Instead of a previously scheduled practice, the Kraken took Tuesday off following back-to-back home losses. They were outscored 10-3 in the pair of games. They fell behind early against the Vegas Golden Knights but played well in spurts.
The Kraken kept it a close contest against the Carolina Hurricanes until near the midway point, then fell apart after Andre Burakovsky scored their first and only goal in an eventual 5-1 loss.
“I think it was good for everyone to just take a mental day, rest up, get our minds right,” forward Jaden Schwartz said. “We played a lot of hockey in a short amount of days and the energy level wasn’t quite where it needed to be the last couple of days.”
There’s often talk of flushing such efforts. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol waved that off.
“We’re in the middle of a challenging stretch here,” Hakstol said. “We’ve had really good success and felt great coming off the road trip. We’ve run into two good teams that have played really well, and they’ve exposed some areas that we’ve got to be better and some areas of consistency we’ve got to be better (in). No one’s running and hiding from anything.”
Delayed reunion
As a member of the starting lineup, Schwartz stood opposite the team he won the 2019 Stanley Cup with for the first time Wednesday night.
Schwartz was a member of the Kraken last season, but was out of the lineup Dec. 29 to March 5 after hand surgery and he missed the first two games against the St. Louis Blues. He suffered an undisclosed injury March 22 and missed the rest of the season, including the last game against his former team.
Schwartz said he spent part of his day off Tuesday going out to dinner with around eight Blues players.
“It’s my first time playing them, so it’ll be exciting. Definitely a lot of emotion,” Schwartz said. “It was fun seeing them. Once the puck drops it’s just like every other game. It’s business for both sides, trying to get the win.”
Limited sample size
The Blues were touted as one of the league’s six undefeated teams — the Philadelphia Flyers dropped from the ranks earlier in the evening — heading into the game, perhaps due to a scheduling quirk. They carried a 1-0 record, their only decision a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Three teams had already played five times as of Wednesday.
St. Louis was the last team to begin the season.
“I’m sure they’re ready to get going,” Schwartz said Wednesday morning.
The Blues haven’t had a chance to show the league what to expect in the regular season, but Hakstol indicated it wasn’t necessary.
“You know what to expect from them. They’re not going to change what they do from winning the Cup a couple of years ago,” he said. “They’re really outstanding in terms of their structure and their defensive play and the maturity that they play with without the puck.”
Note
- Sue Bird, who retired from the WNBA in September following a 21-year career with the Seattle Storm, was on hand to accept a giant check Wednesday night. A $32,000 donation to the Seattle-based Black Future Co-op Fund was made on her behalf by the Kraken Unity Fund.