SEATTLE — Those cheers from the home fans as Philipp Grubauer skated off the ice with 56 minutes still to play Friday night was as ominous a sound as any Seattle Kraken supporter wants to be hearing or making.
But there was no mistaking the sentiment; a combination of anger and frustration directed at a No. 1 goaltender who will end the 2022 calendar year much the same way he did 2021. Grubauer wasn’t the main reason for an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, but his three goals allowed on the only five shots he’d face signaled the improved Kraken still haven’t left their goaltending issues behind.
Daniel Sprong and Brandon Tanev scored for the Kraken, who at times trailed 4-0 and 6-1, but there was little for the announced crowd of 17,151 fans to cheer for beyond the goaltending pull as the home side took a third consecutive defeat. The Kraken fell to 18-12-4 with their eighth loss in 11 games and now trail the Oilers by two points – tumbling into fourth place in the Pacific Division.
And while the Kraken hold three or more games in hand on the three division foes ahead of them, those only matter if they can find ways to start winning in bunches again.
Although Connor McDavid closed out the scoring with just more than nine minutes to go on a five-point night for him, this game was effectively over just before the four-minute mark of the opening frame. That’s when Darnell Nurse scored a third Edmonton goal at 3:55 of the first period to make it 3-0 in front of the shellshocked and soon-to-become-very-vocal fans on a still quite early night.
Although Nurse’s wrist shot was from a dangerous high slot area – one of a plethora of such chances allowed by porous Kraken defenders – it was unscreened from 32 feet out and one Grubauer really needed to stop. But he didn’t and that meant a reeling Kraken side that already had given up early goals by Zach Hyman and Klim Kostin were in one of those vintage 2021-22 holes they couldn’t dig out of.
The first two goals were classic cases of Grubauer being hung out to dry by his defense, initially on a tic-tac-toe passing play while short-handed and then when Kostin was left all alone in front to take a pass and deke the goalie point-blank. But after stopping 41 shots in a 3-2 loss to Calgary two nights before, Grubauer didn’t look to have the same mojo this time and coach Dave Hakstol got him out of there before things got worse.
And they quickly got worse for Martin Jones not long after he skated onto the ice serenaded by a partial ovation from the home fans. As with Grubauer, there wasn’t much Jones could do once the defense went AWOL and fired shots at him from all angles.
Right before the opening period’s midway mark, Jesse Puljujarvi was left all alone in front and easily beat Jones to make it 4-0. It could have been worse had Jones not made a point-bank, final minute save off trail man Nurse on what had become a 4-on-1 break off a turnover at the opposing blue line.
The period ranked as one of the worst ever played by the Kraken – right up there with home disasters early last season against the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins. They were outshot 15-7 and out-chanced by a gap even bigger than the Kraken defenders kept giving the attacking Oilers.
While the Kraken woke up in the opening two minutes of the middle frame, with Vince Dunn winning a fight against Dylan Holloway and Sprong scoring seconds later when Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner muffed his shot, things quickly went downhill again.
Kostin scored his second of the night by redirecting a Nurse point shot fewer than four minutes after Sprong’s goal. Then, just a minute later, with the Kraken again killing a penalty, McDavid waltzed into the slot and fired a shot that Hyman ticked in for his second of the game.
Down 6-1, Tanev did some nice work digging out a rebound and poking home a second Kraken goal. But it was too little, too late by that point.
Grubauer has struggled to live down his reputation from some poor starts the opening months of the Kraken’s debut season last year. His play began turning around by January, though the wins were slow to follow as his team struggled to score and often abandoned the netminder to opposing shooters.
And while Grubauer has played some stronger games to start this season, evidenced by his performance on Wednesday against the Flames, he’s found it tough to win consistently after missing more than a month following a lower body injury Oct. 21 against Colorado.
And while Jones played well for a stretch in Grubauer’s place, both goaltenders are often only as good as the defenders in front of them. Grubauer entered Friday’s game with a save percentage of .889 and Jones at .888 when .900 is the general minimum expected of a No. 1 goalie – and neither saw their numbers boosted any by this night’s performance.
