Kraken Begin Homestand With Noontime Tilt Against Red Wings

The Seattle Kraken 4th-line reunion tour continues Monday afternoon when the Kraken welcome the Detroit Red Wings to Climate Pledge Arena.

In their previous game, the Kraken matched up with 2022-23 Seattle 4th-liner Morgan Geekie, who signed with the Boston Bruins in the off-season.

Today, they face another former member of that high-scoring line, Daniel Sprong (pictured above).

The right wing, who posted a career-best 21 goals in Seattle, is maintaining that pace as a free-agent signing by Detroit. In 54 games, Sprong has 14 goals and 34 points.

(Seattle might have faced a high-profile ex-teammate for a third consecutive game when they host Vancouver on Thursday, but defenseman Carson Soucy is out week-to-week with a hand injury.)

Goals figure to continue at a premium. In Seattle's just-concluded 2-2-0 road trip, they scored eight and allowed eight. The Kraken have been in a season-long goal drought, 28th best in the NHL at 2.72 GPG.

But since emphasizing a defense-first strategy, Seattle has become remarkably stingy, too. They've quietly moved up to 9th in the league in goals against per game at 2.80. It hasn't hurt that goalie Joey Daccord ranks 3rd among all netminders (18 games minimum) in both save percentage, .923, and goals against average, 2.33.

In the Kraken's first meeting with the Red Wings on Oct. 24 in Detroit, Jordan Eberle scored with five seconds remaining in overtime to secure a 5-4 Seattle victory.