When the Seattle Kraken last visited Calgary on Dec. 18, they hit rock bottom.
The Kraken allowed three goals in the third period in a 4-2 loss that ended a 1-9-1 skid. At the end of the following night, they were tied for last place in the NHL standings.
Seattle and Calgary are scheduled to meet Monday night in Alberta, but the Kraken find themselves in a very different situation. They are 6-0-1 since that loss and occupy a wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Whether the Kraken are a contender or contender should be determined in January, when they have an NHL-record 17 games scheduled.
One of the keys to the Kraken’s success has been the play of its fourth line. Ben Meyers, Ryan Winterton and Jacob Melanson combined for 11 of Seattle’s 28 shots on goal Friday in a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Meyers, who made eight of those shots, scored late in the second period to give the Kraken a 3-1 lead.
“This line has been very responsible, very good,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “And with these games coming up and the number of games we all talked about in January, we’re going to have to have everyone (contributing quality minutes).”
Winterton and Melanson are both on a three-game point streak.
“We just focus on playing simple and being tough to play against,” Meyers said, “and things work out and we succeed just by doing the simple things well.”
The Kraken also got a goal from defender Cale Fleury, his first since his rookie season with Montreal in 2019-20.
“Every time you score, it’s exciting, but it’s been a long time in this league for me, so it was special,” Fleury said. “For me, it’s just about trusting my abilities. I know I’m in this league for a reason. I talked with the coach as well, (and) he just tells me to play with confidence, so when the coach tells you it would be a little rude not to.”
The Flames are also on the rise, with their previous win over Seattle sparking a 5-2-0 streak. That’s despite a 4-3 home loss to Nashville on Saturday, in which they allowed the deciding goal with 29 seconds remaining.
“I don’t think it was a good game for us compared to the ones we’ve played lately,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “I just thought we had maybe five guys that were at a level they should have been at. I thought Nashville was a lot faster than us for most of the game. It wasn’t a good night.”
Blake Coleman scored the tying goal for the Flames in the third period, Matt Coronato had two assists and goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped 32 shots.
“We were stubborn all night, and it came back to bite us in one of the most important moments of the game,” Coleman said. “It’s just one of those things where, in this situation, this score and where we are, it’s early to talk about rankings, but we gave ourselves an opportunity to really climb. There’s no excuse for that.”
Flames forward Johnny Beecher left the game in the second period after suffering an apparent upper-body injury in a fight with Nashville’s Nicolas Hague. Beecher did not return and his coach had no update on his status. Beecher was also suspended one game Sunday by the NHL for roughing up Nashville’s Michael McCarron.
–Field level media
