Kraken Scoring Drier Than Arizona Desert

Dylan Guenther's breakaway OT tally for Arizona Friday was the latest painful addition to the Seattle Kraken's seven game winless streak. Equally painful, Clayton Keller's tying goal with a mere 1:08 left in regulation.

All of that misery could have been avoided if Seattle's Brandon Tanev had scored on a clear-cut breakaway of his own with four minutes remaining. But he didn't, typical of the Kraken's season-long inability to produce goals.

Software programmers in high-tech Seattle are limited to "0s" and "1s." Of late, so are the Kraken. Check out the 1st period scoring over the last 10 games (which coincidentally is every game they've played so far in March).

• 0-1-1-0-0-0-0-2-0-0

The only outlier is the pair of 1st period goals Seattle scored in a 6-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. How about the 2nd period?

• 0-1-1-0-1-0-0-0-0-0

No outliers at all in the middle frame. In their last 10 matches, Seattle has scored a grand total of four 1st period goals and three 2nd period goals. Over that span, they've entered the 3rd period without denting the scoresheet six times.

That results in what hockey types call "chasing the game." In the Kraken's case, a defense-first team must modify its core systems in a desperate push for goals. As you'd expect when a team strays from what it's best at, what it's practiced, the opposition often takes advantage.

Seattle has lost its last seven games (0-5-2).

The Kraken have come on strong(er) in the 3rd period.

• 1-2-2-0-3-1-1-0-1-1

Worth noting is that of these 12 goals, five came via the power play and one shorthanded. Combined with five even-strength goals in the first two periods, the Kraken in their last ten outings have averaged barely over one 5-on-5 goal per contest.

Lack of offense has also contributed to Seattle's woeful overtime & shootout record of 6-13.

Why? Because teams can win games in regulation, and Seattle has, by excelling at preventing goals. Though tied for 23rd in composite league standings, the Kraken are an admirable 9th in goals allowed per game (2.86). Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and the Kraken similarly have been able to find the back of the net.

In overtime and shootouts, though, you can't win if you don't score. Seattle has just three OT winners this season.

This was all a long-winded way of saying the Kraken have scoring issues?

Essentially, yes. At 2.62 goals scored per game, Seattle ranks higher only than San Jose, Anaheim and Chicago. "We're ahead of the Sharks, Ducks and Blackhawks" isn't where Seattle wanted to hang its hat this season.

The team has one 20-goal scorer, Jared McCann with 27. Let's see how that stacks up with the number of 20+ goal-getters on other Pacific Division teams.

• Anaheim: 1
• Calgary: 3
• Edmonton: 4
• Los Angeles: 4
• San Jose: 0
• Vancouver: 4
• Vegas: 3

Kraken general manager Ron Francis and staff must figure out if the aberration was 2022-23, when essentially the same cast scored the 4th most goals in the NHL, or this year's steep regression. Also, how much the results have been skewed by injury absences and lack of 4th line punch.

Unless Francis thinks his current lineup is capable of a team-wide offensive bounceback, he'll have to do more in the offseason than tinker around the edges of the roster.

Given salary constraints, a limited free-agent class, and trading partners ready to pounce, Francis may need to channel his inner Harry Houdini this summer.