DALLAS — Starting a road trip that was supposed to be the Kraken’s final big regular-season test took an ominous twist Monday when the team recalled goalie Joey Daccord from its AHL affiliate.
Having to play Daccord or a struggling Martin Jones between the pipes was the last thing the Kraken needed entering Tuesday’s clash against the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars or a pair of ensuing contests in Nashville this week followed by another at Minnesota. Philipp Grubauer pulled himself from Saturday’s loss to the Edmonton Oilers with what was said to be a non-COVID illness and remained in Seattle on Sunday as the Kraken headed to Coachella Valley, California, for a workout and team-bonding session.
Kraken general manager Ron Francis said Grubauer will join the team here Monday, and a decision will be made Tuesday about his availability.
But at least Grubauer has a shot to play on the trip.
Forward John Hayden suffered a lower-body injury when his ankle appeared to twist severely during a fight Saturday against Klim Kostin of the Oilers. There’s no word on how long Hayden will be out, but it will be a while and he won’t play on this trip.
The team is expected to issue an update Tuesday on Hayden.
But what loomed as a difficult trip just got even tougher. Here are three things to know before it begins.
Are the Kraken in danger of missing the playoffs?
No, not really. At least, not yet. They are actually in a better spot than last Thursday before taking on the San Jose Sharks.
Namely, the Nashville Predators have already burned two of the three games in hand they held over the Kraken. Nashville and Calgary are fighting to nab the final Western Conference playoff spot and running out of time.
Technically they are chasing the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the No. 8 and final conference seed. But the best way to gauge the Kraken’s playoff chances, currently holding the No. 7 spot, is to monitor the gap between them, the Predators and Flames.
The Predators had made up a bunch of ground due mainly to a soft schedule the past month. But they lost a back-breaker to Chicago in regulation last week and got hammered 7-0 on Sunday by a New York Rangers squad much better than most teams Nashville has recently faced.
Still, the Predators had loomed as the most serious — if still distant — threat to the Kraken due to their games in hand and the two head-to-head games in Nashville this week. As mentioned, two of those games in hand have been squandered, the Predators remain seven points behind and if the Kraken at least split this week’s games in Nashville they’ll pretty much eliminate any lingering threat.
The Flames actually were closer at six points behind the Kraken entering Monday. But it’s the Kraken with a game in hand on them and with no head-to-head matchups remaining, the Flames need help. If the Kraken expand their lead to eight points, it’s all over.
For context, the Kraken have maintained the same points lead over the Flames since the All-Star break despite playing just .500 that span at 9-9-2. Even a single-digit points gap this late in an NHL playoff race can be much tougher to overcome than it appears due to “loser points” for overtime and shootout losses offsetting the impact of victories by opponents.
So the goalies are nothing to worry about?
Oh, no. There’s plenty to worry about. The Kraken were outshooting the Oilers by a 2-to-1 margin in Saturday’s third period while trailing by two goals. Grubauer and Martin Jones allowed some soft goals, and though you can blame one guy’s illness and the other’s lack of preparation entering so quickly, at some point the Kraken need to get some stops beyond the basic ones.
Grubauer appeared to have rectified things against the Sharks on Thursday, then allowed the quick softy to Edmonton. After seeing that, it’s tough to ignore that the Sharks are far from a playoff team and results facing them must be placed in context. This week’s games loomed as far bigger tests and a way for Grubauer in particular to get rolling again against Dallas and Minnesota squads vying for division and conference titles as well as a desperate Nashville team.
That could still happen. At the very least, if Jones plays he’ll need to again become a semblance of what he looked like until about mid-January, because he’s been fighting the puck ever since.
Can the Kraken defeat an actual playoff team?
We can single out goalies all we want — and we do when merited — but the Kraken won’t last more than a week or so in the postseason if they can no longer beat playoff-caliber teams. The loss of Hayden really hurts, because with him the past two games the Kraken played a more physical playoff style.
Still, they’ve defeated only two playoff-positioned teams the past two months, against New Jersey and Colorado in overtime. They haven’t won against a playoff-positioned squad in regulation since taking down Boston on Jan. 12, or a regulation home game against such teams since defeating the New York Islanders on Jan. 1.
Since defeating the Bruins on the road, they are 2-9-3 facing teams holding a playoff spot.
So whether it’s forechecking on offense, backchecking on defense, stopping pucks or finishing off games, the Kraken must find a way to do that once again against the kinds of teams they’ll meet on this trip — beginning with the Stars on Tuesday — and in the playoffs. Otherwise, even as their own battle for a playoff spot appears to have eased somewhat by default, they’ll still be one and done once they get there.