An energetic performance saw the Seattle Kraken down the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Sunday. Goalkeepers had a decisive part in the success in front of their own audience in the Climate Pledge Arena Phillip Grubauer. The man from Rosenheim kept his team in the game in the second and third round with several brilliant saves. The winning goal four and a half minutes before the end was scored by Jared McCann.
“We put a lot of pressure on them in the last third and forced them to make mistakes on the defensive,” said the goal-scorer afterwards. With a flick from the right face-off circle, he overcame Winnipeg goalkeeper Dave Rittich. “I practice these shots a lot, except I usually aim for the far corner. This time I felt like I should go for the near corner, which turned out really well,” added McCann.
Video: WPG@SEA: McCann’s 14th goal of the season in the third period
The Jets found the game better at first. Mark Scheifele brought the guests 1-0 ahead in the first third on the power play. After the 1-1 equalizer through Jordan Eberle in the middle section, Winnipeg struck again with a majority. Pierre-Luc Dubois was responsible for the 2-1 lead.
The Kraken had their goalkeeper to thank for the fact that the deficit was not higher after 40 minutes. First Grubauer fended off a brilliant direct acceptance of Adam Lowry away. A little later he stopped a solo run by Kevin Stenlund. For this he earned an appreciative “Gruuuuuu!” from the ranks. In the last third, the goalie made another spectacular save. This time dived Kyle Connor free in front of him and again Grubauer could not be overcome. At this point it was 2-2 after Ryan Donato scored for the home side after 16 seconds in the last third. “Grubi made sure we could still win this game,” the Kraken attacker praised his teammates.
Grubauer saved a total of 15 shots and celebrated his third win of the current season. So far he has been between the posts in eleven matches, ten of them from the start. His match record is 3-5-1. His goals-against average is 3.30 and the save rate is 88.2 percent.
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said he was pleased with his team’s performance. “Today was one of those games in which you have to stick with it and, above all, keep calm. We managed to do that for long stretches. In the second third we were a bit impatient at times and caught a few counterattacks. In the last half we didn’t make any mistakes and scored the two decisive goals”, was his conclusion.
gn #seacracking fam ???? pic.twitter.com/JxXHnm2VlZ
– Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 19, 2022
According to Hakstol, the Kraken’s cohesive teamwork was the basis for their success against the Central Division runners-up. “Everyone who is on the ice has to do their part. It’s not about how long you play or how many goals you score, it’s about the little things. We didn’t allow much on the defensive today,” emphasized he.
The win against the Jets should give the Kraken renewed confidence. Things didn’t go as planned for her before. They had lost five of the six matches before this duel and lost second place in the Pacific Division as a result. After the successful performance on Sunday, the Kraken now have 37 points (17-10-3) from 30 games. That puts them in third place behind the Vegas Golden Knights (45) and the Los Angeles Kings (39). However, the Californians played four more games than Seattle.
The Kraken’s next opponents Tuesday (10 pm ET; NHL.tv; Wed. 4 pm ET) are the St. Louis Blues at home. They play their last game before Christmas on Thursday (10 pm ET; NHL.tv; Fri. 4 pm) with the Vancouver Canucks.