When the Seattle Kraken play host to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Philipp Grubauer bobblehead.
Grubauer will be in the building as well, which wasn’t necessarily guaranteed.
The veteran goaltender was recalled from Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League on Sunday after being sent down before the 4 Nations Face-Off to get in some work.
Grubauer went 5-2-0 in seven starts with the Firebirds and posted a 2.87 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage. Those were a vast improvement over his NHL numbers, as he was 5-15-1 with a 3.83 GAA and .866 save percentage with the Kraken.
“It was pretty turbulent there for a minute,” said Grubauer, who had to clear waivers to be sent to the Kraken’s minor-league affiliate in Palm Springs, Calif. “I played seven games down there in a short amount of time and they threw every possible situation at me. It’s just about seeing the puck and reading the game. It’s tough to sit on the bench for 25 days (in the NHL) and then have to play. For a goalie, it’s important to get into a rhythm. … Whenever they need me up here, I’m ready to go.”
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma praised Grubauer’s professionalism.
“It’s good to see him back,” Bylsma said after practice Monday. “We sent him to CV … to get him some games and get his game back. He went down, was a true pro and served as an example for the group down there. He put his head down and went to work. … Pretty much every report on him from down there is he’s an NHL goalie.”
Bylsma, whose team entered Monday nine points out of a wild-card berth in the Western Conference, didn’t get specific when asked when Grubauer would play next.
“Given the schedule we’ll see, we should have a chance to get him back in the net here pretty soon,” Bylsma said.
The Kraken snapped a two-game skid Saturday with a 6-3 victory against visiting Vancouver. Eeli Tolvanen scored twice, Brandon Montour added a goal and an assist and Shane Wright and Vince Dunn each had two helpers.
The Wild snapped a three-game slide Sunday with a 1-0 victory against the visiting Boston Bruins. Filip Gustavsson stopped 28 shots and Frederick Gaudreau scored the lone goal.
“Yeah, we had a tough loss to the Red Wings at home (Feb. 25), and then we played horrible for two games there on the road and get back here and get a dirty 1-0 win,” Gustavsson said. “It feels good.”
Wild coach John Hynes sounded pleased with the effort.
“It was good, coming out of the road trip and taking some lessons out of the last two games,” Hynes said. “We played fairly solid. There wasn’t a ton going on in the game in general, but a good win.”
Minnesota enters the week third in the Central Division with 74 points, six points behind the Dallas Stars and two ahead of the Colorado Avalanche, who hold the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot.
–Field Level Media
