Daccord Delivers on Kraken End

Early this month, there was concern that Joey Daccord might have suffered an upper-body injury, keeping him out of the lineup for a longer term. But the Kraken’s No. 1 goalie returned after five games, delivering a win this week in Chicago on Thursday with 22 saves against a hot Western Conference foe.

Daccord kept his momentum here Sunday, stopping 21 shots, many off New York rushes. He made the big saves, squelching veteran Anders Lee early game, former WHL Seattle Thunderbirds star Mat Barzal mid-first period and 11 shots in the initial period and 10 more in the middle 20 minutes. Daccord was back to his usual aggressive moves out of his goal crease to cut off angles of NYI shooters. He did it right through the final minute, stoning Islanders star Mat Barzal on a drive to the net that sealed overtime and one standings point for Seattle.

To their credit, Kraken defenders kept Islanders attackers out of the outer lanes and away from the high-danger high slot area during the first 40 minutes.

Both Gaudreau and Lambert praised the work of Daccord and Philipp Grubauer on the trip, affirming that winning teams rely heavily on their goaltenders some nights and that the goalie is frequently the best player on every penalty kill period in and period out. “Both goalies were really good,” said Lambert. I mean, it’s a big reason why we went the way we went on the trip. At the same time, our guys battled in front of them, blocked a lot of shots. I thought they both played well.” “Joey and ‘Grubi’ in the last game, they both are goalies giving us huge confidence out there,” said Gaudreau, who looked all the part of a veteran with grit and skill on this trip, including a welcome shootout touch. It’s huge when your goalies are so solid like that. They’ve been fun to play in front of. They’re showing up every single game, and they’re ultra-talented.”

Third Period Productive Trends Up

In the third period, the Kraken mustered five shots on goal in the first nine minutes; the last one before a TV timeout was a message from the future. Shane Wright started the scoring chance, getting the puck to Jani Nyman, who quickly moved it to the stick blade of Berkly Catton. NYI’s David Rittich stopped the attempt, goalie dueling right along with Joey Daccord. The Kraken played the structured defensive game that head coach Lane Lambert has instilled in his squad, but they were also getting five Grade-A chances in seven shots on goal by the time the clock was under three minutes.

Shot Volume Still Low in Early Periods

The first period here featured some early feeling-out vibes, with both teams entering the 5 p.m. local time puck drop after playing Saturday. The host Islanders dropped a close matinee home game to St. Louis. At the same time, the Kraken of course won an overtime thriller in Pittsburgh via heroics by Brandon Montour (game-winning goal), Matty Beniers (a tying goal that Lane Lambert praised as a “snipe”) and Philipp Grubauer (monster saves in overtime and 30 saves on the night while facing 10 high-danger chances).

After the early minutes, the Kraken engineered some offensive possession time with a couple of impressive shifts from the Matty Beniers line, featuring Jordan Eberle and Mason Marchment. But in the end, the Kraken managed just four shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, marking the fifth period out of the previous seven dating back to Thursday’s win in Chicago that finished with single-digit shots on goal.

Lane Lambert has been extolling shot volume to the extent that when asked this weekend about how shot quality fits into his shot volume endorsement, he replied, “Let’s get the shot volume first, and then we can worry about shot quality, how’s that?”

Works for fans, no doubt. Because when Seattle has upped the shot volume on this road trip, the goals have materialized along with third-period and overtime heroic. Nonetheless, by mid-game, the Kraken had notched just eight shots on goal with none on a mid-second period power play. There was one early second-period sequence in which Berkly Catton has a strong scoring chance turned away by Islanders veteran goaltender Daavid Rittich. The 19-year-old’s first NHL goal in that spot would have sparked bedlam at the Kraken’s watch party in Spokane, some 2,500 miles to the West.

Late in the second period, 2022 second-rounder Jani Nyman had a good chance, and so did Vince Dunn on the rebound, but Rittich made the stops. Jaden Schwartz, who continues to be the best performer in all zones for Seattle, nearly scored off a skilled pass from linemate Eeli Tolvanen. But the two teams on the second night of back-to-back games trudged to the locker rooms with the score still zeroes for each side.

That’s the first time all season the Kraken have been scoreless after two periods, and the first 40 minutes included just 10 shots on goal for Seattle, compared to 21 for the hometown Islanders.