Kraken are playing with house money in wild Stanley Cup playoffs

Inside the NHL

DALLAS — Dreaming the impossible is as part of Stanley Cup Playoffs allure as anything, and Kraken fans are already getting a taste of why.

Not only did they just see the Kraken knock off the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in seven games. But fans watching the end of a different Game 7 while the Kraken were just beginning theirs in Denver on Sunday saw the Boston Bruins ousted in overtime by the Florida Panthers.

The entire NHL universe collectively gasped. Boston had set records with 65 wins and 135 points that many in hockey felt could never be achieved — especially in a salary-cap era of parity. Now, those records are barely worth the books they’ll be printed in. The Bruins are nothing more than another in a long line of Presidents Trophy winners sent packing early — exactly like the Panthers were a year ago. 

NHL playoffs Kraken vs. Dallas Stars

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So, after hearing all season about how the road to the Stanley Cup runs through the Eastern Conference, that may no longer be true. I’m looking at remaining playoff teams and the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights seem as formidable as any of the Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils or Carolina Hurricanes.

As for the Kraken, they still have a long way to go to make it out of this second round against the Dallas Stars. But winning Game 1 with less than their best performance isn’t a bad start. The time to really get excited will be if they repeat that result in Game 2. 

But even if they don’t, we know they aren’t getting swept. This will probably be another extended series, unless, of course, the Stars drop Game 2 at home and we’re suddenly looking at the Kraken with a sweep chance at Climate Pledge Arena.

Hey, stranger things have happened throughout NHL history. We’ve seen series between two impeccably matched teams wind up in sweeps — even in the Cup Final — featuring games all decided by one goal.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol gave his team a day off from meetings Wednesday so they could walk about Dallas on a gorgeous, sunny spring day and reset themselves mentally and physically from a Colorado series that undoubtedly still lingers.

I asked Hakstol at the team hotel about whether these playoff upsets are something his players are thinking about. Whether they get that there’s a much bigger picture unfolding beyond them winning a first-round series.  

“We’ve worked extremely hard throughout the year to get into the playoffs,” he replied. “And I mentioned a couple of times throughout the year that, that was goal No. 1. That was not the end goal once you’re in.”

Hakstol went on to say: “We have enough players that are on our roster that have been through this that have had success or come up short. And that have kind of been on all different sides of this.

“I guess my point is, they know the value of the opportunity to be in the playoffs. Once you’re in, you want to take advantage of that. And that’s exactly what our group is working to do on a daily basis — trying to take advantage of the opportunity that we have and do everything in our power to be successful.”

And that starts with never underestimating the value of winning just an opening round. Or, winning the first game of the next round in overtime on the road.

Of the remaining Eastern teams, Carolina is the only one the Kraken haven’t beaten this season. They’ve also beaten Dallas — obviously — Vegas and Edmonton among Western contenders and all in their own buildings.

So, when you start doing that math and look at how the Kraken won games all season with the same balanced scoring and even strength play that’s worked for them in these playoffs, suddenly what they’re doing doesn’t seem that fortuitous or unrepeatable. Suddenly, it’s less far-fetched to think they can overcome just about any remaining challenge ahead.

“I think our team just tries to live in the moment,” Kraken forward Daniel Sprong said Wednesday. “All of our guys are watching the other series when we don’t play and it’s fun to watch and be part of it. You enjoy it but right now our mindset’s on Game 2. We’re not trying to think too far ahead. We’re just enjoying the moment as a group.”

Which is how every hockey team has approached things since somebody first dropped pieces of frozen cow dung and leather liver pads on an iced-over 19th-century Canadian pond and whacked it around with sticks carved from birch or hornbeam trees. The Kraken aren’t new at using the “one game at a time” cliché, just as their “nobody believed in us” postgame refrain has also been employed by everybody from slight underdogs to overwhelming favorites for Stanley Cups, Super Bowls, World Series and any other championships.

Most teams using the “us against the world” motivator usually have some believers. No team has the entire world not believing in them, or they’d be playing in empty home arenas and stadiums. 

Though in this case, sure. The Kraken didn’t have many pundits picking them to beat Colorado. Nor beating Dallas this round. 

But, hey, we sit through 82 regular-season games for a reason. Based on how that season ended, the Kraken likely shouldn’t have been anybody’s automatic choice. 

Still, it works both ways. Given how recent NHL history has rendered some regular seasons moot — as recently as the St. Louis Blues winning the Cup in 2019 or the Washington Capitals in 2018 — the Kraken should never have been completely dismissed, let alone mockingly picked by a Denver columnist to lose that best-of-seven Colorado series in just three games.

That was playing with fire. Now, the Kraken are playing with house money. And that could make them the most dangerous remaining playoff team.

“I always say, we’re kind of playing for free,” Morgan Geekie said Wednesday. 

Of the six remaining teams to previously win a Cup, Toronto has the longest drought at 56 years. Carolina’s is shortest at 17 years. So, if we’re being honest, none of those teams gave their fans any seriously good reason of late to completely buy into them either.

But that’s now changed with Boston and Colorado gone. And that unpredictable reality is part of why the Stanley Cup Playoffs are so compelling. A new champion is coming. And even the Kraken’s title drought of one season no longer seems entirely safe.