A road odyssey spanning six cities and 12 days against some of the NHL’s best teams ends with the Kraken using a tight-disciplined checking approach in snapping the five-game winning streak of the powerhouse Winnipeg Jets
WINNIPEG, Man. – It was in the waning minutes of the second period that exasperated fans here paid the Kraken and their tight-checking style the ultimate compliment by voicing their displeasure at an equally frustrated home team.
The Winnipeg Jets are one of the NHL’s best and yet the Kraken, at that point, had them hemmed inside their own zone to where they could barely even touch the puck. It was indicative of the tight, disciplined game played by the visitors throughout Thursday night’s 3-0 victory that helped finish a grueling road trip on the most positive of notes.
Jaden Schwartz opened the scoring just under three minutes into the middle period, pouncing on a long net front rebound of an initial Shane Wright shot and powering it past goalie Connor Hellebuyck. That goal rewarded what had been an energetic and physical forechecking effort by the Kraken and the stinginess continued as the game moved along, the Jets growing increasingly desperate in trying to move the puck in close for any dangerous chances.
It was also the only goal anybody would score until Schwartz potted his second of the night and team-leading fifth of the season into an empty net in the final two minutes. Jordan Eberle than added another empty netter as the Kraken finished the daunting trip a solid 2-2-2.
Kraken goalie Joey Daccord stopped all 32 shots sent his way in recording the shutout, with some of the better chances against him coming in the final period for a Jets team left largely incapacitated by the Kraken approach the opening 40 minutes.
When the Jets finally managed to gain control in the Kraken end late in the middle frame, one leather-lunged Canada Life Centre patron bellowed out: “Get in the slot! There’s no one in front!” Indeed, the Jets had briefly gained possession of the puck in behind the goal, but the net front area had nothing but Kraken defenders in it — preventing Winnipeg from creating any kind of scoring threat.
The disenchanted Canadian hockey aficionados would occasionally yell, “Let’s go! Play Jets hockey!” at a team that quite obviously was playing nothing resembling what anyone in the stands was used to. And that was largely the Kraken’s doing.
If there’s one thing the Kraken will no-doubt take out of this six-city road swing against mostly playoff teams from last spring, it’s that the tight-checking, defensive system used by coach Lane Lambert to generate offense out of the back end will actually work against some of the NHL’s finest squads.
In fact, given how injuries risked derailing the trip midway through, the Kraken did well to upend a Jets team that had won five in a row. They benefitted from the return of Mason Marchment, who missed the prior game in Washington with a lower body injury and played a key role in the heavy forecheck established by his team here in the early going.
The Kraken came in here having only beaten the Jets twice in a dozen games in their brief history, going 2-6-4 overall. They also had a five-game winless stretch against them, going 0-3-2 since March 2024.
Winnipeg did have a great chance to score on Daccord with two seconds to play in the first period, but a deflected shot from the high slot hit the crossbar and then came back down right on the goal line without crossing it. The Kraken then nearly added to their lead with under eight minutes to play in the second period when Marchment moved into the left faceoff circle unobstructed and fired a hard wrist shot that Hellebuyck snared with his glove.
Then, with two minutes to go in the period, Vince Dunn got a great chance in close from the right circle but missed the net with his shot.
The Kraken haven’t had many trips this difficult before, given the quality of opponents and 6,000 miles of distance covered. They had to cross the U.S. Canada border a third time just to get here and a fourth time on their 12-day odyssey to make it home to Seattle again.
And in the end, winning in Toronto and snagging points for overtime and shootout losses in Montreal and Ottawa prior bought them some cushion for when the injury toll really mounted.
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