On Saturday, Jan. 31, the Seattle Kraken took on the Vegas Golden Knights for their second game of the season. Their first matchup was on Oct. 11, where the Kraken won 2-1 in overtime.
In this game, the Kraken took an early lead after scoring two goals in the first period. The second period was all Vegas, after they scored two of their own to tie the game. However, it was the Kraken who scored early in the final frame to hold off the Golden Knights for the remainder of the period. Seattle left Vegas with a 3-2 win and are up in the season series 2-0.
McCann Is on Fire
In the last few games for Seattle, the top line has been on fire. While Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers have cooled off a little bit, Jared McCann remains strong.
Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers and left wing Jared McCann celebrate a goal scored by McCann (Steven Bisig-Imagn Images)
Halfway into the first period, the Golden Knights took a seat for too many men on the ice. With a little less than a minute left, Chandler Stephenson had the puck at the faceoff dot and dropped it down to Vince Dunn. He sent it up to McCann, who was in the other faceoff circle. He fired a shot and extended the Kraken’s lead to two goals.
In his last four games, McCann has scored four goals. On top of this, his goal in this game marks his 200th NHL goal. Of his 200 goals, 134 were scored during his five seasons with the Kraken. In Seattle’s game on Jan. 29, McCann broke the single-month record for the most points recorded by a member of the team with 18; he now closes out the month with 20.
This was the first full month McCann played all season, after missing several games due to two injuries. He came back to the ice and made an immediate impact, proving his worth on this team.
Melanson Continues to Set the Tone
Jacob Melanson hasn’t had the same scoring impact as other players on the team, but that does not negate the other impact he has had on the ice. He has set the new record for the most hits in one game by a player at 12. He previously set the record last week at 10 hits and has now broken his own record.
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Melanson constantly throws his body to make sure the Kraken gain possession of the puck from the opposing team. Seattle had a total of five takeaways compared to Vegas’ two. A large part of their success was due to Melanson. Melanson only recorded a total of 9:56 on the ice from a total of 14 shifts, meaning he almost had a hit per shift.
The Kraken recently recalled Melanson back to the team after they placed Ben Meyers on injured reserve (IR) on Jan. 22. He is continuing to prove his worth on the team and will put Seattle in a tricky position when Meyers returns on who they should send back down to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate team.
Kraken’s Goaltending Continues to Excel
The Kraken may be alternating Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer, but the two continue to have strong performances each night. Against the Golden Knights, Daccord was the netminder, and he stopped 27 of 29 shots, earning him a save percentage (SV%) of .931. This game marked his third straight win.
The Kraken are now on a four-game win streak, partially thanks to their goaltending duo. The Kraken only have two more games before the Olympic break; let’s see if they can continue on this current win streak.
Kraken Continue the Road Trip
The Kraken will continue on their road trip and head to California to take on the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
