Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn pushed his point streak to 10 games with an assist on Yanni Gourde’s first-period goal Monday night against the Dallas Stars. He set a new personal best and broke his own franchise record from January.
It was his 14th point (three goals, 11 assists) during the 10-game run. Dunn also has an eight-game assist streak going, the longest active run in the NHL.
His point streak is also the longest active one in the league. He trailed only New Jersey center Dawson Mercer as of Sunday, but Mercer’s 12-game point streak came to an end Monday night when he was held off the scoresheet against the Carolina Hurricanes. Dunn pulled ahead of winger Pavel Buchnevich, who had a nine-game streak going for the idle St. Louis Blues.
Dunn is the fourth defenseman this season to have a point in 10 or more consecutive games and the first defenseman to have two separate nine-game point streaks in the same season since Mike Green did it for the Washington Capitals in 2009-10, per NHL Stats.
Through Sunday, Dunn was the NHL’s defenseman scoring leader in the new year. His eight goals and 26 assists were just ahead of the Devils’ Dougie Hamilton and San Jose Sharks’ Erik Karlsson.
Only five clubs in league history have seen a defenseman record the franchise’s first double-digit point streak: the defunct Hamilton Tigers (Leo Reise Sr.), the Canucks (Dennis Kearns), Islanders (Denis Potvin), Rockies/Scouts/Devils (Barry Beck) and Capitals (Robert Picard).
PK burned
The Kraken’s recent run of penalty-kill dominance was punctured during Monday’s game, when they started off 0-for-2.
Jamie Benn made it 2-0 Stars after Dallas put on an eight-second clinic, passing the puck six times in that short span. Benn cleanly won a faceoff against Alex Wennberg — Seattle has only won 33% of its first-period draws — and the Stars shuffled it around the perimeter, then in. A quick shot got goaltender Martin Jones to drop, then Benn put the loose puck over him.
The Stars’ ninth-ranked power play added another goal less than 30 seconds into a second-period penalty.
That the Kraken’s penalty-kill unit was still an unsightly 25th of 32 teams (75.3%) shows it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. But in its past 13 games, it had allowed one power-play goal on 32 chances (96.9%). Seattle is one of only two teams in the league who can say that about the past month.
That stretch included a two-week, eight-game span where they didn’t allow a power-play goal, a franchise record. The Kraken entered Monday’s game on a four-game streak without allowing one.
“We talked about it a lot,” Wennberg said Monday morning, adding the unit made some tweaks. “Obviously right now it’s a big key of the game, getting closer to the playoffs, to get going on that one.”
The penalty kill has been effective since the calendar turned to 2023. An 85.2% kill rate was good for fifth-best in the league heading into Monday’s games.
No news on Burakovsky
There have been occasional Andre Burakovsky sightings, but the one-time Kraken leading scorer still hasn’t rejoined the main group. He left with a lower-body injury 21 seconds into the first game following the All-Star break Feb. 7.
“He’s working hard at his rehab,” was the only update coach Dave Hakstol provided Monday.
With two assists Saturday, Dunn took over the team scoring lead with 53 points (12 goals, 41 assists). Last season’s leading scorer Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle were a point back, followed by Matty Beniers and Yanni Gourde, all of whom have pulled ahead of Burakovsky in the winger’s absence.
Of course his return will still be welcomed.
“He’s a guy that gets you through the neutral zone. He does a lot of things for us and plays in a lot of different spots,” Hakstol said. “The reality is injuries are part of it. Our guys have done a good job of filling in that gap.”
Sport with pride
Before Monday’s rematch with the Stars, which also served as Pride Night, the Kraken wore warm-up jerseys designed by Seattle native and Capitol Hill resident Simson Chantha, part of the “Hockey is For Everyone” initiative.
Newly added stripes of color in the Kraken’s “S” logo end in stylized hands. According to a team release, Chantha’s design was “influenced by simple shapes and hands. The hands in the primary logo represent a community of different people coming together to support one another.”