When the Kraken absolutely, desperately needed Philipp Grubauer to play the best regular-season hockey he'd ever played since coming to Seattle - Grubauer has delivered.
In three previous wins plus one relief appearance since returning from injury, the goalie has stopped 91 of 98 shots.
Grubauer "saved" his best yet for Thursday's 2-0 Kraken victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Climate Pledge Arena - a 33 save shutout.
Seattle smartly didn't sit on an early lead provided by an Oliver Bjorkstrand goal. They actually outshot the visitors 12-5 in the 3rd, adding an insurance power play marker by Alex Wennberg.
The Kraken have now captured seven of a possible 10 points on this six game homestand. Seattle hosts Edmonton Saturday before heading on a brief Canadian road trip.
1st Period
A heavyweight Western Hockey League showdown will take place Friday night in Everett. The Silvertips, 4th in the 22-team WHL, will host the 5th-place Moose Jaw Warriors.
Saturday, the Warriors visit the Seattle Thunderbirds.
In advance of those games, Moose Jaw players are being hosted tonight by the Kraken.
Among the Warriors in attendance is Kraken 2022 2nd round draft choice Jagger Firkus. Through 53 games, Firkus has 46 goals and 101 points.
Pittsburgh's Kris Letang hammers a slapshot into Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer, one of six saves in the game's first five minutes. Seattle doesn't have a SOG yet.
Eight minutes in, shots attempts are Pittsburgh 17, Seattle 2. The Kraken have made seven blocks.
Grubauer's best save so far comes from Jeff Carter's wide open blast from the right circle.
Jordan Eberle winds up inside Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry's net. Like any good pro wrestler, Jarry drops an elbow into Eberle before the referee encourages him to cut it out.
Oliver Bjorkstrand breaks the ice for the Kraken at 12:25. Will Borgen's blueline shot is deflected into a pop fly. Bjorkstrand bats it out of the air past Jarry.
It's the All-Star's 15th of the season and second in two periods dating back to the Boston game.
Neither team scores on a late period power play. How a Penguins PP with Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin - and having added Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson in the off-season - can be 28th in the NHL is beyond comprehension.
1st period shots favored Pittsburgh 18-7. 1st period first star: Philipp Grubauer.
2nd Period
Half of Seattle's defense - Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Schultz, and Brian Dumoulin - once called Pittsburgh home. Same for forwards Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev.
The Pens' second power play yields four shots, including a smart Rickard Rakell spinaround backhander. Grubauer saves them all.
Jarry makes a fine glove snare of Tomas Tatar's wrist shot on the rush. Soon after, he makes the save on Bjorkstrand, shooting from almost the same spot. Halfway through the game, SOG are 24-13 Pittsburgh.
The Kraken kill a third Penguins power play, thanks to four more Grubauer saves.
As it ends, Yanni Gourde springs in on a partial breakaway. Jarry makes the save, leaving Gourde wondering to the official why a trailing Malkin wasn't called for hooking (a fair question - Malkin got his stick on Yanni's hands).
Gourde breaks over the Pittsburgh blueline with speed again, firing a laser which Jarry rejects. Also worth noting: the Kraken center's enormous open-ice kabong on Letang.
Grubauer makes two last-minute saves on Malkin and Valtteri Puustinen. He's pitching a 28-save shutout after two periods, with the Kraken having 16 replies.
3rd Period
Milestones:
Rough guess about coach Hakstol's intermission message. "How about, guys, now stay with me, just spitballin' here, but maybe we should consider, since we need to win this game, NOT TAKING ANY MORE PENALTIES?"
Shot attempts through two periods were 60-29 Penguins. And see if this makes any sense: Pittsburgh is the NHL's best faceoff team, Seattle 25th - yet the Kraken have won 53% of draws.
Down to the final six minutes of regulation, the Kraken have indeed played a clean period. Not only have they stayed out of the penalty box, they drew two calls against the visitors.
They couldn't convert on a Ryan Graves rough at 6:37. But when Lars Eller high sticked Jared McCann at 14:07, relentless power play pressure paid dividends for a 2-0 lead.
Alex Wennberg converted a mad scramble in front of the Penguins net at 15:02 for his 9th goal, and 100th career point with Seattle.
Pittsburgh pulled Jarry for a sixth attacker in the final 2:33, but still couldn't solve Grubauer. Kraken win, 2-0.
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