One: Getting Power Play Back on Track

ST. LOUIS – In the first of back-to-back road games against Central Division foes this weekend, the Kraken aim to get back in the business of earning standings points. The quest will not include goalie Joey Daccord, who remained back in Seattle with an upper-body injury being evaluated. The Kraken announced Daccord as “day to day” Saturday morning. The news translates to both Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray getting starts in matchups with the Blues on Saturday and Dallas on Sunday night. Judging from the first-goalie-off-the-ice-in-morning skate indicator, Grubauer will get the nod against the Blues.

Seattle went zero-for-six during man advantage in Wednesday’s disappointing loss to San Jose. Coach Lane Lambert liked the three third-period attempts more than the three earlier power plays meted out in the first 40 minutes.

From a power play standpoint, I didn’t think, at least the first three of them, we didn’t shoot the puck enough,” said Lambert. “Our execution was off a little bit. We started shooting toward the end of the game, mustered up a few shots there, but it was too slow, just like the rest of our game … we have to understand that we’re not going to pass our way into the net.”

Putting pucks on net is not a new concept, and the Kraken have succeeded with both goals, like Jamie Oleksiak knuckling in a shot in last Monday’s Chicago win and Vince Dunn routinely sending pucks to the net (or slipping the puck to partner Adam Larsson or Brandon Montour late in games when a goal can tie a game (Oct. 28 Montreal).

Two: Looking Power Play Back on Track

Kraken have likely noticed Lambert favors switching lines in-game or next game to spark more offense. He also switches up some line combinations when protecting a lead late in games. Many NHL coaches juggle offense/defense, too, and most try to keep a successful pair together (one recent Kraken example has been Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle). In Thursday’s practice before Friday’s travel day, Chandler Stephenson was between Eberle and Berkly Catton, while Beniers was working with Jaden Schwartz and Kaapo Kakko. Schwartz has played plenty with Beniers, and the Kakko/Beniers duo was productive in the second half of last season after Kakko came over in the trade with the New York Rangers. Shane Wright was centering between Mason Marchment and Ryan Winterton, who played frequently with Wright at Coachella Valley. Saturday’s morning skate will be telling about how Lambert will align his forwards against the Blues.

“They do have a little bit of a history, right?” said Lambert when asked about Beniers and Kakko together on line rushes Thursday at Kraken Community Iceplex. “We are challenged to score goals at the moment. I like to keep lines pretty consistent, but when you’re not scoring, you have to make some changes.”

Lambert said Wright and Winterton, having played together a lot in the AHL and previous NHL segments, “does go into it” and that Winterton is a good fit for Marchment as well for Winterton’s skating and “he drives the play and he works [at defending].” He added that keeping familiar pairs together is a preferred practice, but reinforced “we’re looking for a spark.”

Three: Know the Foe: St. Louis on the Upswing?

After suffering through a seven-game losing streak that garnered just two of 14 possible standings points, the Blues have won two of their last three games. Thursday’s 3-0 road victory was wrested from Buffalo, and without leading scorer Jordan Kyrou, who was a healthy scratch and a human wakeup call generated by STL coach Jim Montgomery. The Blues coach praised goalie Joel Hofer’s standout and shutout effort. Perhaps he plays the hot hand. Team Canada hero Jordan Binnington was blitzed 6-1 in his road start in D.C., which included a whole caper about the St. Louis goalie possibly keeping the Alex Ovechkin 900th goal. Binnington was in net for the Edmonton victory that ended the losing streak.

Projected Lines/Pairings (not official):

Schwartz – Beniers – Kakko
Catton – Stephenson – Eberle
Marchment – Wright – Winterton
Kartye – Meyers – Tolvanen

Dunn – Larsson
Lindgren – Montour
Mahura – Oleksiak

Grubauer