Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Vince Dunn engineered a third period rally with his sixth goal of the season and Justin Schultz’s return to the lineup from healthy scratch status finished a with his first goal in 16 games, in a 2-1 overtime win for the Seattle Kraken over the Philadelphia Flyers before a sellout crowd of 17,151 on Friday at Climate Pledge Arena.
“My lucky spot," said Schultz, in deadpan fashion, when prompted on a goal of similar variety he scored in overtime one year ago to beat the New York Rangers.
It generated another one goal win, another reminder that the Kraken can’t be counted out of the playoff race. They are now 9-3-9 in one-goal games: a metric that doesn’t guarantee victory, but rather, evidence they are chipping away at the playoff gap by simply guaranteeing overtime. It also has an emotional impact.
“(It’s) evidence of the group inside the room being comfortable in those types of situations,” said Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol.
The Kraken ended the 2023 calendar year two points back of the final wild card spot, also handing Philadelphia just their third loss in 19 games when scoring first. Travis Konecny’s shorthanded goal was the only time the Flyers pieced Joey Daccord, who was brilliant in his return to the net after the night off in Calgary on Dec. 27 with a 27 save effort.
“Most saves, as you build into the game, you just grow your confidence with each save,” said Daccord.
Since December started, he has been lights out – and arguably, the league’s best goaltender. His 10 games produced a .939 save percentage, best of any heavy workload (seven games or more) in the NHL.
- ONE BIG TAKE: one goal victories are the daily deposit of big game success.
The Kraken won their sixth consecutive one-goal game on Friday night in also their first comeback win of the season, when after trailing two periods. That kind of trend typically patterns tight-checking, and high-powered goaltending showstopper performances coaches will preach to expect in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (though coincidentally, blowouts were more commonplace last year by the time the Kraken exited the postseason, as shared in this great piece by John Barr).
Around this time last year, much of the narrative surrounding the Kraken was focused on a high-powered offense that had to outrun (or, outscore) their mistakes to win. This season, offensive production has been challenging. Losing Jaden Schwartz and Burakovsky doesn’t help. But the razor thin margin for error is relaxed when goaltending has rounded into form.
This run is sustainable, as long as goaltending continues to spark the engine.
The Kraken are getting said efforts from Joey Daccord, and at least for one game on Dec. 27, Chris Driedger with Philipp Grubauer on the shelf with an injury. Their play suggests team trust in their goaltending, and on Friday, they recovered from a slow start.
“We stayed with it, we didn’t get outside the comfort zone, we didn’t try to do anything crazy,” said Hakstol. “We stayed on it and generated enough in the third period.”
Their presence in the playoff conversation, one that was almost a non-starter a month ago, is becoming more real by the day based on an eight game turnaround that’s nearly unprecedented in the NHL. Only five other teams have recovered from an eight-game winless streak, like the Kraken suffered last month, to immediately turn around and rip off wins or points in eight straight games or more.
The last team to do it: the 2010-11 Washington Capitals, who won their division and finished atop the Eastern Conference.