It took fewer than six minutes for Daniel Sprong and his fellow fourth liners to serve notice Tuesday night that the Kraken’s lack of a home-ice advantage would soon be a thing of the past.
By that point, the Kraken had already notched goals by Jamie Oleksiak and Morgan Geekie after coming out flying with arguably their best early energy all season. And once Sprong showed off his deke moves on a third Kraken goal in the second period of this 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres, it was evident their first Climate Pledge Arena victory of the season was assured.
“I just wanted to have a good bounce back game,” said Sprong, who’d played just once previously this season after a weeklong visa debacle that saw him stuck in Alberta after the preseason wrapped up. “I had to miss the first two games because of the visa and I just wanted to get my rhythm back from training camp. I had a good week of practice and it felt good, so I wanted to play well.”
Sprong also drew an assist on the early Oleksiak goal, hustling after a loose puck and getting it back out to the high slot. From there, a towering Oleksiak wristed it past the glove of Sabres goalie Eric Comrie.
Buffalo finally got on the board midway through the second, but then Jared McCann – on fire lately – added a huge power-play goal with a laser wrist shot in the final minutes of the frame to erase any doubt. Matty Beniers would add a second Kraken power-play strike midway through the final period, his third goal of the season and second in as many games.
Kraken goalie Martin Jones, subbing in for the injured Philipp Grubauer, wasn’t overly tested but still turned away all except one of 16 shots faced. The Sabres also had a third-period goal called back in a 4-1 game at the time after video review determined the play had been offside.
For Sprong, his first goal of the season and first assist of any kind with the Kraken since arriving at the trade deadline last March was a welcome contribution from one of the team’s semi-regulars. Same with Geekie, who’s been fighting for playing time with centers Shane Wright and Yanni Gourde and made the most of it when given some the past two games.
Wright and Ryan Donato were the designated forward line sitters in this one, opening opportunities for Sprong and Geekie.
Sprong’s goal came after a clearance attempt hit a skate and bounced back to him as he stood alone behind Buffalo’s defenders. He waltzed in on Comrie, faking him out of his socks with a solid deke move.
“He was pretty far out, so I thought if I could just fake him one way he’ll slide just because I was in so close,” Sprong said. “And if he doesn’t bite I can go open net either way. He made some good saves on us tonight, but that one went in.”
As for the Kraken, now back to .500 at 3-3-2 after dropping their first three home games – garnering just one point of a possible six – the victory against a Sabres team that entered a surprising 4-1-0 represented another sign they’re poised to move up a level. It appeared that way after an early victory in Los Angeles against the Kings and last Friday in Denver when they beat the Colorado Avalanche, only to lose their ensuing contests.
The Kraken’s loss in Chicago on Sunday had been particularly frustrating given they led by two goals early and were dominating much the same way they did the opening frame of Tuesday’s contest. Geekie and his teammates this time took care to avoid the same pratfalls that did them in previously with two goal leads there and in a prior loss to Anaheim.
“I think it’s just about falling into a lull, you start cheating a little bit and getting away from our game,” Geekie said of the prior letdowns. “I think tonight, maybe a couple of shifts we had that. But it was maybe one shift here and one shift there and then we got back on track.”
Geekie’s playing time Tuesday was likely a reward for his strong effort against the Blackhawks, which included a beautiful drop pass to McCann on the opening Kraken goal. This time around, Geekie was fed a strong flip pass by linemate Brandon Tanev, sped in alone and snapped one by Comrie for his first goal in his fifth game .
“I’m going to come in every day and do the same thing,” Geekie said of capitalizing on the playing time. “I’m a pretty even keeled guy. It’s nice to get in and contribute but I’m just trying to come in here and do the best I can every day.”
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol has worked since the start of camp to create competition among the forwards. And he was pleased to see it pay off in winning fashion for a team that hasn’t always been rewarded for strong starts to games this season.
“Our team needs to have depth,” Hakstol said. “That needs to be a strength of ours and tonight that was a real positive for our club.”