Seattle @ Pittsburgh preview
PPG Paints Arena
Last Meeting ( Nov 5, 2022 ) Seattle 3, Pittsburgh 2
The Seattle Kraken are in just their third NHL season, but that doesn't diminish what they've accomplished with the pair of streaks they bring into Monday's road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Seattle has compiled a franchise-record nine wins in a row following a 7-4 victory Saturday at Columbus. The Kraken have a 13-game point streak (11-0-2), also a record mark.
Things have been going so well for the Kraken that it stood out that they had to come from behind in Saturday's win. Seattle had to erase three one-goal deficits and allowed more than three goals for the first time in nine games.
"Obviously, our defense had been playing very well," said Seattle forward Jared McCann, a former Pittsburgh player who had two goals and an assist Saturday. "Our (defensemen) are making our lives easier as forwards getting the pucks out (of our end). We're blocking a lot of shots, and (goaltender Joey Daccord) has been incredible for us. We owe a lot to him. But it's been a great team game so far."
The game against the Blue Jackets, which kicked off the second half of the season, was as big a test as Seattle has had recently. Besides having to come back three times before breaking things open with four straight goals, the Kraken lost forwards Andre Burakovsky (lower body) and Matty Beniers (undisclosed) during the game because of injuries.
The status of each for Monday is unclear.
Still, Seattle reached seven goals for the fourth time, tied for most in the NHL this season.
"I think our guys realized that we weren't really at our best, and (they) gave us a chance to get going and give ourselves success, and that means a lot at this time of year," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
Pittsburgh reached the midpoint of its season Saturday in a frustratingly familiar way. For the second game in a row, the Penguins had a poor start, pushed back to tie the game late, then fell in overtime. Saturday, that was a 3-2 setback on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Pittsburgh's power play has hit the skids. The Penguins were 0-for-4 with the man advantage against Carolina and are in an 0-for-13 drought.
"Well, it's not good enough right now," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said tersely of his team's power play. "It has to be better."
So do the Penguins in general if they are to avoid missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
"We've been inconsistent at times," Pittsburgh winger Bryan Rust said. "There have been stretches in games and there have been games where we play really good hockey.
"Our ability to be as consistent as possible, but also to recover a little bit more quickly when things start to go awry, is going to help us be successful in the second half."
Monday's game had a fairly late time change, made possible by the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. On Sunday, it was pushed back from early evening to early afternoon so it would not conflict with the Pittsburgh Steelers' playoff game at Buffalo. That NFL game was rescheduled from Sunday to late Monday afternoon because of severe winter weather.
--Field Level Media