Bakersfield. The second (Apr. 25), and if necessary, third game (Apr. 26), will be played at Coachella Valley’s Acrisure Arena.
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