That isn’t just survival. That’s swagger.
“I just think it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward,” said Daccord, who notched a rare goaltending assist late in the Winnipeg game on an empty net goal by Jordan Eberle. “That if we execute our game plan, we can play with any team in this league.”
That “game plan” of course, involves the “attention to detail” mantra preached by new head coach Lane Lambert. It’s about strict adherence to a defensive system that relies on retrieving pucks, getting them quickly out of your zone and then hanging on to them by creating offensive chances out of the back end of the ice.
Easier said than done, at times. The Kraken haven’t been perfect at it and Lambert knows work remains before his team starts automatically executing plays within the system without having to think about it. But when they do it, as Daccord said, they can beat anyone and already have.
“You know, we’re probably not a team that’s going to blow anyone’s doors off offensively every single night,” Daccord said, offering up an early candidate for understatement of the season. “But we’re going to be in every game. We’re going to compete. We’re going to be disciplined, stick to our structure and execute our game plan. And when we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win every night.”
Kraken newcomer Mason Marchment is a big part of that structure, his imposing 6-foot-5, 212-pound frame wreaking havoc in the offensive zone. In the Winnipeg game, 6-foot-7, 231-pound Jets defenseman Logan Stanley took a swipe at Marchment during a post whistle scrum. Marchment appeared to look around for an official and then, determining none had seen the glancing blow, faked throwing a right hook in Stanley’s direction – pulling up well short but selling the move with a good head feint.
Stanley flinched. Marchment laughed, as if to say, “Got you, chump!”
That’s swagger. That’s how the Kraken played for much of this trip. Zero intimidation going up against teams touted as playoff contenders and mostly battling them to standstills through regulation. And beating some in their own backyards.
“The expectation is, we’re a really good team, we can play with all these teams, and we can beat these teams,” Kraken centerman Matty Beniers said.
