They’ve arrived. The Seattle Kraken have established themselves as one of the top teams in the NHL.
The league’s newest team made its latest and biggest statement on Thursday when they defeated the Boston Bruins 3-0. It was the Bruins’ first loss at home in a regular-season game.
The Kraken therefore tied their longest winning streak in the short history of the franchise with their seventh straight triumph. The victory marked Seattle’s 15th of the 2022–23 campaign; with two more victories, they will have matched their total from their whole first 2021–22 campaign.
With just four points separating them from the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights, the Kraken are now in third place in the Pacific Division. With a 4-2 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday, the Golden Knights picked up two points to stay in front.
In the first half of the NHL season, Linus Ullmark, a goaltender with the Boston Bruins, has been the league leader in victories (22), goals against average (1.88), and save percentage (.938). Martin Jones, the goaltender for the Kraken, stole the show on Thursday, though.
Jones defeated the Bruins for the first time in 41 games by blocking all 27 shots he was presented with. The seasoned goalie stopped all 21 shots in a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, giving him his second straight shutout.
After the victory, Jones reportedly observed, “I thought that was probably our most complete game of the season.” (Seattle Times) “For us, to enter this building, play the way we did, and leave with a victory, that’s a tremendous step forward.”
Due to the early-season problems of veteran Philipp Grubauer, who has a 3.49 goals-against-average in 14 games on the year, Jones has taken over as the Kraken’s starting goaltender this season. Jones, who has a record of 20-5-3 with a 2.69 goals-against average and a.898 save percentage, has been a reliable presence in goal.
Additionally, it was Jones’ third shutout of the 2022–23 season.
At 7:14 in the first session, winger Brandon Tanev beat Ullmark with a deflection of a shot from Daniel Sprong. Tanev managed to get his stick on the Sprong shot attempt for the game’s opening goal despite being awkwardly positioned almost behind the goal.
Tanev continued, “That’s clearly a strong hockey team that’s been playing some pretty excellent hockey at home.” “Our team recognized the difficulty. We wanted to come out here and give it our all, and I believe we did that tonight.”
Forward Late in the second period, Eeli Tolvanen ripped a turn-around shot past Ullmark to give Seattle a cushion goal. In what turned out to be a heartbreaking goal for the Bruins, Tolvanen, who was picked up by the Kraken off of waivers on Dec. 12, was able to tuck his shot just under the crossbar.
When Boston decided to take Ullmark out of the game late in the game, veteran striker Jaden Schwartz added an empty-net goal.
When Seattle plays the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Saturday, they have a fantastic chance to set a franchise milestone with their eighth straight victory.
