When the Seattle Kraken look at the Western Conference standings, they focus on the Calgary Flames.
The Kraken are currently eight points behind Calgary, who hold the second wild-card spot. Seattle will have a chance to close that gap when they host the Flames on Sunday night.
“We’re all responsible for how the season has gone so far,” said Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson.
Seattle also needs to surpass teams like St. Louis, Utah, and Vancouver to reach Calgary. The Kraken have several games left against each of those teams.
There are two more games remaining between Seattle and Calgary after Sunday. The Kraken won the first meeting of the season, 2-1 on October 19 in Seattle, thanks to an overtime goal from Jordan Eberle. That win handed Calgary their first loss after a four-game winning streak.
Seattle snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory against San Jose on Thursday. Defenseman Brandon Montour scored twice, and forward Chandler Stephenson added a goal and two assists.
Seattle also got a boost from defenseman Vince Dunn, who fought San Jose’s Henry Thrun after the Sharks got too close to goaltender Joey Daccord in a second-period scramble.
Daccord is expected to play in Seattle’s last three games before the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Meanwhile, Philipp Grubauer was placed on waivers and sent to Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League to improve his game.
“Our home record has never been good enough,” Dunn said when asked about the fight. “We want to make this place a tough place to play in. That comes with attitude. Sometimes things happen like that (on the ice). Everyone just battled hard. We know about the tough situation with (Grubauer), and they came after (Daccord) a little bit, so we had to stand up for him.”
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma agreed with Dunn’s actions in that moment.
“I think our team and Vince Dunn are at their best when they’re engaged, emotional, and playing with aggression,” Bylsma said. “If that leads to fisticuffs, that’s OK.”
The Flames are coming off a 3-1 loss to Detroit on Saturday, their third loss in four games.
“I think we probably deserved to win,” said Nazem Kadri, who scored the Flames’ only goal. “I liked most of our game. Obviously, a couple of breakdowns, and they’re an opportunistic team. They’ve got talent, and they made us pay. But overall, I think we were pretty good.”
Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee made their Flames debuts after a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, sending Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier, and two draft picks to the Flyers.
“I liked them both,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “I thought they did a good job. It’s been a long couple of days for them, and I thought they handled it well. We put them in almost every situation, and they did well.”
Goaltender Dustin Wolf made 22 saves in the loss, meaning backup Dan Vladar is likely to start in goal for the Flames on Sunday in Seattle.
