Yes, They McCann

SAN JOSE – Kraken forward Jared McCann has played a multitude of roles this season, including big minutes on the penalty kill and filling in at center when injuries and trade reduced the center corps. Lately, McCann is back to racking up a multitude of offensive credits at a count of 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in the last nine games. McCann’s pair of goals plus an assist on the game-winner in Saturday’s 5-1 road win represents his 15th multi-point game of the season.

McCann started the scoring six minutes into the first period here in northern California Saturday night with a goal started by Kraken defenseman Josh Mahura’s extra-long stretch pass from deep in the Kraken zone to an awaiting Andre Burakovsky in the Sharks zone. Burakovsky skated with the puck for several seconds, creating space for McCann in the prime shooting area of the slot. Pass complete, McCann flashed his signature on-the-stick-off-the-stick shot to notch his 19^th goal of the season.

Sticking to It – Equipment Manager Camelio Gets ‘Assist’

Linemates McCann and Burakovsky have been clicking into high gear lately but the unofficial assist on the opening goal goes to the Kraken’s head equipment manager, Jeff Camelio. When Burakovsky broke his stick seconds before the McCann goal developed, he raced to the bench where Camelio was there stick-handle out with the Kraken forward barely breaking stride.

Burakovsky rejoined the rush in time to take that pass from Mahura. Camelio was awarded the post-win championship belt by last winner Joey Daccord and received big-time cheers from a crowded locker room of players, coaches and support staff. Camelio recently was feted for working his 2,000th NHL game in stints with Nashville and Seattle. He’s clearly still going strong.

Roughly four minutes later, McCann hustled behind the San Jose net to cleanly strip the puck and complete his lap around the goal with a nifty drop pass to Adam Larsson, who, yes, was deep in the left faceoff circle and quite the trip from his usual right-point location. Larsson found Burakovsky with a perfect feed (hey, the guy has been bringing the offense lately) to make it 2-0. McCann picked up the secondary assist for his 12^th point in the last nine games, then added a second goal in the middle period to reach the 20-goal benchmark and bump up that point total to 13 in the last nine contests.

The Kraken’s all-time leading scorer assisted on the final three goals in Wednesday’s. 4-0 home win over Vancouver and then the first pair of scores to make have his hand (and stick) in five consecutive Seattle goals. Not to be lost: Burakovsky has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the last nine games himself, with most of the points coming as linemates.

“It's been good,” said McCann when asked about keeping the faith when points weren’t materializing so readily at points of the season. “Obviously, our line [with Shane Wright at center] has had a lot of chemistry the last couple of games here. We feel like even before that, we had a lot of chances, a lot of grade-A's that weren't necessarily going in. We're just going to stick with it and try to stay positive.”

“Jared is a great player,” said Matty Beniers at Saturday’s morning skate. “We’ve obviously had our ups and downs this year. But he's been pretty consistent through all of it, still creating plays, creating chances, scoring goals. He’s got more assists this year than last. But you know, that's the type of player he is. He's an offensive player, and if he's not putting it in the net himself, he's putting it on someone else's tape to put it in.”

Doubling Down in the Second Period

McCann’s consecutive point streak on Kraken goals stopped at five when veteran forwards Chandler Stephenson and Jaden Schwartz scored to make it a 4-1 after SJS rookie Will Smith (No. 4 overall in 2023) scored his second goal over the last 11 games and now has 14 on the year. Of course, no one in Kraken blue, especially McCann, was bothered that McCann wasn’t involved. Actually, both goals were unassisted, with Stephenson scoring on a rush up ice right-side from his own blue line, with linemate Schwartz serving as a decoy speeding left side.

Schwartz was excited for his linemate and, well, no worries, he tallied four minutes later, swiping the puck at the Sharks' blue line and racing to the net, beating San Jose starting goal Alexandar Georgiev. Schwartz’s team-leading 24^th goal chased Georgiev from the game with recent American Hockey League mid-March call-up Georgi Romanov, who appeared in the relief for the second time along with three starts in his first-ever NHL games.

The middle period started 2-1 in favor of the Kraken but the game was still in contested mode, especially with San Jose’s young but potent top-two lines. Coach Dan Bylsma raised the dominant second period before any media prompting. He especially liked the high-hockey IQ setup by Kaapo Kakko on McCann’s second goal of the night to make it 5-1 by second intermission.

“It was a good change from our team,” said Bylsma. “We get a quick up. We stay on the ice. Kakko stays on the ice, gets a turnover, and turns it right back the other way. We catch them with a bad gap, catch them in a long change and turn it into a goal. That's the mantra, that's what I think we've been doing it now the last couple games, You've been seeing the hallmark of us playing fast and playing in the offensive zone.”

Daccord Keeps Score Sheet Clean Early

At the other end of the ice, Joey Daccord was strong when needed Saturday in the first matchup of a four-game road trip that continues in Los Angeles Monday, Utah Tuesday and Vegas Thursday. The Kraken goaltender faced four high-danger scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes, faced six shots on goal, and extended San Jose's offensive-zone possession and pressure before Seattle’s first shot. He also made a couple of timely saves in the middle frame when the Sharks were still within reach of a comeback. Daccord finished with 23 saves for his 26^th win.

“In the first four minutes of the game, I think there were the four Grade-A's and some good saves there for Joey,” said Bylsma. “It allowed us to answer back quickly with goals from Jared and Andre early. But it wasn't without back-and-forth [play]. Joey was big for us, kept it out of the net, and we got on the score sheet. But it was a full 60-minute game and our second 20 [minutes] was our best.”