The Seattle Kraken were not shocked by the tough stretch they had before the holiday break.
The team entered the break on a five-game losing streak, tied with San Jose for the longest in the league. The Kraken will start the second half of the season on Saturday afternoon against their biggest rival, the Vancouver Canucks. This will be the first of four meetings between the two teams.
“A lot’s been said,” said first-year Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. “There’s a lot of searching from the group, from the guys, going on. We didn’t want to use the last two games as throwaway and get to the break. We wanted some growth as a team.”
He added that he was happy with the effort in a 5-2 loss at Colorado.
“The four-day break we have to take as a break, both mentally (and physically), get away from the game a little bit, come back after Christmas and be ready to go,” Bylsma said.
Kaapo Kakko, a new forward for the Kraken who scored a goal at Colorado, was looking forward to the break for a different reason — the chance to practice with his new team. Kakko, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, was traded to Seattle on Dec. 18 from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen and two draft picks.
“I think for me and for the team, it’s a much-needed break coming up, but especially for me,” Kakko said. “It’s been only three games in four days.
It will be a good thing to have a good couple of practices to kind of know how we’re gonna play. We watched some videos. The coaches have been great in telling me what to do. But practices are when you can really learn what to do.”
The Canucks were close to facing a similar situation to the Kraken before the holiday break, but they managed to defeat San Jose 4-3 on Monday to end a three-game losing streak (0-1-2).
“I’m glad we could get the two points. I thought (we were) clearly invested right from the start of the game and (now we can) enjoy the next couple days,” said Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, who had two assists to bring his team-leading total to 42 points this season (eight goals, 34 assists).
“The break is coming up at a fortunate time … just recover and regroup, and we’ll see what’s going on after that.”
Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson ended a six-game pointless streak by scoring two goals just 44 seconds apart late in the second period. He left early in the third period with an injury.
“He got banged up,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I think it was in the second period. He tried it one shift. We have the break. I don’t think it’s too bad.”
Tocchet said he was happy to see Pettersson end his pointless streak.
“Hopefully that will kick start him,” Tocchet said. “I liked his celebration. It was nice to see him scoring and get excited. I think the fans like to see that, too.”
Pettersson’s teammates were also happy for him.
“He’s too good. He’s going to break out at some point,” Hughes said. “I’m glad he was able to do that (Monday) and hopefully for him, he can enjoy the next couple days like all of us and regroup and get ready to go.”
