SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 19: Tye Kartye #52 of the Seattle Kraken reacts after fighting Brendan Lemieux #28 of the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period at Climate Pledge Arena on October 19, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Well that seemed like a rainstorm at the end of a drought.
The Seattle Kraken found their game, identifiable to the sum-of-the-parts, four-line offensive monster, that dumped seven goals on the Carolina Hurricanes and never trailed in a 7-4 victory before a sellout crowd on Thursday night.
The familiar tenets returned from a four-game absence, where they had previously scored three goals in four games. Defenseman Vince Dunn and forward Oliver Bjorkstrand each picked up three points, while Dunn helped spearhead a 2-of-4 effort on the power play.
Joey Daccord, whose workload was the heaviest in a 20-save first period, earned his first win of the season on 32 stops. Carolina starter Antti Raanta couldn’t survive the second period, pulled after allowing four goals on 18 shots. Backup Pyotr Kochetkov made 15 saves on 17 shots.
Former Portland Winterhawk Seth Jarvis led Carolina with a pair of third period goals.
Takeaways from the win:
1. You couldn’t have asked for a better night, offensively. The Kraken needed this in the worst kind of way. They had top stars scuffling. Their power play was an empty cupboard. It felt like the first period would go a long way with dictating the terms of the game.
The good news: the Kraken faced a predictably strong pace from Carolina, a team who plays a mirror image style of the Kraken with a blistering forecheck and strong depth. Carolina hemmed the Kraken in their own zone on the first shift, and nearly put two chances away that Daccord stopped or earned the help of Dunn, who swatted a puck out of the air that was headed for a vacated net.
Yanni Gourde’s first shot, testing Raanta’s pads which left a juicy rebound and seemed to communicate a leak in Hurricanes goaltending, was an omen. The Kraken hung three goals up in the first period, including two goals at the top of the crease by Gourde and Jaden Schwartz, and a shorthanded tuck by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare that put the Hurricanes on their heels for nearly the rest of the night.
Vince Dunn’s blast in the second period chased a shaky Raanta from the game, and it took a while to pierce Kochetkov. But after a two-goal rally by the Hurricanes, the Kraken virtually put the game away by Jared McCann and Tye Kartye goals, 19 seconds apart, and the game was out of reach.
“Nobody got back on their heels,” said head coach Dave Hakstol. "I actually liked that test for our group. We passed that test. We were able to push back. We didn’t give up very much.”
2. Let’s talk about Tye Kartye, a rookie who is expeditiously earning respect. His first career regular season goal, at the goal mouth on a feed by Beniers, was on brand for the fearless game that Kartye plays. Then late in the game, Jared McCann, a premium and valuable piece of the Kraken offense by way of a 40-goal season last year, got steamrolled at center ice by Hurricanes forward and well-known agitator Brendan Lemieux.
Whether you want to decide if the hit was intentionally harmful or not: up to you. Lemieux got two minutes for roughing. But the next shift that Kartye and Lemieux were on the ice, Kartye didn’t hesitate to deliver a message. The 22-year old rookie went after the 27-year old, sixth year veteran.
Kartye, with a smile, was blunt on how the fight went.
“Not that good,” said Kartye. “I got beat up pretty good, but that’s alright.”
That's because the Kraken didn’t see the result of a one-off fight, but the willingness for Kartye to go after a veteran, resumes disregarded, and stick up for his veteran teammate.
“He brings a lot of energy and different dynamics in his game that the team needs,” said Dunn. “We’re not maybe the most physical team, but we play together and stick up for each other. It was great to see, and that positive energy is contagious in the lineup.”
Maybe there’s something in the Soo Greyhounds’ water that makes it happen.
“Soo boy sticking up for a Soo boy – that was nice,” said McCann.
Joking aside, the Kraken have emerged with an identity that relies and speed, deception, and quickness – rather than blunt-force punishment – but still found a moment to send a message at a critical time that they weren’t going to be pushed around. Kartye led the movement.
3. Advancements in line shuffling: Jaden Schwartz blocked a Brent Burns shot with 6:40 left in the second period. His presence was scant for the rest of the night. Though Schwartz returned briefly for the third period, Dave Hakstol offered no firm update on Schwartz’s condition. It’s now opened the door for potential shuffling across the top six group, where the Kraken have the presence of a veteran leader and fearless front-of-the-net presence in the balance.
Jared McCann took a spin on Alex Wennberg’s line, and it worked – McCann was set up by Bjorkstrand on a one-timer that held up as the game winner, while Tye Kartye, installed on Matty Beniers’ line, finished off a crisp Beniers feed to the front of the net to put the game away.
If the Kraken have to go back to this combo, vital signs demonstrate an offensive pulse that can take momentum next level for a group that was starved for goal-scoring until Thursday night.
“We went back to that familiar look,” said Hakstol. “That allowed us to rotate a guy with (Bellemare). Karts’ has great presence. He jumped up and stepped into that role. Much like he did in the playoffs last year for us, he’s got good presence about him. He plays the game the right way.”