VANCOUVER, British Columbia — There’s still hope this Pacific Northwest showdown between the Kraken and Vancouver Canucks will eventually blossom into one of the league’s bigger rivalries.
But before that can happen, the Kraken will actually need to beat their cross-border opponent, something that won’t happen this season after a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena. This fourth installment of what’s been a one-sided beatdown thus far saw the Canucks score on two of their first four shots to take control before the game was four minutes old.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson then rifled home a slap shot through traffic on the power play to make it a 3-0 game, with the Canucks holding a 12-1 shots advantage by that point.
The Kraken eventually made a game of it, courtesy of having more penalty calls go their way in a 15-minute span than they seemingly have in the last month. Jordan Eberle got them on the board just under five minutes into the middle period and Morgan Geekie then went upstairs on Vancouver netminder Spencer Martin at 9:12 of the second to make it a 3-2 contest.
But the Canucks added another in the third period when Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, up from the AHL, misplayed a Matthew Highmore shot and had the puck bounce behind him. Luke Schenn slammed it home with 6:50 to go. Then, they yielded one of multiple 3-on-1 breaks allowed in the game and Quinn Hughes finished things off to restore the three-goal cushion.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol was asked before the game about what it will take to get this rivalry going a bit more intensely.
“Rivalries start in the playoffs,” he said. “That’s really the bottom line. I mean, they can start over the regular season but we’re so new into it. Ultimately, over time when you get into some heated battles in the regular season leading into playoff time. That’s ultimately what decides rivalries.”
That’s probably true. But before the Kraken can even dream of the playoffs, they’ll need to win more regular-season games — including against the Canucks. So, far, where rivalries are concerned, this Kraken-Canucks series has been less Sharks vs Jets and more Sharks vs. Seal Pups.
Still, the Kraken managed to make a game of it in the second period after being given a pair of two-man advantages fewer than five minutes apart. They scored on the second of those when Eberle buried a goalmouth pass by Matty Beniers at 4:49 of the frame right as one of the Canucks stepped out of the box.
The plethora of Vancouver penalties — seven of eight penalties called at one point when against the Canucks — allowed the Kraken to take over momentum and cut the lead to 3-2 when Geekie picked the corner high on Vancouver goalie Martin to make it 3-2. From the time Vancouver went up 3-0 to the point where Geekie scored, the Kraken had outshot the Canucks 19-1.
Daccord is up with the big club because the AHL affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, has a first-round playoff bye. The idea was to get Daccord some confidence-building work ahead of his postseason, but this game didn’t exactly turn out to be the best thing on that front.
The Canucks beat Daccord with their first shot of the game as Carson Soucy turned the puck over in the neutral zone, leading to a 3-on-1 break. Sheldon Dries carried the puck all the way in and put a short side wrist shot.
Less than a minute later, J.T. Miller took a drop pass in the high slot and buried a slap shot behind Daccord. And it would be another long climb back for the Kraken from there.
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