COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Kraken began the second half of the season on Thursday night with a performance that looked unsurprisingly similar to plenty of other games over the past few weeks.
Defensive breakdowns. Sloppy turnovers. A goalie under siege. And an offense unable to finish its own chances.
The result was a 6-2 loss to the Blue Jackets that served as a deflating start to the final 41-game stretch of what’s quickly becoming a lost Kraken season. Seattle (17-22-3) has dropped four straight.
Asked on the postgame television broadcast if there was anything positive that could be taken from the game, Jared McCann flatly said, “no.”
“The second period was just embarrassing from us,” Eeli Tolvanen told reporters.
The season’s midway point arrived with an obvious opportunity to regroup. After a frustrating 1-2-1 homestand that included New Jersey goalie Jacob Markstrom stealing a win on Monday, the Kraken started a five-game road trip with the Blue Jackets.
It was also the start of a 16-game stretch leading into the two-week break for the Four Nations Faceoff where if the Kraken are to make something of this season they need wins. Otherwise, they are likely to just become trade fodder for other teams.
“It starts with this road trip but our focus is going to become quite narrow-minded here to win some hockey games here in the next 16 games, win some hockey games here on this road trip to get back into this thing,” coach Dan Bylsma said after skate on Thursday morning.
Unfortunately for Bylsma, while the Kraken started the game well, the second period was — as Tolvanen noted — an embarrassing effort, and unfairly left goalie Philipp Grubauer exposed and fishing pucks out of his own net.
Bylsma said the inability for Seattle to capitalize on a power play at the start of the period set the tone for Columbus to take control.
“I think the chance with the power play at the beginning of the second to do some damage, and that didn’t happen and the response after that was critical to the game,” Bylsma said. “Some lapses in (defensive) zone coverage. Some details. We knew they were going to be a good team around the net, strong at the net and some lapses at the net, and now you find yourself in a huge hole. And the response, I think, after the third goal in particular there was a huge dip in our game after that for too long of a time.”
Luca Del Bel Belluz swatted a pass out of midair to give Columbus a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Zach Werenski and Denton Mateychuk scored less than two minutes apart midway through the period that both came off defensive lapses. Werenski, who entered the game second in the league in points among defensemen, was left unmarked in a defensive breakdown between Andre Burakovsky and Adam Larsson.
Mateychuk’s goal also came on a backdoor play when Tye Kartye was unable to knock the defenseman off the puck. It was Mateychuk’s first NHL goal.
The final strike of the period was the one that Grubauer likely should stop as Kent Johnson flicked a shot through Brandon Montour and into the net.
Grubauer was tagged with five goals allowed on 19 shots and was replaced by Joey Daccord late in the second period. For Daccord, it was his first appearance since Dec. 22 in Colorado having sat the previous five games with an upper body injury. Daccord made four saves and was on the bench for an extra attacker that led to Kirill Marchenko’s empty-net goal in the final minute.
Bylsma said pulling Grubauer was in the hope of creating a little bit of a spark.
“(He’s) made huge saves for us the last four games, played really well. You’re just trying to wake up your team, send a message to the group,” Bylsma said.
Lost in the context of the ugly middle 20 minutes was a relatively strong start by Seattle. The Kraken had the first six shots on goal and had a 14-1 advantage in shot attempts in the opening minutes of the first period.
Columbus got the first goal when Sean Kuraly was left alone in front of Grubauer and redirected Ivan Provorov’s point shot 11:58 into the first period. But that lead lasted all of 10 seconds before Tolvanen snapped a 12-game streak without a goal off a terrific play along the boards by Shane Wright.
Tolvanen was one of — maybe the only — bright spot in the game for Seattle as he scored with 11:16 remaining to pull within 5-2. But the Kraken failed to convert on a power play a few minutes later and any hope for a Vancouver-like comeback dissipated over the final five minutes.
“I feel like we have to stick to our game, to be honest. If we play a simple game I feel like we are the best and then when we start trying to make fancy plays that’s when we scored on our own end,” Tolvanen said. “It’s the turnovers in the offensive zone (where) we have the chance to shoot the puck and we try to pass for backdoor tap-ins. We have to get back to just shoot the puck and get into a working mentality.”
Notes
• The Kraken failed to earn a point against Columbus for the first time in franchise history. Seattle was 5-0-2 all-time against the Blue Jackets entering the game.
• Daniel Sprong cleared waivers on Thursday and was assigned to Coachella Valley. Sprong was in the lineup once since the Christmas break and was placed on waivers on Wednesday.
• The Kraken recalled forward John Hayden from Coachella Valley for additional depth, but he was scratched from the lineup.
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