Kraken sputter into All-Star break with shutout loss to lowly Sharks
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Spring break was looming and the Kraken blew off their last assignment Tuesday night in front of a patchy crowd at SAP Center.
In the grand scheme, a win was vital to the visitors and fairly inconsequential to the hosts. Still, the Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks left it scoreless the first 47 minutes, until midway through the third period. The Sharks finally made a move, the Kraken had no response and an empty-netter sealed a 2-0 San Jose victory.
The announced attendance was 10,988 in a building that seats 17,500. Fans threw out the occasional noise of approval for the Sharks, who had treated them to the lowest win total in the league. San Jose has been on a relatively excellent stretch lately, however, going 3-1-1 in their past five games.
Veteran defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic put his team ahead 1-0 and woke up both the crowd and the Kraken, who were being outshot in the third period. William Eklund shook his way out of three Seattle defenders and sent it back to the point, where Vlasic sent a long shot past Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord.
Mackenzie Blackwood turned in a 32-save shutout for the Sharks, withstanding a 13-3 Kraken shot advantage in the first period.
SAP Center hasn’t been kind to Seattle. The Sharks’ rebuild has spanned most of the Kraken’s short existence, and while the Kraken are a perfect 4-0 against San Jose at home, they’re 2-3 on the road.
At the All-Star break, Seattle sits 21-19-10 and two points behind the second and last wild-card playoff spot. There are 32 games left in the season.
The Kraken are off until a game at the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 10, and few deserve to kick their feet more than Daccord. The former backup goaltender has spent nearly every second in the Kraken net for nearly two months. He made 19 saves in San Jose.
Philipp Grubauer, the Kraken’s No. 1 goaltender as recently as early December, was available to give Daccord a night off. It was a highly favorable slate, one where it made some sense to ease him in. All four games were against teams on the wrong side of the playoff bubble and three of the opponents were at the very bottom of the league standings. However, all four were must-win games, with the Kraken needing to make up lost ground in the playoff hunt. They went 2-1-1.
Daccord was entrusted with all four starts. He’s started six straight and 20 of 22 games since Grubauer was injured Dec. 9.
They were cruising in mid-January after acquiring at least one standings point in 13 straight games, but it can all change that quickly. A four-game regulation skid, while the Kraken were battling injuries and a locker-room bug, halved their playoff chances according to Moneypuck. The analytics site gave them a 36.3% chance of returning to the postseason heading into Tuesday’s game.
Daccord has entered three times in relief, but hasn’t been pulled in 30 of his own starts this season. Entering Tuesday’s game he sported a .920 save percentage and 2.36 goals-against average with two shutouts.
With a little luck, it would have been 2-0 Seattle by the time Vlasic scored. Jared McCann put a shot off the goalpost during the Kraken’s first-period power play. Seattle All-Star Oliver Bjorkstrand did the same midway through the second period.