On Tuesday evening, the Seattle Kraken took to Vancouver to play the Canucks at Rogers Arena. Head coach Dan Bylsma came with a different lineup from Sunday’s preseason opener, which was to be expected. The Kraken defended their honor with better intent on Tuesday but still fell 3-1. Here are the takeaways.
Montour Paired With Oleksiak, Closer Game
As previously alluded to, this was a superior effort than what fans witnessed on Sunday night, which saw Seattle get schooled 6-1 by the Calgary Flames. The roller coaster that often is September hockey has a lot to do with radically altered lineups from match to match. In Vancouver, Matty Beniers, Ryker Evans, Chandler Stephenson, and Ty Kartye – among others – were nowhere to be found. In their place were the likes of Brandon Montour, Ty Nelson, Andre Burakovsky, and Ryan Winterton.
This group executed a sturdier game than their predecessors. Vancouver did not have the luxury of tossing Seattle players around like Calgary did. The hits were relatively close, favoring the host Canucks 23-19. Things got impressively heated for a preseason tune-up, such as when Will Borgen opted to give Conor Garland a shove into the boards and the latter’s teammate Tyler Myers responded with a piece of his mind.
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Seattle had no shortage of opportunities to take an early lead or tie in the third period when down 2-1. Jaden Schwartz and Burakovsky were stoned walled on different sequences by Canucks netminder Arturs Silovs. Pure larceny.
Just as part of the excitement of Sunday’s match was witnessing offseason signing Chandler Stephenson play his first match in Kraken colors, on Tuesday it was defenseman Montour’s turn. Paired with Jamie Oleksiak, Montour was featured a lot, playing 27: 20 of ice time. He had a game-high three takeaways and was credited for four missed Vancouver shots. Lines are still being juggled, but this was a solid display from the duo.
Ben Meyers’ First Goal as a Kraken
Lost in the kerfuffle of Montour and Stephenson arriving in free agency was the signing of 25-year-old forward Ben Meyers. A former Colorado Avalanche and briefly an Anaheim Duck, Meyers was given a one-year, $755,000 contract on the first day of free agency.
If readers haven’t heard of him, that’s okay. In four seasons with the Avs and Ducks, he suited up for a total of 67 games and has never averaged more than 10:27 of ice…
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