Sometimes a trade can be about more than just the assets traded between teams.
He can send a message.
It’s unclear if that’s what Seattle Kraken general manager Jason Botterill had in mind Friday when he dealt veteran forward Mason Marchment to Columbus for a pair of draft picks. But it seems his team has received a message.
The Kraken ended a four-game streak Saturday and won for just the second time in 12 games (2-9-1), beating the host San Jose Sharks 4-2.
The Kraken will continue their pre-holiday trip to California on Monday night when they take on the Ducks in Anaheim.
Kraken coach Lane Lambert cryptically shed no light on the “sending a message” theory.
“As far as trade negotiations go, we’ll leave that to (Botterill),” Lambert said. “We had to shuffle our lines a little bit here.”
Forward Kaapo Kakko, who missed two stints this season due to injuries, took Marchment’s place on the Kraken’s top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Winterton returned to the lineup on the fourth line.
“It’s going to give opportunities to other players,” Lambert said. “That’s how we’ve done it all year, whether it’s because of injuries or now this situation.”
Eeli Tolvanen and Chandler Stephenson each had a goal and an assist for the Kraken and goalie Joey Daccord made 35 saves.
“You get frustrated when you don’t win games,” Tolvanen said. “We’ve had little conversations the last few days. It doesn’t mean we have to turn things around. We were talking about how we have to play free, play our own game, play with confidence. I feel like everyone did that (Saturday).”
The Kraken scored three times in the third after San Jose took a 2-1 lead in the first minute of the period on a chance goal. A shot went off the post and the puck then deflected off Daccord before crossing the goal line.
It was the sixth time the Kraken came back in the third period to win this season, tied with Vegas for the most in the league.
“It’s good to win. It feels good, but we know how things have been here lately,” said Stephenson, who has scored in four straight games and has an eight-game point streak (five goals, four assists). “I’m obviously going to enjoy this one. I like the way we played.”
The Ducks overcame a Marchment goal in his Columbus debut Saturday to defeat the visiting Blue Jackets 4-3.
Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist for the Ducks and Pavel Mintyukov scored the game-winner with 3:29 to play. Goalie Lukas Dostal made 23 saves in the win after being pulled in an 8-3 loss to Dallas the night earlier.
“We got off to a better start, we got a lead early,” Granlund said. “We weren’t down 4-1 after the first period (like against Dallas). That changed things quite a bit. Two good points for us.”
The Ducks returned to the top of the Pacific Division after losing four of their previous five games (1-3-1).
“It was a great response,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “The start was the answer we were hoping for, and it put us in a very good position. … It was an important victory in many ways. We were asking for an answer, and we got it.”
–Field level media
