Game 10: Montreal Canadiens vs. Seattle Kraken
Start time: 7:00 PM EDT / 4:00 PM PDT
In the Canadiens region: TSN2 (English), RDS (French)
In the Kraken region: Kraken Hockey Network (KHN), KONG
Streaming: ESPN+, RDS, TSN+
It’s definitely not always sunny in the Philadelphia sports scene right now, but Nick, Cole, Lane, and the rest of The Gang managed to use that to their advantage, departing the City of Brotherly Love with two points and their first winning streak of the season. Sure, two games ain’t much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s the first time the Canadiens have taken maximum points from a back-to-back since February of 2023.
A lot of players can share the credit for the Habs’ turnaround. Jake Evans, Kirby Dach, and Joel Armia all notched their first goals of the season on Saturday versus the St. Louis Blues. Evans would even make it two-in-two the next night. Alex Newhook added his first in five games, and Brendan Gallagher his first in eight. Not to be out done, the top line too continued to tick over: Nick Suzuki lighting the lamp for the third time in the last three games, and Cole Caufield continuing to chase a goal-per-game pace with his eighth of the year.
Now, the Canadiens head home and prepare for the Seattle Kraken. They might be due for some reinforcements, as Juraj Slafkovsky nears his anticipated return date. That said, neither he nor Kaiden Guhle have practiced in contact jerseys as of yet. Justin Barron’s status is also unclear, as he continues to recover from an “upper-body injury” suffered in the match against the New York Rangers. The injury news is better for Josh Anderson, who is likely fit since insurance-plan Lucas Condotta has been returned to the Laval Rocket. With Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau splitting the back-to-back, Montembeault should return to the net for tonight’s match.
| Canadiens | Statistics | Kraken |
|---|---|---|
| 4-4-1 | Record | 4-4-1 |
| 44.1% (29th) | Scoring-chances-for % | 48.6% (17th) |
| 3.00 (T-21st) | Goals per game | 3.00 (T-21st) |
| 3.56 (T-24th) | Goals against per game | 3.11 (T-13th) |
| 25.8% (8th) | PP% | 15.4% (24th) |
| 90.3% (3rd) | PK% | 76.9% (17th) |
| 2-0-0 | Head-to-Head Record (23-24) | 0-2-0 |
The Seattle Kraken made a splash in their second season, upsetting the then-defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs and narrowly losing to the Dallas Stars in the second. Outside of that year though, things have been tougher for the tentacle monsters, as they failed to make the postseason last year. The offseason retool came with the aim of contending, splashing Chandler Stephenson with a 7 year, 43.75 million dollar contract and luring Brandon Montour away from the Florida Panthers with 50 million reasons spread out over seven campaigns. They also graduated some guy named Shane from the AHL, hoping that the time is Wright.
It hasn’t worked out as planned so far. Seattle currently sits 6th in the Pacific Division with an identical 4-4-1 record to the Canadiens. They arrive in Montreal amidst a three-game losing streak, having accrued only five points in their last five games. Offensively, the team has been driven by Jared McCann (12 points) and Jordan Eberle (8 points), but no one else on the team has more than five. The Kraken have experimented a lot up front in an attempt to get more goal production. For example, Shane Wright has played on the first line (by TOI) once, third line twice, and second line and fourth line both thrice. He’s been accompanied by six different linemates: Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand (two games), Eberle and McCann (six), and Tye Kartye and Andre Burakovsky (one).
Seattle’s defence is a whole other story. Here, new head coach Dan Bylsma has stuck with the same pairings for all nine contests except for one injury-enforced change. Montour and Jamie Oleksiak form the top pair, the second pair features Adam Larsson and Ryker Evans, while Will Borgen and Josh Mahura round out the sextet. Evans has been a nice story in particular, a second-round selection in 2021, the Calgary native split last season between the Pacific Northwest and Coachella Valley. This year, he’s had five points in nine games and was promoted to the second pair when Vince Dunn was placed on long-term injured reserve.
Unfortunately for the Kraken, goaltending is proving to be their Achilles’ heel once again. Philipp Grubauer’s issues with consistency have continued, and he currently sits with a 3.10 goals against average and .881 save percentage. Grubauer split the first eight games evenly with Joey Daccord. However, Daccord’s more-than-OK performance (2.95, .910) may have earned him the starting job (and a 5 year, $25 million contract). Indeed, Daccord has broken the rotation, starting Seattle’s last two matches.
Tuesday night’s tilt marks the first game of a five game road trip for the Kraken that sees them visit Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and Denver after Montreal. The Canadiens, on the other hand, must prepare to play six of their next seven on the road after Seattle departs. After the win in Philadelphia, Montreal head coach Martin St-Louis said that “we’re much closer to the version we want to become, and sometimes that version comes with some failure along the way that propels you to a better version of yourself.” The Canadiens will hope to continue on that path as they try to make it three in a row.
