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KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Hello Edmonton (10/3) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Kraken This Morning, a presentation of the Kraken
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Audio Network and Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM. Here's Mike Benton.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: One game down and one victory already in the books.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Can the Kraken make it two in what has been
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: a tough place to play? Welcome to Kraken This Morning.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: On a Saturday, October 3rd, as the Kraken take on
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the Edmonton Oilers. That will go down at an earlier
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: start time than usual. for a weekend game, 4 p.m.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Pacific today. That happens at Rogers Place, airtime at 3.30
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: on the Global Credit Union Kraken Audio Network. Take note
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: for local coverage will be on air also at Sports
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Radio 950 KJR AM, Everett Fitzhugh, Al Kodisky in the
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: booth at Rogers Place. I'll join you once again from
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Network Central. The Kraken aiming for their first win at
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Rogers Place since January 3rd of 2023. They have won
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: just once in nine tries. Could this evening be the
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: night after an impressive 6-1 win? opening night victory at
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: scotia bank saddle dome on thursday we'll go through practice
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: comments with head coach lane lambert as a team into
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: edmonton safely that plus we'll catch up with tom gazzola
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: of sports radio 1440 in edmonton and dive into more
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: about the oilers and what has been a turbulent first
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: two games needless to say against the canucks what does
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that say right now with where they're headed with the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: usual suspects, Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl, lurking, but yet
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: also working with a new coach this season and a
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: familiar one to this game in Mike Babcock. Before we
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: get to all of that, and Lane Lambert, here's what
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you may have missed back on Thursday night with the Kraken,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: wasting little time to show that, to begin this season,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: they have turned the page.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: The Kraken on the power play! McCann has shot Eberle
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: on the rebound, and he scores! The Seattle Kraken take
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: the 1-0 lead on a power play tap-in from Jordan Eberle,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the captain. 10.50 left here in the first period.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: Jordan Eberle going hard to the net here off that pass.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Or excuse me, that shot from Jared McCann at the point.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: That's where you go to find goals. That's where Jordan
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Eberle found the first goal of this game. Seattle's up 1-0.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Here's Winterton to the line.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Done.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Left side shot. Scores! A bomb from the blue line,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: left side for Vince Dunn. It may have tipped off
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: of something in front. Dunn will lead the handshake line
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: and the Seattle Kraken have a 2-0 lead with 10.18
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: to play in the first.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: You got Berkley Catten up high with the high screen.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: You got Sheen right down low, right in front of
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Dustin Wolf. That's a two leveled screen. Those kind of
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: screens are hard to stop pucks on. Dustin Wolfe gives
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: up a second goal of the game for the Kraken.
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: They're up 2-0.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Here's Capocacco on the back side. Freddie Gaudreau scores! Capocacco
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: from the left circle, rink wide to Gaudreau. He was
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: in deep on Dustin Wolfe and the Kraken with 28
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: seconds to play in the first kick.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: The field goal.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: They lead 3-0.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: Well, Lane Lambert chains up to this fourth line. It
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: sends Berkley Catten out there. Automatically, they are faster as
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: they go hard in the net. Kapokako sends a pass
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: across the top of the blue paint to Freddy Goudreau.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: He puts his team up 3-0. Sends it through center.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Chandler Stevenson hops around. White cloud, a backhand on, and
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: he scores! What a goal by Chandler Stevenson! He hops
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: around White Cloud, who lost his footing, goes forehand, backhand,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: 5-0 on Dustin Wolfe and the Kraken ahead by a
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: 4-0 score.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Well, what a way to focus for Stevenson right there.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: He's coming through the neutral zone. He's thinking, dump the
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: puck in, maybe set a play up. He notices White
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: Cloud go down, but White Cloud goes down sliding towards Stevenson.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: Stevenson has to maintain control of the puck, jump over
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: White Cloud, and go finish the job. And he does
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: exactly that. Goes five-hole on Wolfe. Saddles up.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Jared McCann on the run.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Hands it off to Beneers.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Scores! Matty Beneers! There's McCann on the far side. His
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: shot on tipped.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: A score!
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Capo Caco!
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: 6-1 was your final score as Vince Dunn and Jared
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: McCann put up three-point nights, each the Kraken getting their
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: first road victory in the season opening game in franchise history,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: plus also set new benchmarks for most goals scored in
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a season opening game and also for largest margin of victory.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: On to Friday with a crack in practice in Edmonton. Notably,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: reports said Jacob Melanson missing in action in practice, but
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: the Kraken also getting Mackie Samaskevich back, who suffered an
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: upper body injury in a preseason game against Calgary. He
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: was back in a regular jersey with his return status
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: still undetermined. Once he comes back in, it will officially
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: mark His first game in a Kraken jersey. After practice,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Lane Lambert caught up with the media providing updates.
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: Didn't see Jacob Melanson out there. Do you have any
• 5:23
  Speaker 7: word on his status? No, he's being evaluated. Got banged
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: up last night, so we'll have more information on him,
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: you know, hopefully tomorrow. And then Mackie Samuskavage in a
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: regular sweater today. Do you anticipate he'd be available tomorrow? Well,
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: we're going to see. It was nice to see him
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: without the red jersey on, so that's certainly progress.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: After you had a chance to kind of review last
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: night's game, any particular details that you're looking to have
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: the guys just dial in more that you were working
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: on here?
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: I thought we were pretty good. You know, we talk
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: about consistency, right? So, you know, there's certain areas of
• 5:58
  Speaker 7: our game that we're still working on. Our neutral zone,
• 6:01
  Speaker 7: we can be a little bit better there. But, you know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 7: I thought for the most part we tried to play fast,
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: tried to play quick, tried to use our speed. You know,
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: we just have to come consistent with that. A little
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: bigger picture, Edmonton scored 14, gave up 13. You guys
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: scored six, obviously.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I just wonder what you kind of make of that early.
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: In the season here, especially with these, you know, division
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: games just this late.
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: Well, I figured that, you know, I kind of figured
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: that coming out of a short training camp, there might
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: be some mistakes happen, mistakes made. And certainly, you know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: when we're talking about Edmonton, they can score in bunches. So,
• 6:41
  Speaker 7: you know, not surprising of that. Certainly we've got our
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: work cut out for us tomorrow.
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: With Matty Bernier, I know that his offensive number has
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: been pretty consistent, but it seems to me like he's
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: kind of really developing a really good defensive game, a
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: guy that you can put out there in situations. I
• 6:54
  Speaker 6: just want to ask you about his development on that
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: side of the puck.
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: Well, when I, you know, I've only obviously seen him
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: last year and then just, you know, for one game
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: this year. But what I was really happy about when
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: I first got to him Last year was his 200-foot game.
• 7:11
  Speaker 7: He has a pretty keen responsibility level, and he continues
• 7:16
  Speaker 7: to work and grow in that area. But there's a
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: level of commitment from him to be a 200-foot player,
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: and that's why he's having success doing it.
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: In your experience, when you had a young guy that
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: put up really good numbers wherever he was, how tough
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: is it to try to explain, okay, you have to
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: play defensive first, and then you can don't cheat for offense.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: Well, I guess it.
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: Depends on the player. But it's always a learning curve
• 7:43
  Speaker 7: with a young player like that. I think young players
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: kind of hopefully understand a little bit that getting the
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: coach's trust is important without the puck. The game is
• 7:56
  Speaker 7: played most of the time without the puck. So being
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: in the right positions and doing the right things from
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: that standpoint is something that every young player should understand.
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: If I was a junior player right now, I would
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: want to be good on the defensive side of the
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: puck so that I could have trust when I came
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: up into the pro level.
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: He obviously has that from you now?
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: Yeah, he had it very early on with me because,
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: like I said, when I got in there, I was
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: just pleasantly surprised. I hadn't seen him that much being
• 8:29
  Speaker 7: over in the Eastern Conference, but certainly pleasantly surprised with
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: his commitment level to a 200-foot game.
• 8:34
  Speaker 8: With, uh, with Mackey kind of rotating in the way
• 8:36
  Speaker 8: that he did today, uh, anything to read into there? Like,
• 8:39
  Speaker 8: are you going to ease him in when he does
• 8:41
  Speaker 8: get in there or are you planning to go with
• 8:43
  Speaker 8: more of a look like you had him in training
• 8:45
  Speaker 8: camp where he was in kind of a first line
• 8:47
  Speaker 8: top six?
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: Well, I think before, you know, before we get into
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: that scenario, I got to make sure that he's coming
• 8:53
  Speaker 7: back into the lineup and then we'll, you know, we'll
• 8:55
  Speaker 7: see from there. Obviously he's a, you know, he's a
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: big piece and, um, you know, we'll, we'll look to
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: get them in and use them as much as we
• 9:03
  Speaker 7: possibly can.
• 9:05
  Speaker 8: With Edmonton's first couple games going the way that they have,
• 9:07
  Speaker 8: the very high scoring games, I'm assuming you want to
• 9:11
  Speaker 8: avoid that as much as possible with the way that
• 9:14
  Speaker 8: you guys have played over the last couple of years, right?
• 9:17
  Speaker 8: What is the messaging to the team just to make
• 9:19
  Speaker 8: sure that that doesn't happen?
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: Well, I mean, look, there's not a player in our
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: room that doesn't recognize the abilities of the Edmonton Oilers
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: and I'm not just talking about one or two guys,
• 9:31
  Speaker 7: I'm talking about the entire team. We know what the
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: challenge is and, you know, we have to play well.
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: We have to play well defensively and we have to
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: continue using our speed in attacking. So, you know, it's
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: kind of what we talked about right from the beginning
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: of training camp is, you know, establishing our forecheck, playing
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: in their zone so we don't have to play too
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: long in our zone, but It's a grind. It's a
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: tough challenge against those guys. They're dynamic world-class players, as
• 9:59
  Speaker 7: we all know.
• 10:00
  Speaker 8: On the Vince Dunn goal last night, the right line,
• 10:04
  Speaker 8: the Catten line, Catten steals the puck, Wright takes a
• 10:07
  Speaker 8: hit to make a play, Winterton bumps it up to Dunn,
• 10:10
  Speaker 8: they go to the net, create traffic. That's got to
• 10:13
  Speaker 8: be a little bit of music to your ears kind
• 10:16
  Speaker 8: of a thing to see a goal played like that
• 10:18
  Speaker 8: where all three of them.
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: Kind of have an impact on it? No, they were
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: on pucks last night. They're quick, you know, and they're
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: using their speed and, you know, pretty connected offensively for sure.
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: And I like the goal because we had, you know,
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: we had double their net presence and that's what we've
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: been talking about all training camp. And, you know, we
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: need to have, we need to continue to have net presence.
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: And that's something that we focused on right from the
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: beginning of camp was to have more screens this year.
• 10:50
  Speaker 8: You've talked a lot about the offensive firepower of the Oilers.
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: Does that affect how you think about what players might
• 10:57
  Speaker 8: come into the lineup or be scratched?
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: I think you're always sort of... You look at it
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: a little bit, but at the end of the day,
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: our focus is on our group, how we play. Obviously,
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: we have to be aware of certain individuals for sure, but...
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: I think there's different elements that each one of our
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: individuals can bring. What does it affect our lineup? Maybe
• 11:27
  Speaker 7: a little bit, but nothing affects in terms of our game.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Second game of the season coming up. And for the
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: first time, the Kraken will see the Edmonton Oilers early
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: 4 p.m. Pacific time faceoff coming up from Rogers Place.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: And we're now pleased to be joined by a good
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: friend of ours, Tom Gazzola, a host on Sports 1440
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: in Edmonton. Now with us here for Kraken this morning. Tom,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: happy hockey season. And it seems like there is never
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: a dull day in Edmonton, is there?
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: No, there really isn't. Mike, thanks for having me. And listen,
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: as you know, it's well documented. This team is high
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: drama all the time. It's just the tension that this
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: franchise seems to have for everything is at the nth degree,
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: whether it's winning, whether it's losing, whether it's off-ice stuff,
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: there's no middle ground. It's either amazing or spectacularly terrible.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: So they're 1-0-1, these Edmonton Oilers, and they've done it
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: in the most bizarre way entertaining, crazy, frustrating way possible.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: I don't know how many people have texted into my
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: show this morning telling me that they had like five,
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: six strokes during that game against the Vancouver Canucks on
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Thursday night. So yeah, it's just, you know what? It's
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: so Oilers. Let's just go with that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Nine seven was your final score between the Oilers and
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the Canucks. And if you were thinking about Seven goals
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: was going to be enough. Think again. But that's entertainment.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: That's October hockey for you. And here we are heading
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: into Game 3 for the Edmonton side, Game 2 on
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: the Kraken side. Besides all that, and we'll get into
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: the thick of it with defense and goaltending, Tom, what
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: do we make through two games out of the state
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: of the Oilers under Mike Babcock, the new head coach?
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think he's gotten a rude awakening to what
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: it's like to coach this team. At least it's a
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: funny joke that's going around here. But bottom line, Mike,
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: and the owners don't want to use this as an excuse.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: They have a lot of key players who are hurt.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: They're lucky that there's no McDavid or dry saddle injury.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: And that has really fueled their fire. Bouchard as well.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: He's been outstanding leading the league in points through two
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: games and doing what no other NHL defenseman ever has.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: That's eight points in two games. So you got to
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: give him credit there. But when you don't have a
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: Ryan Nugent Hopkins, you don't have a Zach Hyman now.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: We're missing Jason Dickinson, who was on the ice this morning.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Maybe he's going to be good to go soon. But
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: Matisse Yanmark, to a certain extent, I mean, he's a
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: good veteran player. The Oilers have a lot of guys
• 14:05
  Speaker 5: that are kind of like tweeners, guys who have spent
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: time in the AHL in recent years that are filling
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: up spots that are prominent. I mean, you're looking at
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: a guy like Alex Formanson, a controversial signing who hasn't
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: played in the NHL. since, what, 2022? Was in Europe,
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: went through the whole ordeal with the Hockey Canada thing,
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: and he's been playing on the top line. So there's
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: stuff like that that's been going on because they have
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: to fill holes, and they've gotten through it okay at 1-0-1,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: but it hasn't been pretty. Yeah, it's been an interesting ride.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: But on top of that, the defense and goal thing
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: has been pretty bad as well.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: The Oilers added Frederick Anderson. He won't be available reportedly
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: until December. They got Matthew Joseph up front. They have
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Ryan Shea, who has been productive for his couple of
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: games on the back end. And you brought up the
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: names like Dickinson and Formenton. Who's got the most to
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: gain as far as the newcomers on this team this season?
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: You know what? Probably Alex Formenton. I mean, he's got
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: a lot to prove. Obviously, getting past the whole ordeal with...
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: the sexual assault case in the summer, and there's people
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: here that don't like that signing. I'm curious to see
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: what kind of impact he has on this team. He's
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: playing in a role probably where he shouldn't be. I mean,
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: he's supposed to be bottom six guy, but they've got
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: him in the top six so far. He's been okay.
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: A guy that we really need to see some growth
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: from is Ike Howard, who had a good season in
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: the AHL when he was up in the NHL, maybe
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: a little bit overwhelmed because it is tough to make
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: the jump from NCAA to NHL hockey right away and
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: have an impact and And when you're playing minimal minutes
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: and you're in the bottom six and you're a skilled, speedy,
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: good shooter like Ike Howard is, smaller guy too, it
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: isn't that easy to make the jump. So he's a
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: guy that needs some runway to take off. And he's
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: been okay to start the season. These are guys who
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: can take advantage of their opportunities here. And we're watching
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: a guy in Owen Michaels who scored Thursday night against
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: the Vancouver Canucks, his first NHL goal. He had a
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: good training camp after signing with the Oilers late last season.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: He skated with them, didn't spend any time in the minors.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: was just kind of an extra forward with the group
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: through the playoffs as well. And now he's getting his
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: first taste of pro hockey and he's holding his own
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: all right. So these are a couple of the guys
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: that could take advantage of the situation and kind of
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: try to cement their role in this lineup because they're
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: fighting with the Max Joneses of the world, the Colton Docks,
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: the Josh Szymanskis. If you're going, who are half of
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: these guys? Yeah, you're right, because these are newcomers to
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: the Edmonton Oilers.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Tom Gazzola joining us here on Kraken this morning, again,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: a host on Sports 1440 in Edmonton. As far as
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: goaltending is concerned, we mentioned Frederick Anderson and the period
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: that the Oilers have to wait until he's ready here
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: to be put into game action for the first time
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: in an Oilers jersey. Devin Levi and Tristan Jari, needless
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: to say, it was a bumpy ride through the first
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: two games of the season. But what's the read as
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: far as the goals winding up in the back of
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: their own net, whether it's it is a goaltending issue
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: or more so of a defensive structure issue.
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm not good at math, Mike, but is a
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: 737 save percentage and a 682 save percentage good in
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: the NHL?
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Needless to say, I'll quote the TV show, Mad Men,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: not great, Bob.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: It's early, it's sloppy, and it's ugly so far. So yeah, it's,
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Is it a goaltending issue? Is it a defensive structure issue?
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: The focus on defense has been a problem for this
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: team for years. A bunch of years. And when they
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: want to buckle it down, they did it during the
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: Jay Woodcroft, early Chris Knobloch era decently well. It slipped
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: away last year for sure. No denying that. And then
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: this year, it's just been a calamity so far. My
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: good friend and former NHLer Matt Cassian would call it
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: compounding errors. And we've seen compounding errors multiple times in
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: the first two games. against the Canucks and there are
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: goals that have been scored on both goalies that you
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: can pinpoint them specifically where they screwed up and and
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: they just couldn't make a save and then there's been
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: a bunch of times too uh of the 13 goals
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: the orders have allowed where you know they're the goalies
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: are getting hung out to dry and two-on-ones uh one-on-os
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: in tight you know the Partial breaks here and there.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: So it really is a combination of both. But I'll
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: point out game one, Tristan Jari. The Oilers were even
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: up with the Canucks. And in the third period, what
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: looked like a harmless shot along the ice beats them
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: through the pads. And that was a deflating goal against.
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: And then that led to two more goals in a
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: span of 405 where they allowed three goals and ended
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: up down 5-2. Managed to claw their way back into
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: that game force overtime and eventually lose. But that's an
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: instance where You needed a save and a weak one
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: gets by you. It's the timing of the goal. It's
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: the type of goal. Those are killers, Mike. You've been
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: around the game for a long time. You know when
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: a bad goal goes in at the wrong time. It
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: can totally take the wind out of your sails. So
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: we saw that in game one. And then, I mean,
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: good thing the Oilers built up a 5-0 lead Thursday
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: night in Vancouver and then rebuilt a 5-goal lead with
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: an 8-2 lead and then just watched it kind of
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: whittle away and third period and wind up with a nine,
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: seven victory. There's a combination guys, not picking up checks.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: And then Devin Levi, uh, having moments where you're looking
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: at him going, where were you going on that one?
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: What's going on here? So, yeah, both guys in their
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: debuts this season, not good. And it won't be hard
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: to improve on their numbers because they're so bad so far.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: We'll see if they can clean it up against the Kraken.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: You mentioned Zach Hyman out due to injury. It still
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: means the Kraken get a handful, potentially, of Connor McDavid
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: and Leon Dreisaitl. And the numbers say... They have been
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: a handful and at a historic pace, but also because
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: they're dealing with arguably two of the top generational players
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: right now on the planet. And Connor McDavid, funny enough,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: two years ago, we're all saying what happened for him.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: It was a down year at just 100 points. And boom,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: he comes right back. 48 goals last season and 138
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: points as well. But with the coach who's shifting the
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: gears on this, how much do you think we figure
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: to see McDavid and Drysaddle put together here when this
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: lineup is fully healthy?
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah, when the club's fully healthy, it's interesting because everybody's
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: been clamoring for them to play on their own line
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: and don't utilize the nuclear option. And Mike Babcock comes
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: in here and says, you know what, I'm going to
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: play these guys together. And obviously with the injuries, He's
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: had to separate them, which I think is logical. Obviously,
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: both guys can drive their own line, but I think
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: it'll be situation dependent, right? If they're down a goal
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: or chasing the game, you stack those two up together.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: So even though the intention should be to keep them apart,
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: it is so tempting to put the two of them together.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: So listen, if Seattle takes the lead tomorrow or on
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: Saturday and the Oilers are desperate for some offense, you're
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: going to see McDavid and Dreisaitl put together a lot.
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: But I think, you know, despite the fact that they
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: have injuries, they're being thrown out there together and they
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: have been dominant. And you know what? Vasily Podkolzin has
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: complemented both of them very well in the short time
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: that we've seen them together. So, yeah, the answer is
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: they'll play together a lot, even though at times they'll
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: be separated. It's just situation dependent when it comes to
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: those two playing together.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: It could be get your popcorn stuff coming out here
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: for the 4 p.m. Face-off Pacific time at Rogers Place.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Kraken Oilers, first meeting of the season right around the corner. Tommy, again,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: thanks so much here for doing this, and we'll catch
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: you down the road.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Thanks again, man.
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: Always a pleasure, Mike, and you know you have to
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: come on my show now.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's going down, my friend.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: You know it.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Big thanks again to Tom Gazzola for joining us for
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: a look ahead. For Game 2 of the regular season,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: the Kraken again facing Edmonton for the first of four
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: matchups and aiming for their first road win at Rogers
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Place since the 2022-23 season. The Kraken also aiming to
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: win consecutive road games for the first time ever to
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: begin a season, yet they're also aiming for their second
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: consecutive 2-0 start. They did so last year. at home
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: with wins over Anaheim and Vegas. Among your names to
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: watch begin with Jared McCann. He has five points in
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: his last six games in Edmonton. Matty Beneers also got
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: off to an impressive start Thursday. He's got now points
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: in five of his last seven games against the Oilers.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Jordan Eberle also, the one-time Oiler, scoring Thursday. He sits
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: one assist shy of. 450. for his NHL career. Edmonton,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: we mentioned with Tom, the highs and lows have been
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: dramatic highs and lows as far as offense and defense
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: here in the first couple of games under new head
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: coach Mike Babcock. They beat the Canucks Thursday night, but
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: they had to hang up nine goals to do it.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: beating Vancouver 9-7 after losing 6-5 to the Canucks in
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: overtime to open the season at Rogers Place. Nonetheless, it's
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: certainly proven that offense is not hard to come by
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: if you're the Edmonton Oilers because you have Connor McDavid
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: and Leon Dreisaitl, arguably the most threatening duo in hockey
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: on the entire planet. The two combining for 11 points
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: already in two games combined. Facility Pod Colson, a player
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: that Tom mentioned earlier, he's got three goals in two games.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: And Evan Bouchard right now, despite how early it is
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: in the season, is your leading scorer with four goals
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: and eight points in two games as well. But back
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: to McDavid and Dreisaitl, they've proven they can be a handful.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Together against the Kraken, they have combined for 60 points
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: and 21 goals. McDavid's got 13 goals in 17 games.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: lifetime games against the Kraken. So needless to say, not
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: very hard to figure out who you have to contain
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: for a game like this. On the flip side, can
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the Kraken take advantage of shaky Edmonton goaltending? Stop us
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: if you haven't heard that before. Devin Levi so far,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: one game, seven goals allowed on 22 shots. Tristan Jari,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: one game played, six goals allowed on 23 shots. And
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: reports say Frederick Anderson won't be ready until December to
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: join the Oilers due to injury. So a lot to cover,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: a lot to get to. Should be a good one.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Hope you can join us once again. Faceoffs at 4,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: airtime at 3.30, locally on Sports Radio, 950 KJR AM,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: and all across the Global Credit Union Kraken Audio Network.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Big thank you to Tom Gazzola for joining us. And
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: for Kraken This Morning, I'm Mike Benton. Enjoy the game.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: You're home for the Kraken. Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.