The Kraken’s longest road trip of the season finished three up and three down with a 4-2 loss against division rival and fellow playoff contender Edmonton. The six standings points earned stalled after three wins to start the itinerary and now brings Seattle back to the PNW for a four-game homestand that starts with elite Toronto Sunday, then Chicago, fellow outside-looking-in playoff contender St. Louis, and Columbus. The Kraken are now 19-17-9 while Edmonton won its 12th game in a row in a turnaround that matches up with a new coach.
Fulsome First Period
Playing without catalyst Vince Dunn for the third straight game, this divisional matchup started with a plus-plus for the Kraken when Eeli Tolvanen opened the scoring by converting a stretch pass from linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tolvanen, notched his 12th goal of the season to make it 1-0 midway through the initial period. Less than four minutes later, Jared McCann took a gorgeous pass from current linemate Jordan Eberle to beat Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who entered the game with a 15-2 record in his last 17 starts.
For Tolvanen, he is now just four goals short of his career-high of 16 goals logged last season in 48 games with Seattle after a well-chronicled waiver claim from Nashville. His quick-release snap shot didn’t give Skinner much chance to react, always a good thing when looking to score.
Bjorkstrand’s 24th assist stakes him as Seattle’s leading scorer in Dunn’s absentia. For McCann, he now leads Kraken skaters with 18 goals, including four in the last four games. His hot hand helped build a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. It’s McCann’s 85th goal for the Kraken franchise (Dunn recently hit 100 assists as the all-time SEA leader in that category).
Line by Line, Burakovsky Back
The aforementioned McCann again centered veterans Jordan Eberle and Tomas Tatar while the second and third lines were familiar combos. The fourth line featured the new wrinkle with Andre Burakovsky rejoining the playoffs pursuit as the left wing on a presumed fourth line with rookie Tye Kartye back at center and Kailer Yamamoto on the opposite wing. By the third period, with the Kraken down a goal, Burakovksy moved up to play with Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz with Brandon Tanev moving to skate with Kartye and Yamamoto.
Tying Goal Nullified
It appeared late second period that Joey Daccord’s childhood untold hours of shooting and stickhandling pucks were about to dramatically pay off for the visitors. He sent a long stretch pass up ice to Alex Wennberg, whose nimble footwork kept in onside before he zoomed into the Oilers zone to beat Stuart Skinner. But Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch, the former Dave Hakstol assistant in Philly, quickly challenged, presumably because EDM video coaches noticed that Kailer Yamamoto had not hustled quick enough to get out of the offensive zone on his way to the bench for a shift change. Daccord’s quick-release long pass didn’t appear to be anticipated by the former Oiler.
Second Period Askew
Edmonton’s Warren Foegele scored in the first minute (37 seconds ticked off the game clock) of the second period, marking the 21st time this season the Oilers have tallied in the first two minutes of a period. EDM star Leon Draisaitl tied matters on a power play rebound shot that he banked off Joey Daccord, who had made a spectacular first save – one of nearly a dozen by the rookie, who returned the net after a respite of not facing the Rangers in New York Tuesday.
Foegele scored his second goal of the night and eighth of the year seven-and-half minutes in the frame to make it three goals in reply to the Kraken’s productive first period. Foegele, drafted by Ron Francis when the Hall of Famer was GM of the Carolina Panthers, has done this before to his former boss. He nearly nabbed a hat trick on a third-period scoring chance.
Power Play Outage for SEA
The Kraken power play units went 0-for-5 Thursday (though some were not full two minutes), sans quarterback Vince Dunn. A late Yanni Gourde five-minute boarding penalty leads to a gut-wrenching insurance goal for the home squad. Zach Hyman notched his team-leading 27th goal with a 43rd assist from Connor McDavid and 28th helper from fellow superstar Leon Draisaitl.
(WSB file photo. No outdoor cap tosses this year!)
Tomorrow (Monday, June 1) brings not only a new month but also the first graduation ceremony of the season for West Seattle’s three biggest high schools. And all are graduating at new venues this year. Summit Atlas, which after nine years remains West Seattle’s only charter school, will graduate 55 seniors in a ceremony at Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien at 6 pm Monday. West Seattle’s two major public high schools, Chief Sealth International HS and West Seattle HS, both have graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, June 17, at McCaw Hall (hosting graduations while Memorial Stadium is being rebuilt) – CSIHS at 5 pm, WSHS at 8 pm. The Seattle Public Schools webpage for graduation info also lists where and when ceremonies are planned for its alternative programs, some of which hold classes in West Seattle.
The Seattle Seahawks lost a key member of the front office to the Minnesota Vikings, as the NFC North team named Nolan Teasley its new general manager. The hire could change the fortunes of both teams in the immediate future.
Teasley will be taking over a Vikings team that isn’t far away from contending. One of the key reasons the team fired former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wasn’t that he couldn’t build a collection of talent, but that he didn’t seem to understand how to get the best possible answer at the most important position in sports: Quarterback.
Vikings fans watched as former QB1 in Minnesota, Sam Darnold, signed with the Seahawks last offseason, and then followed that by helping lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. That was Seattle’s second title. Minnesota has never won a Super Bowl.
Teasley, though, has the experience and, clearly, the ability to create an environment in which a team will thrive. He has been working with general manager John Schneider in Seattle since 2013, and has worked in scouting and been the director of pro personnel. He has most recently served as Schneider’s assistant GM.
Schneider could very well be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day after leading the Seahawks to two Super Bowl wins. Still, with teams with two completely different rosters and coaching staffs (Schneider is the only GM to ever do that), Teasley would have learned at the knee of one of the best to ever perform general manager duties.
Nolan Teasley could also be entering a situation where his new team is already poised to make a deep run in the playoffs. Minnesota finished 9-8 last season despite the fact that its quarterback play was among the worst in the NFL. This offseason, the Vikings signed Kyler Murray.
Murray underwhelmed or was injured throughout his career with the Arizona Cardinals, as Seattle Seahawks fans know well due to their favorite team counting on two wins every season against the NFC West brethren, but under the wise direction of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, Murray could be coaxed into playing a much better form of football.
As the Minnesota Vikings play in the NFC, and could potentially be a difficult obstacle for the Seahawks to repeat as Super Bowl champions, Teasley is already in a good spot. The issue for Seattle is that Teasley is smart enough to make moves to get Minnesota even better well into the future. A great rivalry between Seattle and the Vikings might be about to start.
Follow
How big an apartment can you rent in a city’s most walkable neighborhood without a car, for the same cost as a 1000 square-foot rental in its most typical suburb with a car? Ray Delahanty answers that for the 26 largest metro areas in the US. Seattle is at 6:23. (CityNerd)
Q&A about the tradeoffs of car-free living in Montreal. There are challenges “but they don’t exactly line up with what people think”. (Oh the Urbanity!)
This is an open thread.
Free Agent Focus: Dallas Stars
Miami lands commitment from Rivals300 LB Noah Glover
Free June events: Pride Month, Father’s Day, and more – The Boston Globe
Two Colorado smoke shops shut down for selling restricted products to minors
WEST SEATTLE SCHOOLS: Graduation season begins Monday
Annual Rock ’n’ Roll races bring 30,000 runners to San Diego streets
Auburn baseball vs Milwaukee regional championship: Time, TV, how to watch
Jackets Fall to Sooners in Game 6 of Atlanta Regional
