SEATTLE — It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; it was back to unprecedented times.
Even as the Seattle Kraken played their game with the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday night, the cloud of COVID-19 hung over them. Jamie Oleksiak was the latest to enter protocols right before warm-ups before a 5-3 loss for the Kraken, their second in a row.
The night before a game with Toronto was postponed. It was hard to ignore what’s been happening in the hockey world the past few days with more than 100 players in COVID-19 protocols across the league, four of them from the Kraken. The Oilers had five players in protocol, including Jesse Puljujarvi, who was placed in protocol hours before the game.
“It felt a lot like it did when it first started,” said Kraken captain Mark Giordano. “I don’t even know however many years or days ago that would have been, when the original COVID came in and paused the season. Today felt a lot like that.”
It was a game where, in a bubble, you wouldn’t know the disarray the NHL is in when it comes to COVID-19. The crowd was loud; they ate and drank; the game was played like any other at Climate Pledge. Carolers sang the two anthems and Christmas songs during the intermissions.
If you didn’t know the state of the league, and if you didn’t notice Oleksiak’s absence in protocol, you could almost pretend it was like any other day in the short existence of the Seattle Kraken.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “It’s far from ideal and it’s become part of our daily business right now. And that doesn’t diminish it in any way shape or form, but that’s truly a fact, it’s become a part of our daily world and daily business right now… Guys were made aware of it when we made the lineup change that we needed to be ready to go when the puck dropped.”
In reality, they spent the day with the knowledge that another one of their own would be in protocols for another 10 days, and another one of their own had COVID-19.
“When you see your teammate go down like that, you just hope for the best for them,” said Jared McCann. “The vaccine is supposed to help you fight this, so that’s the reason why we all got it and we just were trying to be positive for our teammate.”
The Kraken jumped up to a 2-0 lead in the first period and had a ton of energy until they surrendered that lead before the first period had come to a close.
Brandon Tanev had a short-handed breakaway denied and a few minutes later down the other end of the ice, the always-dangerous Oilers power play tied the contest.
Edmonton took a brief second-period lead until Carson Soucy knotted it 3-3, the last time the Kraken would score. It stayed that way until Warren Foegele was pushed into Kraken goalie Chris Driedger by Giordano, and the puck followed suit.
Originally waived off as no goal due to goalie interference, the Oilers challenged the play, and the officials ruled Giordano’s actions forced Foegele into the collision, so the goal stood and Edmonton took the 4-3 lead.
In the first, the Kraken scored on their first shot of the game, a Ryan Donato wrister that got past Stuart Skinner after the Oilers had four attempts of their own. Five minutes later, Jordan Eberle connected with McCann in front of the net and he buried his 12th goal of the year, tying Eberle for the team lead.
Evan Bouchard’s shot from the point 13:05 into the first broke off Driedger’s glove and into the net, then Foegele tied it on the power play going into the intermission.
Colton Sceviour, who got into a scrap in the first period after he took offense to a dangerous hit from Jeremy Lauzon, gave the Oilers their first lead in the second period. That was short-lived with the Soucy goal to follow.
Tanev took a hit from William Lagesson in the corner with 3:51 left in the game and needed assistance getting off the ice. Hakstol didn’t have an update on his status after the game.
It capped off a night for the Kraken where the vibes were off from the get-go, between the postponements and Oleksiak and the way the night ended for Tanev, and the uncertainty that still hangs in the air going forward.
The Kraken’s game with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday was postponed, so the Kraken are next scheduled to face the Arizona Coyotes at home Tuesday night. That would be the last Kraken game before the holiday break, since their scheduled game at Calgary on Thursday was also postponed.
“It’s something mentally sometimes that it fatigues you,” said Giordano. “But as players I think all we can do is listen to the advice that we’re getting from doctors and protocols and move forward and hopefully some point we can transition into something we can deal with in a fashion where we’re not having guys out and people getting sick…. We can get back to some sort of life we had before all this started.”
