Kraken Both Survived And Thrived In A Road Gauntlet

Kraken goalie Joey Daccord won’t come right out and admit it. But anyone glancing at the team’s schedule upon its July release knew full well the first road trip and opening 10 games overall had the ability to make or break the season.

There’s the part about six road games against five playoff teams from last spring, a 6,000-mile journey punctuated by four crossings of the U.S. Canada border. Oh yeah and it was preceded by a home game against another playoff team from Vegas and a season opener marking the return of three-time-champion head coach Joel Quenneville and the improved Anaheim Ducks.

Toss in the next two upcoming home games against prior playoff teams from Edmonton and Montreal, this opening 10-game stretch could have derailed the season. We’re talking maybe 0-10-0 had the Kraken shown up less than ready.

Clearly, that wasn’t the case. The Kraken survived the trip and then some by going 2-2-2. And they are now 4-2-2 overall with two games remaining in that opening slate of 10, a mark that isn’t reflective of survival mode so much as looking ahead at building off a strong start.

Daccord was asked about that. About whether the team had zeroed-in ahead of time on just how badly this trip could have positioned their entire season had they not taken care of business. He just smiled, then offered: “Yeah, we’re pumped to get home. We’re pumped to get home and play in front of our fans. It’s been a good start.”

The Kraken now get to build off that “good start” with a five-game homestand. After the Edmonton and Montreal games, they’ll face the New York Rangers, Chicago and San Jose at Climate Pledge Arena as well looking to add some standings points before hitting the road anew.

The strong start Daccord referenced was punctuated by wins over prior playoff teams Vegas, Toronto and then, on Thursday night, the cherry on a frigid Winnipeg sundae with a 3-0 shutout by Daccord, the first suffered by the Jets at home in 21 months. There were also near-wins over previous playoff squads Montreal and Ottawa, with blown late leads against both but a point secured in each once the games went beyond regulation.

That isn’t just survival. That’s swagger.

“I just think it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward,” said Daccord, who notched a rare goaltending assist late in the Winnipeg game on an empty net goal by Jordan Eberle. “That if we execute our game plan, we can play with any team in this league.”

That “game plan” of course, involves the “attention to detail” mantra preached by new head coach Lane Lambert. It’s about strict adherence to a defensive system that relies on retrieving pucks, getting them quickly out of your zone and then hanging on to them by creating offensive chances out of the back end of the ice.

Easier said than done, at times. The Kraken haven’t been perfect at it and Lambert knows work remains before his team starts automatically executing plays within the system without having to think about it. But when they do it, as Daccord said, they can beat anyone and already have.

“You know, we’re probably not a team that’s going to blow anyone’s doors off offensively every single night,” Daccord said, offering up an early candidate for understatement of the season. “But we’re going to be in every game. We’re going to compete. We’re going to be disciplined, stick to our structure and execute our game plan. And when we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win every night.”

Kraken newcomer Mason Marchment is a big part of that structure, his imposing 6-foot-5, 212-pound frame wreaking havoc in the offensive zone. In the Winnipeg game, 6-foot-7, 231-pound Jets defenseman Logan Stanley took a swipe at Marchment during a post whistle scrum. Marchment appeared to look around for an official and then, determining none had seen the glancing blow, faked throwing a right hook in Stanley’s direction – pulling up well short but selling the move with a good head feint.

Stanley flinched. Marchment laughed, as if to say, “Got you, chump!”

That’s swagger. That’s how the Kraken played for much of this trip. Zero intimidation going up against teams touted as playoff contenders and mostly battling them to standstills through regulation. And beating some in their own backyards.

“The expectation is, we’re a really good team, we can play with all these teams, and we can beat these teams,” Kraken centerman Matty Beniers said.

Beniers isn’t really buying that the Kraken “survived” anything by opening this way despite the formidable gauntlet of foes. Nor does he accept the suggestion that securing eight points their opening five contests bought the Kraken a “margin for error” to lose back-to-back games in Philadelphia and Washington once a slew of injuries took hold.

“I don’t think we’re looking at it much like that, in terms of margin for error,” he said after Thursday’s morning skate ahead of the Winnipeg contest. “We’ve definitely played some good games early on. And we didn’t play our best the last two. And now it’s time to come out and play our team game. Play a really good game and see what happens.”

It’s one thing to say something like that and then go out and lose, as many pundits felt the Kraken would against the Jets. After all, they’d beaten Winnipeg only twice in a dozen prior games since franchise inception. And while they had Marchment back after a one-game absence, they were still missing key regulars Brandon Montour, Jared McCann, Freddy Gaudreau, Kaapo Kakko and Ryker Evans.

Anyone can talk the talk about playing better from one night to the next. Teams do it all the time. But walking the walk in hostile territory against one of the best teams in the entire NHL is quite a different matter.

The Kraken just showed they aren’t in survival mode and never really were. They expected to be exactly where they are. Or, more accurately, may have thought they could be here and just needed a small sample size of proof they weren’t dreaming it.

Kraken goalie Daccord feels the Kraken received enough positive reinforcement on the trip to erase any lingering doubt.

“I think if we keep putting ourselves in these positions, we’ll continue to get better at it and improve with it,” Daccord said.

No matter how things go these next two contests with Edmonton and Montreal, it can absolutely be said the inaugural road trip and opening 10 games didn’t torpedo the season. If anything, eight games into these initial 10, the season’s success thus far seems to have reaffirmed just how far they can take things from here.