Kraken vs. Blues 1st Period Recap

Getting you ready for a 10 am Pacific Time puck drop.

One lineup change for Seattle: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in, Tomas Tatar out. If Bellemare also plays the final two games of the season, he reaches an even 700 for his career. C'mon, coach Hakstol, do the right thing!

On the TNT cable broadcast, analyst Darren Pang calls out the "sleepy start" to a game kicking off at noon Central Time. St. Louis' Robert Thomas tells Pang during a timeout, "Not a great start for either team."

That review doesn't extend to Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, who looks sharp early. Brandon Saad and Braden Schenn have good looks from the slot. Daccord confidently turns away both.

Nor to Ryker Evans; the Kraken defenseman puts a shoulder into Sammy Blais, knocking the Blue to the ice.

One Kraken immune from their season-long scoring malaise is Jared McCann. He steals from Marco Scandella at the Seattle blueline, is off to the races, and finishes for his team-leading 29th goal at 14:24.

In three Kraken seasons, McCann has recorded 27, 40, and now 29 goals.

Jaden Schwartz has a close-in chance against the team whose sweater he wore for a decade. Blues goalie Joel Hofer, like Daccord getting his first significant NHL playing time this season, has other ideas.

Moments later, Kasperi Kapanen ties the game for the Blues 1-1 at 18:18. Daccord gets a good piece of Kapanen's shot, but hangs his head because a good piece wasn't enough.

Zach Dean lifts his stick into Adam Larsson's face, earning a double-minor. On the power play, Andre Burakovsky hits the crossbar, which doesn't count as one of the eight Seattle shots in the period. St. Louis had six. >