The Seattle Kraken have enjoyed a strong run at home. Now they’ll try to take those winning ways on the road when they visit the Calgary Flames on Friday.
The Kraken are off to their best start to a season with 17 points in the first 13 games (8-4-1). They capped a 3-1-0 homestand Wednesday by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4.
One month into the season, the Kraken are one of the league’s positive surprises, and they showed why against the Maple Leafs. Seattle saw a 4-2 edge become a tied game after surrendering a pair of goals in the final 12 minutes of regulation, but won thanks to Brandon Montour’s final-minute tally.
“It’s just kind of a good confidence builder for the group,” said forward Chandler Stephenson, who scored once and added an assist. “It’s obviously early on, and you want to get ahead of the eight ball rather than behind it.”
While the Kraken are swimming in happy seas, a cause for concern is among the waters. The Toronto clash marked the third time in four outings they wasted a multi-goal lead in the third period. Seattle managed to win those games, but everyone knows that is not a recipe for long-term success.
“We’ve given up some leads, let’s be honest,” coach Lane Lambert said. “And I think we’ve done a really good job staying resilient. That was a huge response after they tied the game.”
Seattle has already claimed a pair of 6-1 victories over the Flames, both coming in the opening week of the campaign.
The Flames will be trying not only to exact some revenge on the Kraken for those one-sided losses, but also to engineer a bounce-back performance. Calgary had a four-game winning streak snapped emphatically in a 4-0 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
“I feel like we’re in a better place now than we were (in the first two clashes with Seattle),” coach Ryan Huska said after Thursday’s practice. “We know we’re a better team than we showed.”
Not only did the Flames lose the game to Edmonton, but goaltender Devin Cooley sustained a lower-body injury late in the first period. There was no update on the severity of Cooley’s injury, but the onus will fall to Dustin Wolf — pegged as the No. 1 netminder — to find his form.
Wolf has struggled so far this season, with a 1-4-0 record, 4.81 goals-against average and .839 save percentage.
“The results haven’t come for myself personally, but I’ve had a real good opportunity the last couple weeks to kind of get my feet under me, work on areas of my game that maybe aren’t at my sharpest,” Wolf said.
This matchup starts a run of six Flames games in 10 days.
“Confidence for me with Dustin has never waned. It’s always there,” Huska said. “I think he’s a terrific young goaltender. … We’re expecting him to be our best player.”
If Cooley is unable to suit up, it is expected Calgary will summon minor league goalie Arsenii Sergeev, a 2021 seventh-round draft choice. Sergeev won his only NHL start, a 3-1 victory in last season’s finale against the Kings.