{"id":103099,"date":"2025-12-20T22:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103099\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T22:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T22:59:13","slug":"kraken-gameday-preview-closing-out-the-season-series-in-san-jose-vs-sharks-the-hockey-writers-seattle-kraken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/103099\/","title":{"rendered":"Kraken Gameday Preview: Closing Out the Season Series in San Jose vs. Sharks – The Hockey Writers – Seattle Kraken"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, Dec. 20, the Seattle Kraken<\/a> are preparing to take on the San Jose Sharks. Seattle began a four-game road trip ahead of the holiday break on Thursday, traveling to Canada to take on the Calgary Flames. The Kraken held a strong lead heading into the third, but the Flames\u00a0came back to beat them 4-2.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Blue Jackets Land Mason Marchment in Trade with Kraken<\/a><\/p>\n

For San Jose, this game closes out a three-game homestand. Their last game was also on Thursday, where they\u00a0lost 5-3<\/a>\u00a0to the Dallas Stars. Both teams will be looking to break their losing streak tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The season series is currently tied. The Sharks won the first game with a 6-1 blowout victory on Nov. 5. Just 10 days later, the series continued in Seattle, where the Kraken won 4-1. Whoever wins tonight takes the whole season series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kraken Storylines<\/p>\n

Yesterday, just minutes before the trade freeze, the Kraken\u00a0traded forward Mason Marchment<\/a>\u00a0to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In exchange, they received a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Marchment played 29 games with Seattle and recorded 13 points via four goals and nine assists. With the absence of several key forwards due to injury, Marchment was playing on the top line alongside Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Marchment traded and several forwards still out with an injury, Eeli Tolvanen now moves to the top line alongside Beniers and Eberle. Tolvanen has since moved up to the fifth spot of the top scorers for the Kraken with 17 points. He has had decent point production, and he should be a good fit alongside these two strong forwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"EeliEeli Tolvanen, Seattle Kraken (Photo by Christopher Mast\/NHLI via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While the Kraken are missing several forwards, there was some good news ahead of today\u2019s game: Berkly Catton<\/a> was seen at\u00a0practice in a regular jersey<\/a>. This is a good indicator that he could be back in the lineup soon. The young rookie last played on Dec. 6 against the Detroit Red Wings, where he sustained an upper-body injury. So far this season, Catton has played 21 games and recorded five assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The player to watch in this game is Chandler Stephenson<\/a>. He is currently on a seven-game point streak and has scored one goal in his last three games. He has been on a hot streak, and we\u2019ll see if he can continue it tonight.<\/p>\n

Team Stats<\/p>\n

Seattle Kraken
Season Record: 12-14-6<\/p>\n

Top Scorers: <\/p>\n

Jordan Eberle \u2013 10 goals (G), 10 assists (A), 20 points (P)<\/p>\n

Chandler Stephenson \u2013 8 G, 11 A, 19 P<\/p>\n

Vince Dunn \u2013 5 G, 14 A, 19 P<\/p>\n

Matty Beniers \u2013 4 G, 14 A, 18 P<\/p>\n

Eeli Tolvanen \u2013 4 G, 13 A, 17 P<\/p>\n

Goalie Stats: <\/p>\n

Joey Daccord \u2013 8-9-4, 2.90 goals-against average (GAA), .897 save percentage (SV%)<\/p>\n

Philipp Grubauer \u2013 4-3-1, 2.78 GAA, .900 SV%<\/p>\n

Matt Murray \u2013 0-2-1, 2.21 GAA, .922 SV% <\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks
Season Record: 17-15-3<\/p>\n

Top Scorers: <\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini \u2013 18 G, 35 A, 53 P<\/p>\n

Will Smith \u2013 12 G, 17 A, 29 P<\/p>\n

Tyler Toffoli \u2013 10 G, 13 A, 23 P<\/p>\n

William Eklund \u2013 8 G, 14 A, 22 P<\/p>\n

Alexander Wennberg \u2013 7 G, 15 A, 22 P<\/p>\n

Goalie Stats: <\/p>\n

Yaroslav Askarov \u2013 12-8-1, 3.23 GAA, .902 SV%<\/p>\n

Alex Nedeljkovic \u2013 5-7-2, 3.01 GAA, .899 SV% <\/p>\n

Projected Lineups<\/p>\n

(Subject to change before puck drop)
As per The Hockey Writers\u2019\u00a0projected lineup article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seattle Kraken<\/p>\n

Eeli Tolvanen \u2014 Matty Beniers \u2014 Jordan Eberle
Jani Nyman \u2014 Chandler Stephenson \u2014 Frederick Gaudreau
Ryan Winterton \u2014 Shane Wright \u2014 Kaapo Kakko
Tye Kartye \u2014 Ben Meyers \u2014 Jacob Melanson <\/p>\n

Vince Dunn \u2014 Adam Larsson
Ryan Lindgren \u2014 Jamie Oleksiak
Ryker Evans \u2014 Josh Mahura <\/p>\n

Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer <\/p>\n

Scratched: Cale Fleury <\/p>\n

Injured: Jared McCann, Berkly Catton, Jaden Schwartz, Brandon Mntour, Matt Murray, Max McCormick <\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

Collin Graf \u2014 Macklin Celebrini \u2014 Igor Chernyshov
William Eklund \u2014 Alex Wennberg \u2014 Tyler Toffoli
Jeff Skinner \u2014 Ty Dellandrea \u2014 Adam Gaudette
Barclay Goodrow \u2014 Zack Ostapchuk \u2014 Ryan Reaves<\/p>\n

Dmitry Orlov \u2014 John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro \u2014 Shakir Mukhamadullin
Sam Dickinson \u2014 Vincent Iorio<\/p>\n

Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic <\/p>\n

Scratched: Ethan Cardwell, Nick Leddy, Timothy Liljegren <\/p>\n

Injured: Will Smith, Philipp Kurashev, Logan Couture, Vincent Desharnais, Ryan Ellis.<\/p>\n

Next Up for the Kraken<\/p>\n

The Kraken will continue on their road trip through California, taking on the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Dec. 22. <\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, Dec. 20, the Seattle Kraken are preparing to take on the San Jose Sharks. Seattle began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[55943,55944,55945,88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-103099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-chandler-stephenson","9":"tag-eeli-tolvanen","10":"tag-mason-marchment","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-headlines","13":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}