LAS VEGAS — Moments after becoming the Kraken’s first 40-goal man, Jared McCann paid tribute to a player with half that total.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scoring 20Th of the season a period before McCann in Monday night’s win over Arizona signified the latest achievement personally and combined for a team among the NHL’s most offensively balanced. Of the 125 players to score at least 20 goals entering Tuesday’s games, the Kraken had six of them and realistically would have an NHL-leading seventh had Andre Burakovsky not been injured more than two months ago.
Only Dallas, Ottawa and Pittsburgh have equaled the Kraken’s NHL-high total of six players scoring 20. McCann also noted that Bjorkstrand and five of the five other players have more than just offense.
“It’s work eThic,” McCann said of Bjorkstrand. “He grinds. He’s obviously not the biggest guy, but he’ll take anybody on in the corners.
“He’s a guy who is so skilled that he can make plays out of the corners.”
As can most of the Kraken’s 20-goal Group of Six, beginning with McCann’s linemates, Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers. They’ve made a living digging pucks out of the corners and getting goals net front all season, explaining why their line forms half of the 20-goal men along with the aforementioned Bjorkstrand, Jaden Schwartz and Daniel Sprong.
Eberle was just named the NHL’s second star for the week ending April 9, the first such honor for him. McCann paid tribute to Eberle and Beniers for helping him jump to an elite scoring level, entering Tuesday with the league’s 12th-highest goal total.
Yanni Gourde, the team’s designated corner-digger, also heaped praise on Eberle’s net-front presence and the line’s ability to work with one another.
“When he gets those pucks net front, he always finds a way to find the back of the net,” Gourde said. “It’s pretty impressive. He’s got those great hands in front, and it’s been working for him. That whole line has been working super hard, doing the right things every single night, and it’s paying off for them.”
Though McCann’s rise isn’t quite as meteoric as that of William Karlsson scoring 43 goals out of nowhere in helping the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final their expansion season five years ago, that finalist squad had one fewer player than the Kraken reach 20 that campaign.
And regardless of whether some saw McCann’s ascent coming given his 27 goals a year ago, having a go-to net-finder among all the balance certainly helps a team still without Burakovsky in the final week before postseason play.
McCann and his team will be facing McCann in the playoffs. They will face them on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena, and Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena. A Vegas sweep guarantees the Kraken will play the Central Division winner — likely either Colorado or Dallas.
Los Angeles could move up to third in the Western Conference with a Kraken sweep, or split. If that happened, the Kraken could face the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round, or — if the Oilers win out and overtake Vegas — the Kraken could be right back here at T-Mobile next Monday or Tuesday for Game 1.
In other words, trying to predict the Kraken’s opponent is fraught with uncertainty. And why it’s likely in the Kraken’s best interest to focus on playing their best hockey in a playoff tuneup than worrying about how their results will impact their potential opponent and degree of difficulty.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol reiterated after Monday’s win that he’s looking for his forwards to do more than simply put pucks in the net.
“Ollie [Bjorkstrand] His 20Th Tonight Jared scored his 40th birthday.Th — and so both of those are great markers,” Hakstol said. “McCann at 40, that’s a big number. He continues to push the envelope with what he’s doing offensively. But it still comes back to the team around him, the people around him and that he’s playing a 200-foot game.”
Hakstol is a firm believer in two-way hockey. In fact, he even benched Sprong (fourth-liner and 21 goal man) last month for not being as attentive on defense. Sprong has since improved, earning praise from Hakstol both verbally and in terms of his continuous insertion nightly into what’s likely the best fourth line in hockey.
McCann always had a strong two-way game, and his addition to the team’s penalty-kill unit — unusual for somebody with this many goals — solidified what had been a major deficiency a few months ago.
“So the 40 is a good number, and that’s something he should feel good about,” Hakstol said. “But it’s the rest of his game that makes it all that more important.”
