The Kraken previewed a new and improved product while starting the season on a two-game road trip. Then they couldn’t bring it home for a closer look.
Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the regular-season debut at Climate Pledge Arena sounds closer than it was. The Kraken trailed 12 seconds in and scored both goals in the final seven minutes of the game.
Little went right Saturday night until it was too late.
“Maybe we were feeling a little too good about our first two games,” forward Jordan Eberle said after the game. “Sometimes, it’s good to get knocked down a bit.”
The Kraken are 1-1-1 after the first week of the season. They hope to give the home crowd a better show Monday night when they host the Carolina Hurricanes (2-0), a Stanley Cup contender after finishing with the third-most points in the league for two straight seasons. The St. Louis Blues (1-0) are in town Wednesday.
The Kraken surrendered one lead in an overtime loss in Anaheim but kept a tight grip on another in Los Angeles. The 5-of-13 power play has connected at least once in all three games, though the penalty kill has been allowing goals at about the same clip (58.3%).
The Kraken had a chance to bring out the resiliency they showed in the preseason but allowed another goal less than three minutes after the first.
“That set the tone for the game, in my opinion,” Eberle said. “But you should be able to rebound off that and be a mature enough group that (when) things go wrong — especially in the first eight seconds — you still have three periods to come back from it. We just didn’t really have an answer.”
Vegas’ 2-0 lead held for a period and a half before the costly defensive breakdowns arrived in earnest. Coach Dave Hakstol diagnosed it as misdirected hunger to score.
“You’ve got guys that care, so you want to do a little bit too much, rather than going the other way and just simplifying things and finding a way to work back in. That’s, in essence, what happened to us in the second period,” Hakstol said. “We’re pressing for offense when in reality, we really didn’t need to.”
On an individual note, Jaden Schwartz has scored in two straight and Matty Beniers has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 13 career NHL games. According to the team, Beniers is the seventh rookie in NHL history to record a point in at least 12 of his first 13 career games. The list includes Jonathan Toews (2007-08) and Joe Sakic (1988-89).
Andre Burakovsky has at least a point (1 goal, 3 assists) in all three games and fellow offseason pickup Justin Schultz has three (1 goal, 2 assists). On Saturday, Schultz sped all the way down from the opposite crease to accept Burakovsky’s pass and put a low, quick shot by Vegas goaltender Adin Hill, finally giving the home fans a reason to get on their feet.
Seattle is winless in five meetings with Vegas.
The California Kraken are the version of themselves they want to put out there, not the tired-looking, disorganized group from Saturday’s home opener.
“We’re a great hockey team. We’ve shown that in the first two games,” forward Yanni Gourde said. “I think we’ve definitely gotten better and we’ll show it in the next game.”