In the past, the Seattle Kraken almost faced a home-ice disadvantage.
In their first four seasons after joining the NHL as an expansion franchise in 2021-22, the Kraken posted a 71-75-18 record at Climate Pledge Arena.
But this season has been different. The Kraken are 4-0-2 at home heading into Wednesday’s game against visiting San Jose.
“We’ve been inconsistent (through the years),” said Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn, selected from St. Louis in the 2021 expansion draft. “We know our home record needs to be better. And we know we’ll always have the crowd to back us up to do it.
“So, we want to make this a hard place to play.”
Under first-year coach Lane Lambert, the Kraken have moved their pregame morning skates from their practice facility to Climate Pledge Arena.
“You know, there’s practice day and then there’s game day,” Lambert said. “There’s a different feel to both days. So, to come over here, I think it’s important to skate on your ice in the morning and certainly get prepared for that at night.
“The ice is different here than it is over at the practice rink, so it’s important to just kind of get that feel.”
The Kraken reached hockey’s version of .500 all-time at home (75-75-20) with a 3-1 victory against Chicago on Monday as Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers each had a goal and an assist and goaltender Joey Daccord made 29 saves.
The victory moved Seattle into first place in the NHL’s Pacific Division.
“I’m pumped, honestly,” Daccord said. “I had a feeling before the season that we were going to get off to a good start, and I think we have a lot of belief in our room here that we have a good group. Coaching staff, all the guys, everyone has been really dialed in to start the year.”
So has Daccord, who has started 10 of the Kraken’s 12 games and is 6-1-3 with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
The Sharks are 3-1-1 over their past five games, despite a 3-2 shootout loss to visiting Detroit on Sunday.
Sam Dickinson scored his first NHL goal for San Jose and Jeff Skinner also tallied. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots.
“Our turnovers killed us, killed the momentum. Something we’ll have to continue to work on,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We’re fortunate to come back and get a point, but those are things that we’ll have to clean up.”
Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, had his point streak snapped at seven games (six goals, seven assists).
Still, Warsofsky has seen signs of improvement from a team that finished last in the league in points in each of the previous two seasons.
“The confidence is coming, and the belief is coming. Still, again, we can get better,” Warsofsky said. “We can get a lot better. I know we’ve got some results, but I think there’s a team in there that can really be consistently very good night in and night out.
“We keep pushing and challenging to get to that standard. We’ve done some good things. We’ve gotten the results. But there’s more. There’s better hockey in us coming.”
–Field Level Media
