The Seattle Kraken got the epitome of a moral victory on Thursday when they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Boston Bruins. They were able to gain one point from the overtime loss, their sixth overall loss in a row, bringing their season total to 37 points, third-worst in the NHL. Defenseman Mark Giordano opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal just a few minutes into the game and winger Jordan Eberle tied the score at two in the second period. The score remained knotted at two apiece thanks to goaltender Philipp Grubauer notching 36 saves, his second-highest total of the season. Grubauer’s elite performance still wasn’t enough to get Seattle the win as Boston scored the game-winning goal 3 seconds into overtime courtesy of winger Jake DeBrusk getting his second goal of the night.
Despite being the youngest franchise in the league, the Kraken were led by some very veteran players against Boston. Giordano is 38 years old and might not even be on the team a month from now. He is on an expiring contract and is viewed as one of the most alluring players on the trade block ahead of this year’s deadline. Eberle and Grubauer are both in their thirties but still figure to be a part of Seattle’s long-term plans due to their lengthy contracts. There is some hope for this Kraken team, though, despite the terrible record that is catching many fans by surprise. Seattle is certainly not following the Vegas expansion team route but there are still some things to be excited about as a fan. The first is how good Seattle’s lottery odds figure to be if they maintain their third-to-last place spot in the standings. There is a very good chance that the Kraken “earn” the first pick of the 2022 NHL Draft and get the chance to draft Shane Wright (who I know nothing about except that he will probably be the first pick so he must be pretty good). Or they could end up in the top three and get the consolation prize of getting to draft Juraj Slafkovsky who was just named the MVP of the Olympics after leading Slovakia to the bronze medal. The second light at the end of the tunnel is named Matty Beniers. The player that Seattle selected second overall in last year’s draft has started to look like a guy who can make a big impact very soon. He was mentioned by The Athletic in its piece about NHL prospects playing in the Olympics, so he used that platform to start making a name for himself. Hopefully we Kraken fans will get to watch Beniers play for Seattle next year and hopefully it will not be nearly as bad as it has been this year.
The Dime Press 