Second, keep making big saves
Joey Daccord started for the third time in a row against the Canadiens and now seems to be winning the majority of games ahead of his counterpart Philipp Grubauer. While the 8-2 loss looked like a routine victory for Daccord, there was a point late in the opening period where Montreal scored to cut the deficit to 4-1 and overwhelmed Kraken on a late power play to take it to achieve balance. Goal play during the break.

The Canadiens shot Daccord five times during that power play and might have changed the direction of the game had someone entered the game. But Daccord made the stops he needed – back-to-back shots on Nick Suzuki from close range – and the Kraken quickly put things away in the second period with Brandon Montour’s first of three goals.

It was lost in the end result, but these saves from Daccord are typical of how solid goaltending can be based on both timing and statistics. Daccord could have conceded three more goals in the third period and that wouldn’t have had as much of an impact on the final result as the stops in the first period.

Third, know your enemy
The Maple Leafs enter with the same 5-4-1 record as the Kraken, but with a scarier existence. A team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 – or even appeared in a Cup Final – can’t play in one of hockey’s fastest markets without hearing about this drought on a daily basis. Every regular season game is overanalyzed by fans and pundits for how it could impact performance in the playoffs, which are still half a year away.

And that makes life much more miserable during the regular season. In this most recent stretch, the Leafs handed Winnipeg its first regular season loss in the previous game, but only after a week in which Toronto went 1-2-1 and scored 19 goals. As might be expected, this sparked a bit of a goalkeeping controversy, as new coach Craig Berube gave substitute Anthony Stolarz more playing time than the previously injured and now healthy presumptive number 1 Joseph Woll.

Stolarz stopped 19 of 23 shots to beat the Jets in Winnipeg, so we’ll see who’s between the pipes this time.