My Top 5 Most Memorable Seattle Kraken Moments of the First "Half"

Well Kraken friends, the season so far has been quite a roller coaster, hasn't it? Now that the Kraken finished the first half, completed their road trip and All-Star Jordan Eberle scored a goal in Las Vegas, and I tried my first attempt at posting a sports blog article, I figured now would be a good time to follow it up with a different style.

Please be kind in the comments. While I watched a decent amount of college hockey 20+ years ago, and have watched the NHL playoffs many times, until this year, I've never been an every-game hockey fan. I'm learning the game, and learning to love the game. The Kraken have given me something to look forward during a season when I often have struggled through the years.

I've watched every game, most in there entirety, twelve in person, and here I will present you with my top 5 Seattle Kraken most memorable moments from the first 46 games of their first ever NHL season. These are based entirely on my memory of them. Some may be on-ice, some may be off-ice, some may be entire games experiences.

Honorable Mentions

A few more stood out to me but didn't quite make the list:

• First OT win ever, against Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was sweet to see on TV.
• Defeating Ovy and the Caps in Seattle. Following a 6 game losing streak culminating in a 7-3 loss to Colorado two days earlier, and my son's first Kraken game, this was another I'll never forget.
• The Florida Panthers might win Lord Stanley's Cup, but they won't be defeating the Kraken this season. 2-0!
• Beating Carolina the night before Thanksgiving. I couldn't attend this one due to holiday travel.

Number 5 - The Shootout

How could this be all the way down at number 5? Well, this is the only one from a home game that I didn't attend that made the list, so missed out on feeling the intensity in the arena when Joonas Donskoi ended the shootout and sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy. I've seen overtime winners in college... yeah... but this was a franchise first in the NHL. Watching it on TV was still amazing, and the way Marc-Andre Fleury had played in that first ever matinee at The Pledge, I did not have high hopes for the shootout.

So when Jordan Eberle's first shootout attempt missed the net, and with Chicago stars Johnathan Toews, Alex Debrincat, and Patrick Kane salivating at a chance for a road win and the extra point in the standings, my confidence flagged yet more. But Grubauer shut down Toews on Chicago's first attempt, making it look easy, and there was a sliver of hope. Ryan Donato then beat Fleury with a gorgeous move to put Seattle ahead by 1 in the shootout, but the Blackhawks still had two more chances, and the Kraken only one. When Patrick Kane skated up to Grubauer and fired, I was both shocked and thrilled to see the puck go wide. Joonas was up next, having not found the back of the net in any form in his first 37 games as a member of the Kraken. He approached Fluery, deked a bit, and went top shelf to secure the victory.

Number 4 - The Shutout

It took 46 games to get there, but Phillip Grubauer and the Seattle Kraken finally recorded a goose-egg on the opposing scoreboard. Grubi shut down all 19 shots he faced, including some tense moments in the final two minutes before Mason Appleton netted a freebie just prior to the final horn. This night exemplified what this team can do when they play well. Jared McCann's bank shot off New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov's shoulder was the result of great hustle plays by the always hard working Jordan Eberle and Marcus Johansson. Vince Dunn's slick move before backhanding the puck over Varlamov was a beautiful show of skill. And Gru? He was calm, cool and collected. He sat back and stopped every shot that somehow got past the defense on a night when the that D blocked 21 shots. While the NY did outhit the Kraken, the offense as a whole put 31 shots on Varlamov, and had another 17 blocked by the Isles. It might not have been the best performance of the season, but it was a special night, and a worthy celebration before Ebs headed to Vegas and the rest of the team home for the All Star Break.

Number 3 - The Closeout

This one was the best game and arena atmosphere I've attended to date, and it came on the heels of an overtime loss in Detroit, ending a solid road trip that saw the Kraken defeat the Buffalo Sabres with two first period shorthanded goals (still the only two shorties the team has pocketed), and the aforementioned win in Florida. But it also saw their first shutout loss to Andrei Vasilevsliy and the two-time defending Cup winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The next game was Saturday against the visiting Edmonton Oilers, with once-in-a-generation superstar Conor McDavid, and (at the time) NHL scoring leader Leon Draisaitl. I'll say this: You don't need to be a hockey fan or even a sports fan to know that Conor McDavid is a better skater than everyone else on the ice. It's that obvious in person. Watching him play, and watching the way the Oilers responded after Yanni Gourde gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead in the first, moving the puck back and forth on their power play to set up a forgotten Draisaitl (how do you forget about the NHL's leading goal scorer?) to tie the game at one, that was an education in hockey. Then it was former Oiler Adam Larsson's turn to unleash a beautiful dangle before finding the net, set up by some excellent puck handling by Joonas Donskoi and a fantastic pass by Jared McCann. It was poetry on ice and in the storyline. Evan Bouchard would tie the game for the Oilers in the 2nd, from Jesse Puljujarvi and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Kraken, not to be outdone on this night, would get back to back goals on a spectacular Colin Blackwell play, splitting the defense to get in deep, set up by excellent passing in the neutral zone and at the blue line, followed up less than three minutes later by Alex Wennberg to make it 4-2 after two periods.

A bit past the midway mark in the 3rd period, Conor McDavid did what Conor McDavid does, notching a goal of his own to make the crowd a bit nervous. When, with only a minute and thirty one seconds left to play, Adam Larsson's earlier heroics were flipped on their head and he was called for a roughing penalty on Leon Draisaitl... the anxiety of the crowd jumped to ten. The last ninety seconds saw the Kraken penalty kill unit at a two man disadvantage with the lonely Oilers' net sitting unguarded to give them an extra attacker. That kill was incredible. The roof was blowing off the arena with the crowd's intensity. Every ten seconds, it got louder. And Louder. AND LOUDER. So loud that when Brandon Tanev cleared the puck into the Edmonton zone with 8 seconds left, I'm pretty sure a minor earthquake was felt on lower Queen Anne.

If this fan base can make this happen in a regular season game and a bottom tier expansion team (in the standings, anyway), imagine what it'll be like when the finally hoist the cup!

Number 2 - The First Night Out

After writing seven pages largely focused on the first home game in Seattle Kraken history, how could it be anything other than #1? Well, partly because I wrote enough about it already... and you probably know the answer anyway - in ANY other situation, this would easily be #1 - From the incredible buzz in the arena, to Ann Wilson's perfectly delivered Star Spangled Banner, to Vince Dunn scoring the first ever Climate Pledge Arena goal with 3.2 seconds left in the first period, symbolic of the 32nd team in the NHL, and all the 32s in the crowd, to Sue Bird and Macklemore and Bobby and DK. This was an absolutely unforgettable night. If you want to read more, go check out my first ever blog post at this link.

Number 1 - The Lookout

So if the first ever game wasn't it... and the end of the Oilers win wasn't it... and Grubi shutting out the Islanders to finish the first half wasn't it... and the shootout win over the Blackhawks wasn't it... what could it be?

If you see something, say something. Look out for your fellow humans. Barely anyone in the arena during that opening night knew it, but that's exactly what Nadia Popovici did. She saw a suspicious mole on the neck of Vancouver Canucks assistant equipment manager, Brian "Red" Hamilton, and she found a way to communicate it to him with her cell phone through the glass behind the bench. Hamilton got it checked out, and it was indeed malignant melanoma, which was then removed by his doctors. When the Kraken and Canucks honored Nadia for her heroics on the first day of 2022, when the Canucks returned to Climate Pledge Arena, there were approximately 34,362 eyeballs in attendance, and I don't think any of them were dry. In light of that, how could it be anything else.

Thanks for reading, y'all. Catch ya when the puck drops.

I LIKE IT! LET'S GO KRAKEN!