SEATTLE — The Seattle Kraken are for real.
In fact, the second-year franchise is the first team in NHL history to sweep a road trip of at least seven games.
And they accomplished the feat by beating some pretty good teams along the way, as seen below in reverse order.
AT Blackhawks W 8-5
AT Bruins W 3-0
AT Sabres W 4-3
AT Canadiens 4-0
AT Senators 8-4
AT Maple Leafs 5-1
AT Oilers 5-2
One of the more impressive wins came last week in Boston, where the Kraken not only shut out the NHL’s top team and second-ranked offense, but also handed the Bruins their first regulation loss on home ice this season.
How are they doing it? Erica Ayala of Locked on Kraken explains the full-team effort on display.
“They’re really focusing on a zone-style defense like in basketball,” she said on a recent episode. “If there’s empty space created by your teammate, you take up that empty space. And good, smooth hockey is a lot like that, whether you’re on offense or on defense.
Seattle’s top line of Andre Burakovsky, Jordan Eberle, and Calder Trophy frontrunner Matty Beniers is leading the way offensively, while Vince Dunn has been a revelation on the blue line this season.
Martin Jones – who was named the NHL’s first star of the week - is also excelling in net with a save percentage of .926 over the course of the seven road wins, and general manager Ron Francis was gifted Eeli Tolvanen (5G, 2A in 8 games) off the waiver wire from the Nashville Predators.
Overall, Seattle (26-12-4) has won eight straight and can move into a first-place tie with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division with a win Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Seattle also has 2 games in hand on Vegas.
It’s a pretty remarkable turnaround for a team that finished 30th out of 32 teams last season, its first as in the NHL.