Final Buzzer: 7th Seed for Now

Pretty fun and fantastic two-game homestand: Thursday night the Kraken qualified for the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs in just the second season of the franchise. Saturday, Seattle claimed at least the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a convincing 7-3 victory over the Original Six Chicago Blackhawks at a jubilant and mega-decibel Climate Pledge Arena.
The Kraken win kept open the possibility of overtaking Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division. The Kings lost to Colorado Saturday night and stay at 100 points on the season with two games to play.
Seattle now has 98 points with three games to play.
If the Kraken finish in the top wild-card position, they will play the Western Conference division winner with the second-best record. If the Kraken claim third-place in the Pacific, they will play either Vegas or Edmonton, whichever rival doesn't win the division.

First and Now Familiar

The first Seattle goal was fashioned by a couple of skaters who were not wearing Kraken sweaters when this glorious regular season started. Jesper Froden, who signed to a two-way AHL/NHL contract over the summer, was leading the American Hockey League Coachella Valley Firebirds when first called up to the NHL roster.
Froden figured to be back based on how much ice time Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol was giving the Swedish-born forward during training camp and preseason games. He earned the primary assist (his fourth overall in 12 SEA games) on the opening goal, breaking up ice for an offensive zone entry and then a drop pass to winger Eeli Tolvanen.
Tolvanen is a wonderful story unless you are a Nashville Predators fan. Kraken GM Ron Francis made a successful waiver claim for the Finnish forward and former 2017 first-round pick. Tolvanen scored his 16th goal for the Kraken, wristing it past Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek.

Alternate Captains Paying It Forward

After Chicago defenseman Seth Jones scored his first of two goals on the night to tie matters just before the six-minute mark of the opening period, alternate captains Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde scored to make it 3-1 at the first intermission. Eberle notched his 20th goal of the season, stationed net-front and in a perfect position to deflect Jamie Oleksiak's shot from the blue line. It marks the eighth time in his 13 NHL seasons Eberle has tallied 20 or more goals (and he notched 19 each in two years).

The Kraken now boast five players who have 20 or more goals: Jared McCann (39), Matty Beniers (23), Daniel Sprong (21), and Jaden Schwartz (20) are the other four. After his goal, Eberle had a huge smile on his face after the traditional hockey-glove high-fives at the bench.
"I was laughing about how it went in off both of my feet," said Eberle when asked about the grin. "Sometimes it's nice to just nice get a bounce."
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Gourde's goal came on the power play, fueled by assists from Eberle (building on a career-high, now 43) and Daniel Sprong (24 on the season, his career-high too). Eberle cross-crease pass came in chest high. Gourde worked his stick magic to bat the puck not once but twice on the score. At the end of the first period, the Kraken power play had scored six power-play goals in their last 20 attempts.

In the second period, Jones scored his second goal to make it 3-2. But after Seattle killed a Chicago power play, alternate captain Adam Larsson exited the penalty box to be a perfect target for a stretch pass from Gourde, who had just killed the last seconds of the penalty kill with a takeaway. Larsson skated hard for a breakaway on Mrazek, once again showing the defensive stalwart's sneaky-good deke moves to slip the puck into the net to regain the two-goal margin.

Think about that: Eberle scores the second Kraken goal and then assists on the third Seattle goal, scored by Gourde. Then Gourde pays it forward with an assist on the Larsson goal.
Kraken fans no doubt recall similar Larsson moves when he scored an overtime winner in Dallas in late March after the Stars tied up the game late in regulation. Jordan Eberle admired the goal and pointed out Larsson has scored more than the veteran forward on breakaways this season.
Larsson was queried, you might even say, "goaded," into claiming his moves were worthy of being included in the next shootout, which either comes in the three remaining 2022-23 games or next season. There are no shootouts in Stanley Cup Playoffs hockey.
"Yeah, I think so," said Larsson when asked if he should be a shootout candidate. "Hak probably doesn't think so [the head coach confirmed as much in his post-game scrum]."

Assists But Not on the Scoresheet

The Kraken appeared to take a solid three-goal lead when Daniel Sprong scored his 21st goal of the season, firing his elite-level shot past Mrazek after gathering a loose puck generated by a poke check from teammate and summer free-agent signee Justin Schultz.

Chicago closed the gap a bit when German-born Lukas Reichel scored his seventh goal in 23 NHL games (he's notched an assist on Jones' middle-period goal to log two goals and four assists in the last five games). And then it looked even tighter when the Blackhawks scored late in the period.
But the goal was wiped out, thanks to keen eyes and fast review work by Kraken video coaches Tim Ohashi and Brady Morgan, who communicated to the Seattle bench that Dave Hakstol should challenge due to a Chicago offside player. Message received, goal challenged, and disallowed.

Kraken Goalie Update

Martin Jones was the night's starter in goal for Seattle. He was solid through two periods, making 16 saves and facing five Grade-A scoring chances per Natural Stat Trick. But Jones appeared to tweak something at the end of the second period. Philipp Grubauer subbed in and looked sharp, keeping the game in Kraken's hands, especially with Chicago outshooting Seattle 8-3 in the first 10 minutes of the frame. Grubauer finished with 11 saves and a clean sheet.

Going for No. 40

When Jared McCann scored the Kraken's sixth goal 12 minutes into the final period, it sealed the Kraken's 45th win in regulation to up the record they set Thursday night for a second-year NHL franchise (same for the 98 standings points now garnered by Seattle).

It was McCann's 39th goal of his own career-high, continuing to prove why Ron Francis signed the 26-year-old winger to a five-year contract last March, making him the first-ever Kraken player to re-sign with the club. McCann has three games remaining to reach the prestigious 40-goal plateau.