OTTAWA, Ontario — Among the quieter aspects of the Kraken’s early success is that they’ve built one of the NHL’s most formidable offenses, something that seemed almost impossible to accomplish so quickly after last season’s dreadful debut.
A big reason the extent of this season’s goal prowess has been largely overlooked, beyond the team’s lack of truly elite scorers, is the fact the Kraken had played fewer games than all but five other squads. But factor the goal totals into a per-game average, the 3.54 they’d managed per contest — before popping another eight goals in Saturday’s 8-4 win over the Ottawa Senators — was fourth highest among the league’s 32 teams.
The Buffalo Sabres ranked first with 3.94 goals per game, the Boston Bruins are second with 3.76 and the Edmonton Oilers are third with 3.55. The Kraken outburst against Ottawa boosted their average to 3.66 and temporarily propelled them ahead of the Oilers into the third spot.
But where the Oilers had Connor McDavid with a league-high 33 goals entering Saturday, the Sabres a 30-goal-man in Tage Thompson and the Bruins a 27-goal scorer in David Pasternak, the leading Kraken goal-getter was Jared McCann with 18.
Edmonton had four players with at least that many goals.
McCann would go on to score his 19th of the season in the first period of Saturday night’s win, taking a brilliant pass from Jaden Schwartz and firing it past Anton Forsberg. But what distinguishes the Kraken is their ability to spread production around.
“It’s huge when all four lines can score,” McCann said after eight different Kraken players popped goals in beating the Senators. “Even our defense showed up tonight and (Vince Dunn) had that (third-period) bomb there.”
McCann, Dunn, Matty Beniers, Daniel Sprong, Jordan Eberle, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Justin Schultz and Andre Burakovsky all picked up goals in this one.
The Kraken entered Saturday tied with Calgary and Los Angeles at having an NHL-best nine players with at least seven goals this season.
Buffalo has eight such players, Boston has six and Edmonton has only four.
“I believe everybody feels like they have the ability and the opportunity to contribute,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said before Saturday’s game. “We have guys in all different levels of our forward group that have scoring ability. Our defense has been able to contribute and be a part of the offensive attack.
“So, I would attribute a lot of it to balance and to guys having the confidence that they can go out and help on the scoreboard and provide some offense at any time.”
The Kraken’s eight-goal output against Ottawa also marked the 12th time this season they’ve scored at least five goals in a game. Last season, they managed five or more goals in only six games.
Jones has hot hand
Kraken goalie Martin Jones got his fourth consecutive start in goal as Hakstol continues to go with the hot hand. Since giving up five goals in a pre-Christmas shootout loss to Vancouver, Jones had yielded that same amount over his ensuing three outings against the New York Islanders, Edmonton and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jones finished the night allowing the four goals on 23 shots for a save percentage of just .825, but — as with much of how his season has gone — nonetheless registered his 18th win. That surpasses the 17 he had in the 2019-20 season and is now his highest total in four years.
“I try and work hard in practice, do the right things and that’s where I can get confidence from,” Jones said after notching No. 17 in Toronto. “I’ve been doing this a while and with more experience, that grows as well.”
Hakstol said Jones has been a calming presence in net by making good saves at the right times.
“One of the things we’ve done well, especially in the last two road games, is be able to settle the game down when we needed to and turn it back in our direction,” Hakstol said. “The other night in Toronto, it was during that first 10 minutes and Jonesey did a nice job. In Edmonton, the night before it was after we went down by two. We were able to settle that game down and push it back in our direction.
“So, he’s going good right now. And that’s why he’s back in net tonight.”
Notes
- Beniers scored for the third straight game Saturday when he potted his 14th of the season late in the second period to put the Kraken ahead 5-3. It’s the third time this season he’s scored in three straight and his goal total leads all NHL rookies.
- McCann’s first-period goal gave him three in his last four road games against the Senators dating back to his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- Kraken defenseman Dunn has 10 points in his last nine games (two goals, eight assists) after scoring a third-period goal against the Senators to go with a prior assist.
- Tim Stutzle of the Senators extended his points streak to seven games with a first-period assist, then notched a hat trick with a pair of second-period goals two minutes apart and another in the third. He has eight goals and four assists during that seven-game span.