Gold: Canes making first ever trip to Seattle

By Adam Gold radio host 99.9 the Fan

The Carolina Hurricanes close out the Pacific time zone portion of this 6-game road trip with their first ever visit to Climate Pledge Arena and a match up with the Seattle Kraken. To say the tour has been a success would be an understatement having already claimed 7 out of a possible 8 points through Vegas, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

And, when you consider that the Hurricanes were not the better team in two of those occasions, that number could easily be 5 or 6. Such is the story of this version of the Canes. They are good enough to win games when they don’t have their best fastball. The Martin Necas lightning bolt in the 2nd period in Los Angeles rinsed the bitter taste of a period long on mistakes as they took a 5-4 lead into the break.

Freddie Andersen took care of the rest in a period in which Carolina was outshot 20-2!!!!

Now comes what would seem to be the easiest mark of the trip. The 5-12-1 Kraken. Only, tell that to the Capitals who left town with a 5-2 loss. That win snapped a 7-game losing streak.

Seattle was built with defense in mind. Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer in goal, a veteran defense led by captain Mark Giordano and just enough goal-scoring punch to take advantage if the first two parts of the equation worked out.

It hasn’t.

Well, certainly not the first part. The Kraken are allowing the fewest shots per game in the league (26.6) while allowing the most goals (3.78). Grubauer just hasn’t played well this year. He’s played in 15 games, has a 5-8-1 record with a 3.18 GAA and an .882 SV%. That last number is 4% lower than last year’s .922 with Colorado.

With that said, Grubauer is coming off a 37-save performance against the Caps — his original team — and has a history against the Hurricanes.

In 11 career starts, Grubauer has a .933 SV%, a 2.41 GAA and a 5-4-1 record. This isn’t going to be a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo.

There are a ton of familiar names throughout the forward group as well for Seattle. Jordan Eberle leads the team with 9 goals and just had a 7-game point streak (7g, 3a) snapped in the win over the Caps. Jaden Schwartz is coming off of a 4-point game and has 8 points (2g, 6a) in his last 5 games.

Brandon Tanev and Jared McCann each have 7 goals on the year, and Yanni Gourde -- yes, THAT Yanni Gourde -- has 5 goals and 10 points in 14 games after missing the first couple of weeks with an injury.

Oh, and it wouldn’t be a Hurricanes game without getting to see old friends. Franchise legend Ron Francis is the General Manager, John Forslund (fights back tears) is the play-by-play voice, and Morgan Geekie and Haydn Fleury were expansion draft pick ups. Geekie directly from Carolina, Fleury from the Ducks after they acquired him in the deadline trade for Jani Hakanpaa. Geekie has played in all 18 games, scoring twice and assisting on two others. Fleury has been in and out of the top 6 but does have a pair of goals in 9 games.

Seattle has the 21st ranked power play (17.0%) in the league and 18th best penalty kill (80.0%). Don’;t be fooled by those man advantage numbers, however. The Kraken have released 5 power play goals in their last 10 tries. Interestingly enough, in spite of being 30th in the league in penalty minutes, the Kraken have only been shorthanded 40 times in 18 games. The Canes on the other hand have been a man (or 2) down 67 times in 17 games.

Carolina has gone three straight games without a power play goal and both units have been off of late. On the kill, since the debacle in Florida, the Hurricanes have wiped away 21 of their last 22.

Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal are riding 10-game goal droughts. Andrei does have 8 assists over that span while Staal has a pair. Jesper Fast is goal free in his last 7, Teuvo Teravainen has gone 6 without a marker and Jordan Martinook scored in the Canes season opening win over the Islanders and hasn’t turned on the light since.

Stat of the day

No Hurricanes player has ever scored a goal, registered a scoring point or made a save against Seattle.

Coverage begins at 9:30 on 99.9 the Fan with Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell. The live play-by-play follows at 10:00 with Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode drops the #MorningAfter every Hurricanes game.