Flambéing the Shark Fins: Seattle Kraken slice up San Jose in 5-1 road win
By Charles Hamaker
San Jose, CA - With the inconsistencies displayed by the Seattle Kraken throughout the course of their 2024-25 season, it wasn’t a sure thing that they’d put on a strong encore performance in the bay area after their big shutout victory over the Vancouver Canucks just a few days ago to begin this five-game road trip. Alas, the Kraken seem determined in their young NHL existence to remain unpredictable, as their strong play from that Wednesday win did carry over to tonight’s contest in San Jose as Seattle beat the Sharks by a final score of 5-1. Although San Jose looked to get out to a strong start on their “Fan Appreciation” night, Joey Daccord stood tall in net for the Kraken early and often to help them get on the board first and take hold of a lead they’d never surrender. Continued improved play from previously snake bitten wingers and the return of a key forward from injury provided plenty of ammunition for Seattle as Jared McCann, Andre Burakovsky, and Jaden Schwartz all found the back of the net en route to this satisfying road victory. This victory gives the Kraken their third in the past five games and evens the season series against the Sharks at 2-2-0 on the year.
A few sights and scenes from the SAP Center as our Seattle Kraken defeated the San Jose Sharks by a final score of 5-1 on Saturday, April 5th, 2025. (Photos by Paul Hamaker for Circling Seattle Sports)
Fast paced first frame
As games between these two Pacific division opponents have been known to be, this contest was quick to action and chaotic from the jump. On their “Fan Appreciation” night, the Sharks looked poised to strike first against the Kraken with nine total shot attempts (five of them actually on goal) prior to the first Seattle goal of the game. San Jose had brought the pressure early, but Kraken netminder Joey Daccord was standing tall and that sturdy play helped Seattle get on the board first. On a play that the Kraken had been trying to get earlier in the game but couldn’t connect on the pass, Seattle winger Andre Burakovsky sent a pass to Jared McCann, as the latter skated right down the slot. With Burakovsky along the far wall attracting a Sharks skater and McCann in free having burned another, Jared was left in all alone on Alexandar Georgiev and his quick release shot beat the goaltender just before he could get his glove to the puck. It was a nice display of what fans have come to know both players for: Burakovsky’s ability to create plays with his passing, and McCann’s shot that’s made him such a key contributor for Seattle during his time with the franchise.
“I thought early [Daccord], first four minutes of the game, I think there were four Grade-A’s and he made some good saves there, and it allowed us to answer back quickly.”
Just under three and a half minutes after the Kraken opened the scoring in this aquatic showdown, Seattle doubled up with a goal from the same line that netted the first score. Some sustained offensive zone time saw the Jared McCann-Shane Wright-Andre Burakovsky line searching for a score once again, and it was actually a turnover from Cam Lund that ultimately led to the chance for the Kraken as a dump in attempt had gone right to him behind the net. Lund attempted to push the puck further around the boards in an effort to clear it from his own defensive zone, but he whiffed on it and the puck instead found itself on the stick of Jared McCann. With no clear lane for a shot or teammate cutting for him to pass to, McCann opted to drop the puck off for Adam Larsson who had found himself along the goal line, and those two being in the same vicinity saw three Sharks skaters focusing on Larsson and McCann and none on Andre Burakovsky in the high slot. Larsson sent an easy pass to Burakovsky, whose one-timer easily beat Georgiev in net to his glove side as he’d been screened in front by his own teammate, Marc-Édouard Vlasic. Good movement without the puck, solid passing, and being in the right areas of the ice had given Seattle a two-goal lead early as the Kraken looked to play spoiler on a night where San Jose fans wanted to celebrate.
Just as they had to begin the game, the Sharks put on a strong push as the first period was getting towards it’s end, and that effort came in the minutes after the Burakovsky goal as San Jose sought out a response. Despite the strong looks that they had on a power play with about nine and a half minutes left in the frame, it was four minutes later when the Sharks top line broke through as Will Smith cleaned up a rebound of a shot from Tyler Toffoli in the Kraken crease. San Jose’s puck movement had Seattle moving all around their zone, including leaving Toffoli wide open as he skated right down the slot in on Daccord for an attempt that Joey pushed aside with his right leg blocker. The problem with that is that both Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn were focused on Toffoli, and not Smith right behind them as the puck bounced off Daccord’s pad like a pinball flipper right to the 20-year old Sharks forward for his teams only score of the night. Despite that goal deeper into the period, the Kraken had to feel good about their effort to respond to an early push by the home side with two goals of their own. Seattle’s opportunistic play would only net them more rewards when we got to the second period.
Pulling ahead and never looking back
The theme of being opportunistic rang true for the third Kraken goal of the night, as Seattle took advantage of a missed shot that rimmed around their own defensive zone to a Sharks player whose stick broke, creating an easy takeaway for Chandler Stephenson. With most of the San Jose skaters on the ice focused on what would’ve potentially been more time in their offensive zone, the takeaway from Stephenson swiftly turned into an odd man rush as only Henry Thrun was back far enough to play any part in disrupting this Seattle chance. Thrun took away the cross-ice pass to Jaden Schwartz, so Stephenson opted instead for the shot, which proved to be a solid choice as the puck went bar down for the third Kraken goal of the game.
In the four minutes after Stephenson’s score, both teams traded chances with each other like jabs, and it was a curious thought to have about which team would land a critical shot for themselves next. If San Jose found the back of the net, they’re right back in it and trailing by one. If it was Seattle, the lead balloons to three and things start to feel fully out of reach by then especially being a little later into the middle frame. Once again in this one, it was the Kraken taking advantage of turnovers and missed opportunities that ultimately led to them adding on. The Sharks were looking to reset themselves after a puck had found it’s way into their own zone, as Mario Ferraro sent it to the boards right between the two teams benches for Thrun. Henry Thrun wanted to play it off the bounce from the boards as if he hade plenty of time, but he wasn’t aware that Jaden Schwartz was right behind him. An easy pick pocket of the puck between the boards and Thrun saw open ice since the takeaway had caught everyone anywhere near the puck (Thrun, who had just been left in the dust and Ferraro, who was on the other side of the ice) off guard, before Schwartz unleashed a slap shot on Georgiev that beat him blocker side and lodged itself between the two weights at the bottom of the back of the net.
“Our puck play in all three zones, extremely sloppy. We don’t hit the net and two of them, they come back and it’s in the back of the net. So I would say puck play would be the biggest thing... The second biggest thing was, we just didn’t have enough jam in our game.”
It’ll sound awfully like a broken record, but the fifth and final Seattle goal of this game off the Kraken being opportunistic with Sharks turnovers. A Lucas Carlsson attempted stretch pass from his own zone to Celebrini couldn’t connect properly and instead deflected off Macklin’s stick right to Kaapo Kakko for Seattle. The Finnish forward quickly sprung Shane Wright heading up ice with speed, and once again the Kraken’s movement with and without the puck created all sorts of problems for San Jose as Wright dropped the puck off for Jared McCann while also occupying Carlsson to create a moving screen on young netminder Georgi Romanov. With a screen in front of him and having come out to try and close of the angle for McCann, Romanov was left exposed and Jared was able to wrist a shot past his blocker side for the fifth goal of the night and first on Georgi after Alexandar Georgiev had been pulled following the Schwartz goal.
The third period was goalless, despite a brief five-on-three opportunity for the Sharks that could’ve given them some momentum to get back in this game and the Kraken getting a four-minute man advantage thanks to a Lucas Carlsson high stick that got Eeli Tolvanen up high. It was a solid period in that regard for Seattle to salt away a result that they had will in hand, but there was a bit of an entertaining ending as frustrations and scrappy encounters finally bubbled over as Eeli Tolvanen, Jamie Oleksiak, and John Hayden of the Kraken and Barclay Goodrow, Zack Ostapchuk, and William Eklund of the Sharks all left this game early for the showers for the rough stuff that took place with this game nearly done.
“Just a solid effort top to bottom throughout the whole night. I thought we played well, generated a lot of chances, defended well. We got our chances. We took advantage. It’s fun to watch from my end.”
A rare fight for both Eeli Tolvanen of the Seattle Kraken and William Eklund of the San Jose Sharks took place in the dying minutes of this contest as frustrations bubbled over for a Sharks team that’s had plenty of frustrating moments through the season. (Photos by Paul Hamaker for Circling Seattle Sports)
Quick Kraken hockey notes
17,435 was the announced attendance at the SAP Center for tonight's Seattle Kraken at San Jose Sharks game.
That's a sellout on Fan Appreciation Night.
With Jared McCann’s first score of the night in this one, the Kraken have found the back of the net first in their past five games.
With four straight 20-goal seasons with the Kraken, forward Jared McCann becomes just the tenth player in NHL history to accomplish that feat in the first four years of a franchise.
The other players to accomplish that feat:
Michel Goulet: 10 from 1979-80 — 1988-89 w/ QUE
Wayne Gretzky: 9 from 1979-80 — 1987-88 w/ EDM
Billy Harris: 6 from 1972-73 — 1977-78 w/ NYI
Morris Lukowich: 5 from 1979-80 — 1983-84 w/ WIN
Blaine Stoughton: 5 from 1979-80 — 1983-84 w/ HFD
Wilf Paiement: 5 from 1974-75 — 1978-79 w/ KSC/CLR
Willy Lindstrom: 4 from 1979-80 — 1982-83 w/ QUE
Marc Tardif: 4 from 1979-80 — 1982-83 w/ QUE
With his 13th goal of the season coming in this contest, Kraken forward Chandler Stephenson joins Jared McCann as the only 2 players in Kraken franchise history with 50+ points in their first season with the team.
Stephenson now has his 4th straight 50 point season
With his goal in this contest, Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz his 24 goals on the season. 24 goals is the most for him in one season, in 7 years.
With his goal and assist in this contest, Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky has recorded 11 points in the last nine games.
What’s next?
With tonight’s blowout victory against the San Jose Sharks, our Seattle Kraken have won the first two contests of their five-game road trip, their final road set of the 2024-25 season. Tomorrow is a well earned day off for the Kraken ahead of the third game on this trip, and second in the state of California, as Seattle takes on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, April 7th in the first leg of a back-to-back. This contest at Crypto.com Arena has a puck drop time of 7:30PM PDT, the second to last of that start time with both of the games with it coming against the Kings, that will be broadcast live on the Kraken Hockey Network (Amazon Prime Video) and KONG in the local network while going on ESPN+ elsewhere. With the Kraken playing well as of late and the Kings having just clinched their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight, Monday could certainly pose an interesting matchup for those involved. We’ll see you live from Crypto.com Arena for morning skate and that game itself in a few days, so be sure to follow us for updates and more.
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