Photo: Getty Images
One more win?
Done and done.
(Or, Dunn and Dunn.)
The Seattle Kraken, fresh from a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday at Rogers Arena, finished the pre-season at 4-2, tied with the Edmonton Oilers at the end of the night for most wins in the Pacific Division.
Defenseman Vince Dunn, a Stanley Cup champ with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, scored twice.
Though it’s only a dress rehearsal, four wins in six pre-season games provide a little boost into the regular season, where the real results await for a historical hockey season in Seattle.
Notes:
-Vince Dunn scored three goals in the last two games of pre-season, finishing tied with Jaden Schwartz for the team lead in goals (3) for pre-season
-Dunn, part 2: he led the Kraken in blocked shots (4)
-Calle Jarnkrok and Morgan Geekie led the Kraken with a pair of assists, their first two points in pre-season
-Mark Giordano led the Kraken in time on ice, logging 22:39
-The Kraken were terrific in the face-off circle (if you’re doing better than 50%, you’re in business), winning 59 percent of their draws including 11-of-14 when on power plays (they went 2-of-6)
-Jared McCann and Morgan Geekie were borderline unconscious on face-offs, combining to go 21-of-29 (72%)
-Philipp Grubauer, last two appearances: 54-of-55 in saves. His final “warm-up” totals: four games, one shutout, .931 save percentage.
-Carson Soucy returned to the bench after taking a high stick early in the game, the stretch where he missed action due to NHL protocol
FROM THE PODIUM:
Vince Dunn regarding his two goal night and the Kraken pre-season finale win :
“Not only scoring goals but creating a lot of momentum and chances will definitely find ways to, to execute a little better. But I think overall as a team, we're finding our chemistry.”
“I'm feeling good, I think as a team we should be feeling good about that game. There's definitely ways that we can make it easier on our goalies not making so many big save. But as a team I thought we did a pretty good job tonight. We’ve found ways to score goals in all different areas so that's really exciting for momentum going into the regular season.”
Dunn regarding the developing versatility of the Kraken lineup:
“With the different lineups guys are finding themselves in areas that maybe we’ll need to rely on for each other for that. I found myself (penalty) killing when maybe I'm not used to doing that so often so I think everyone gets a good feeling. Going into the regular season being put in different areas, we’re all coming from different teams so we might find ourselves in different spots and we're used to. So I think that got us really prepared for the season.”
Philipp Grubauer regarding tonight’s effort
“I thought the guys in front of me … they made it really easy for me to see pucks and made it really simple for me. I don't think there were too many high danger chances – a couple here and there on the power play, but other than that, it was good.”
I think we played enough preseason games where everybody knows what the other guy is doing I think that was not the case in the first a couple of games, because you have different guys in the lineup. I think the last two games that we figured it out for sure.”
Head Coach Dave Hakstol regarding the progress of playing a full 60 minutes:
“Tough game, just with the amount of specially teams and stuff, tough games the find a lot of flow in. I think there was 20 plus minutes of power play penalty kill, let alone a little bit of four on four added in there. So it was sporadic throughout the entire game. A lot of positives there, you know, starting with, with (Grubauer) on the back end, I thought, he had some good looks on their power play - especially that, you know he was on top was real sharp.”
Hakstol on Vince Dunn’s two goal game:
“I see him, he looks like he's gaining his skating legs, just seeing the ice real well and the offensive blue line. So you see some of the production that he has on the offensive blue line, shooting the puck really well. And you know and see in those shooting lanes, in the other areas, that are that are critical, you know for Vince, he's been good in, getting back and breaking us out of the zone. That's one of the real strong abilities that he has so, you know, those are some areas, he's been he's been gaining confidence in as camp goes on.”