NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 10: Igor Shesterkin #31 of the New York Rangers makes the second period save on Jamie Oleksiak #24 of the Seattle Kraken at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2023 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Kraken 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)Photo: Getty Images
A pair of surrendered power play goals and a 3-0 deficit in the first period were too much to overcome for the Seattle Kraken, who fell 6-3 to the New York Rangers on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
The teams split the season series, 1-1 and the Kraken are still searching for answers on their five-game road in the form of a victory, who have now lost three straight games.
COMPLETE RADIO GAME HIGHLIGHTS
They nearly rallied out of a 5-1 hole, unbelievably, with a pair of third period goals in 22 seconds and continued to deliver pressure on the Rangers net for several minutes before Ryan Lingren sealed the game with an empty netter with 2:09 left.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored on his first shot as a Ranger, making his debut after a Thursday trade from the St. Louis Blues. Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jared McCann, and Brandon Tanev each collected goals for the Kraken.
Igor Shesterkin won in net for the Rangers with 26 stops. Martin Jones made 22 saves on the Kraken side, who will now turn their attention to a Sunday morning matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers, 10am PT (93.3 KJR / Kraken Audio Network) at Wells Fargo Center.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
1. The Rangers started on time. The Kraken found that task difficult. The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period and threatened to make it 4-0 on a late power play, eventually scored on by Jacob Trouba just over a minute into the second period. Vladimir Tarasenko greeted his new Rangers fanbase with a 1-0 lead just 2:49 into the game on his first shot in his Broadway debut, pretty much as Rangers fans (and perhaps the team themselves) scripted. The Kraken fell behind 2-0 on Kaapo Kakko’s tenth goal of the year and wouldn’t get as close to a two-goal deficit until over six minutes into the third, when the Rangers had the game in control. The Kraken have fallen short of getting a first period goal on the road trip, and it’s played a significant role in three straight losses on the trip.
2. The penalty kill went through another rough night. Opponents have gone 4-of-8 on the power play against the Kraken since the trip began Tuesday against the New York Islanders, a cause of concern with the direction of the trip after Trouba effectively put the game out of reach on his second period power play goal, and then found the unit exploited by pinpoint puck movement on Mika Zibenijad’s third period marker. Prior to the Thursday loss at New Jersey, the Kraken delivered eight straight games without allowing a power play goal but need to fix another leak again. Effectively, with the Kraken crawling back to a 5-3 deficit, two power play goals against made a big difference.
3. On the bright side, depth gets deeper. Believe it or not, in a game like this where the Kraken fell behind early and maneuvered issues on special teams, they held relatively firm ground at five-on-five play. Shot attempts (51-36) were in their favor, while controlling 54% of shot quality over the Rangers. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Brandon Tanev were the latest to jump to ten goals on the season, giving the Kraken a remarkable collection of ten players who have hit that mark this season. As said earlier, with Andre Burakovsky out for at least a week (perhaps more?), their depth will need to kick in to sustain success, akin to the 11 wins they procured in January.
KRAKEN LINEUP AT NY RANGERS, 2/11
McCann-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Wennberg-Donato
Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Tanev-Geekie-Sprong
Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Borgen
Soucy-Schultz
Jones
Grubauer