Kraken forward Jared McCann said the team is about to emerge from an arduous stretch of 12 games over 21 days feeling confident about its contender outlook.
After playing the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night, the Kraken have a three-day break before their next contest on Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena. They’re done playing any road games until Feb. 7 after the All Star Break.
“We’ve had a lot of games here of late and I feel like we’ve handled them pretty well,” McCann, who entered Saturday leading the team with 22 goals, said after Saturday’s morning skate. “Obviously we had a great road trip there and a little slip up the last couple of games, but we’re feeling good and feeling confident.”
The Kraken’s victory over New Jersey on Thursday left them 9-2 the first 11 games of the three-week stretch and moved them into a tie with the Vegas Golden Knights atop the Pacific Division. It also briefly halted a two-game losing skid on the heels of sweeping all seven games of their road trip.
“I feel like we’ve gotten all four lines firing right now,” he said. “We’ve got so much depth that if one line’s not going we can pick them up. So, it’s been going well.”
McCann led the team in scoring last season with 27 goals, though his production slowed over the second half. He said he feels strong at this point, having scored six goals while adding three assists over the prior 11 games.
“I’m just trying to stay even-keeled,” he said. “It’s obviously a long season so I’m just trying to stay positive through everything. Sometimes, they’re going to go in and sometimes they’re not. That’s just the way hockey goes sometimes.”
McCann entered the game leaving the league with a shooting percentage of 25.6% — meaning a quarter of all shots he takes wind up in the net. The league average shooting percentage is about 9%.
McCann’s shots have also tended to go in more often than not against Colorado. He entered Saturday’s game with three goals, six assists his last eight games facing the Avalanche — including two goals, three assists his four games facing them as a member of the Kraken.
Banged-up Kraken
One byproduct of so many games crunched together is the Kraken are no longer as healthy as they once were. The Kraken had gotten through most of the season missing only nine total games from starting defensemen, but Justin Schultz missed his second straight contest on Saturday and his future status won’t become more clear until after the team’s three-day hiatus.
Kraken winger Andre Burakovsky also missed Saturday’s game, a late scratch after partaking in the pregame warmup. Burakovsky appeared to take a slash on his wrist or hand in Thursday’s morning skate, but still played that night and scored the winning goal in overtime.
Jaden Schwartz missed his fifth straight game for undisclosed reasons.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said after Saturday’s morning skate he’d love to have nightly lineup consistency, especially on defense. “But that’s not reality,” he said. “We’re on the back of a schedule right now where — since shortly after Christmas — we’re 14 (games) in 25 days. So, the reality of it is you’re not going to have a full healthy roster as you go all the way through.”
Hakstol said Cale Fleury, who picked up his first Kraken point with an assist Thursday, played well replacing Schultz and should be more comfortable doing so as he continues to get ice time.
Grubauer revenge game
Philipp Grubauer got the start in goal Saturday against an Avalanche team he played 113 games for before signing a free-agent deal with the Kraken in July 2021. It was only the third start for Grubauer since giving up three goals on five shots the first 3:55 of a game against Edmonton back on Dec. 30.
He’d since stopped 59 of 64 shots in a pair of games, going 1-1 and posting save percentages of .914 in a victory over Buffalo and .931 in a loss to Tampa Bay.
“He’s given us an opportunity to win each of his last few starts here and done a really nice job,” Hakstol said. “We’re going to need a real competitive performance from him.”
Grubauer had played well his first time out against the Avalanche in Denver back on Oct. 21 before leaving with a lower body injury midway through the final period of a 2-2 game the Kraken went on to win. The injury sidelined Grubauer for five weeks and Saturday was only his 12th game since returning, with Martin Jones having taken over as the No. 1 netminder since replacing him.
Notes
— Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn entered Saturday with a franchise record nine-game points streak on the line. The streak — tied for the longest active one in the NHL — appeared to have ended Thursday night before Dunn drew an overtime assist on Burakovsky’s game-winning goal.
He had five goals, eight assists during the streak.
— The Kraken entered Saturday’s game having not surrendered a power-play goal to Colorado their last three meetings. They’d gone 9-for-11 killing penalties against Colorado and quickly fended off two more in Saturday’s first period.