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| 7:00 PM PT8:00 PM MT9:00 PM CT10:00 PM ET3:00 GMT11:00 8:00 PM MST10:00 PM EST7:00 UAE (+1)22:00 ETNaN:� BRT, January 19, 2023 Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington Attendance: 17,151 |
Road-warrior Devils pay visit to Kraken
New Jersey Devils at Seattle Kraken
- The Devils and Kraken split two meetings last season, with the Devils holding on for a 4-2 home victory on Oct. 19 and the Kraken returning the favor with a 4-3 shootout win on April 16 after Matty Beniers scored his first NHL goal.
- The Devils are trying to complete their first unbeaten road trip of at least five games since a 5-0-0 jaunt from March 10-19, 2001. New Jersey is10-0-0 against Pacific Division opponents this season.
- Nico Hischier has picked up a point in 10 of his last 11 games (seven goals, seven assists). He is tied for third in the NHL with a plus-16 rating on the road, where he has yet to register a minus game this season.
- The Kraken have lost each of their last two games by three-goal margins, 4-1 vs. Tampa Bay and 5-2 at Edmonton. Seattle is one of six NHL teams yet to win a game when scoring two or fewer goals this season (0-12-1).
- Vince Dunn has five goals and seven assists during an eight-game point streak, the longest by a defenseman in Kraken history. He leads the league with a plus-18 rating in January.
- Since Dec. 30, Jack Hughes shares the league lead with 11 goals and is second behind Connor McDavid with 16 points. Hughes is the first player with 29 goals and 55 points through the Devils' first 44 games of the season (Paul Gardner had 30 goals for the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78).
The Seattle Kraken might want to find a neutral site for Thursday night's game against New Jersey.
Because the Devils have been nearly unbeatable on the road.
New Jersey has won the first four games of its five-game trip that concludes at Climate Pledge Arena and improved to 18-2-1 in away games with a 4-3 shootout victory on Monday at San Jose after Jack Hughes scored with 10 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score.
"I can't explain it," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said earlier in the week. "You know, we're finding ways to win, and I think that every team, every coach knows you're going to have to win games in different ways. ... I think our game, our detail to our game has been better on the road. We've managed the puck better on the road. I think sometimes at home there's a tendency to be a little bit more flashy, and some of our puck play has hurt us."
The Devils were playing their third game in four nights in San Jose, and it showed. Still, they rallied for their 14th comeback victory of the season -- tying Tampa Bay for the league lead.
"It was an awful way to win, but that's what good teams do," said Devils forward Tomas Tatar, who was the lone player to convert in the shootout. "Obviously, we had to overcome the fatigue."
Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist, and Ondrej Palat had an assist for the Devils, who have won five straight overall and seven in a row on the road. Goaltender Vitek Vanecek made 29 saves.
"It wasn't the prettiest win, but at the end, all that matters (is) we came out (of) here with two points," Hischier said.
The Kraken have the league's second-most wins away from home at 16-5-2 despite a 5-2 loss Tuesday at Edmonton.
It was Seattle's second straight loss following a franchise-record, eight-game winning streak.
"We had a good run, we let two games slide. We have to go back home and get back to work," said Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn, whose goal Tuesday extended his team-record point streak to eight games (five goals, seven assists).
The Kraken set an NHL record by becoming the first team to sweep a seven-game trip with an 8-5 victory Saturday at Chicago before returning home for a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay in a Monday matinee. That loss dropped their record to 10-9-2 at home.
Still, the Kraken can match their victory total from their expansion season by beating the Devils.
"Our roster is significantly different," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "But the guys that were part of it last year carry a lot of pride. We went through some pretty hard stretches last year, but to a certain degree it really fueled guys coming back in. So that sticks with you.
"And when you start day one of training camp with a really competitive group, that has an opportunity then to build into the group that we have now."
--Field Level Media
Updated January 18, 2023
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