There’s a looming issue for the Kraken as they head down the stretch seeking to improve their playoff positioning and secure home ice advantage for opening rounds: They haven’t been all that great at Climate Pledge Arena.
With just a month to go in the regular season as of this Monday, the Kraken headed into Saturday night’s clash against the Dallas Stars boasting the NHL’s fifth-best road record but had only the 21st-best mark at home. In fact, no other playoff-positioned team had as low a home total as the Kraken’s .547 points percentage based off a 16-13-3 record that translates to just .500 hockey if only wins and losses are considered regardless of whether in regulation, overtime or shootouts.
Despite some possible explanations, there are no obvious reasons for a discrepancy Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Saturday he isn’t concerned about.
“I don’t make anything of it,” Hakstol said after his team’s morning skate. “I mean, it’s competitive whether you’re on the road or at home. We’re really comfortable at home. We’ve played well at home and won some big games. So, that’s not something that we’ve overthought at all.”
Still, the Kraken might be leading the Western Conference if their home mark was even just a little more in line with other contenders. Things don’t get any easier with the Central Division-leading Stars at Climate Pledge on Saturday and Monday followed by the Edmonton Oilers next weekend.
The Kraken’s 21-9-3 mark and .682 points percentage on the road as of Saturday trailed only the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights — all of whom are viewed as Stanley Cup hopefuls.
They’d scored more road goals at 128 than any team except the Oilers, who had two more in an equal number of games. But at home, the Kraken rank squarely mid-pack in scoring at 16th of 32 teams.
That scoring boost away from home has been the difference maker in the Kraken winning more road games. Their goals allowed don’t vary much at home or away, with the Kraken ranking 14th in fewest goals allowed for Climate Pledge games and 18th everywhere else.
The Kraken have notched six wins and secured single points in two losses — 14 points total — in road games in which they’ve surrendered four or more goals. At home, they’ve secured just a lone victory and two points total in games where they’ve allowed four goals or more.
So, the additional road goals have helped the Kraken “outscore” defensive problems and boost their away record. Conversely, the fact the Kraken sit an almost-even 16th in scoring and 14th in goals allowed at home helps explain their .500 win-loss total at Climate Pledge to this point.
Much of the Kraken’s scoring is also from even-strength play, as they lead the league with 187 goals and also are tops with 3.15 goals scored per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. The power-play unit has ranked mid-tier both at home and away with a 19% and 21% efficiency in both, respectively.
But while offense is driving the team’s superior road record, the reason why they score so much once leaving Climate Pledge remains elusive.
“I don’t think there’s anything glaring that really comes to mind,” Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak said Saturday. “I think it’s maybe a matter of the teams we’ve been playing. And when you’re on the road, sometimes you’re just on a roll and getting after it game after game. You know what I mean? Personally, I haven’t delved too much into it.”
The Kraken’s two longest winning streaks this season were achieved with help from a string of road games played with one or no days off in-between. A franchise-record eight-game win streak in January came within a 14-day span in which the final seven victories were on the road.
On the flip side, the homestands tend to be shorter and more spread out. The Kraken’s longest homestand was six games spread over 15 days back in November.
The quality of teams faced by the Kraken might also be playing into the home-away disparity. Of those eight road games in which the Kraken secured at least a point despite allowing four or more goals, two were against Anaheim and others vs. Vancouver and Chicago – all among the NHL’s bottom-dwelling teams.
They also secured points in such road games against Calgary, Ottawa and Detroit, none of which were in playoff positions as of Saturday. The only road win against a playoff-positioned team when allowing four or more goals was a 9-8 overtime victory at Los Angeles back in November.
Meanwhile, of 16 home losses for the Kraken in regulation, overtime and shootouts, nine have been against contenders Boston, Toronto, Vegas, Carolina, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Tampa Bay and Colorado. Of the remaining seven defeats, four were against playoff bubble teams, including two vs. Calgary and others against Florida and Ottawa.
Only three home defeats — against Montreal, Vancouver and St. Louis — came against non-playoff contenders, even though they seemingly generated an outsized amount of hand-wringing and discussion by fans and the media.
Notes
— Oleksiak was due to start Saturday in the 500th game of his career against a Dallas team he broke into the NHL with a decade ago. He later played with the Pittsburgh Penguins before returning to Dallas for three seasons ahead of being taken by the Kraken in the July 2021 expansion draft.
“I remember my first game in my first year and some of the faces around the room you’re just starstruck,” Oleksiak said. “You’ve got guys like Jaromir Jagr you’re playing with and whatnot. And you’re kind of in awe of being in the room with him.
“It just kind of flies by. I think you just have to look back and cherish every moment.”
— Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn entered Saturday’s contest riding an eight-game points streak that was just one shy of tying his personal best and the franchise record. Dunn had three goals, eight assists during that stretch.
With a point against Dallas, he’d become the first NHL defenseman since Mike Green of the Washington Capitals in 2009-10 to record separate nine-game streaks in the same season.
— The Kraken entered the game having fended off 30 of the past 31 power-play opportunities against them. That 96.8% success rate since Feb. 14 was the NHL’s best.