Making Saves, Moving Pucks

It's not a play that made the highlight reel of the Kraken's high-drama win over Dallas Tuesday. After all, there were lots to choose from: Adam Larsson's forehand-backhand deke and overtime game-winning goal, three goals from the fourth line, AHL call-up goalie Joey Daccord robbing Dallas captain Jamie Benn not once but twice in the first 40 minutes.
But Daccord's work with less than seven minutes remaining in a 3-2 game at that point is worth replaying here for context. It shows the elite puck-moving skills of the 26-year-old goaltender and Kraken's expansion-draft choice from the Ottawa Senators, which were on display all night in Dallas.
When Stars rookie Wyatt Johnston lofted a long stretch pass out of his team's defensive zone, veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov raced to the puck in stride. Kraken defenseman Will Borgen used his body and skating prowess to force Dadonov to the outside and take a much softer close-in shot on Daccord, who stopped the puck but a rebound out front was not to be cleared by the otherwise occupied Borgen.

Daccord took matters into his control. He quickly passed the puck up ice, sending a swift and stick-to-tape pass to Seattle forward Jesper Froden at the Kraken blue line. Danger dismissed and the puck was in the Dallas zone with Froden, Alex Wennberg, and Jaden Schwartz mounting a scoring chance. One shift later, Brandon Tanev was scoring his second goal of the game and a career-best 15th of the season to make it 4-2 Kraken.

Kraken analyst JT Brown admired Daccord's play on the ROOT SPORTS broadcast: "He gets the puck moving right away. You don't want to take a whistle there [by 'freezing' the puck to slow the game but with a pending faceoff in the defensive zone.]"
"He moves the puck forward sometimes," said Larsson, 30, who is enjoying his best NHL campaign in his 12th season. "You don't see that a whole lot in this league. It's a skill for goalies to have and it's a very underrated skill. I think that kind of cuts out a couple of minutes in D-zone [defensive zone] every night if gets the puck up ice quickly. It's nice to have him back."
For his part, Daccord views his puck-moving skills as a plus for advancing his hockey career, which included a starring role for NCAA Division I Arizona State and two superior seasons playing for Seattle's affiliate American Hockey League teams.
"It's something that I pride myself on," said Daccord, sweaty and energetic talking to media. "I think it is a separator for myself, especially growing up, [spots at higher levels] are so tightly contested. There's so many good goalies. If there's one thing that can separate you from one other guy, that helps you move up levels, I think for me, that's an easy one to practice on your own."
"Playing the puck like that is a huge help for us," said leading scorer Jared McCann to ROOT SPORTS' Piper Shaw during the second intermission. "He's like an extra defenseman back there."
Daccord said his individual offseason workouts have long included puck-moving, not just clearing a puck but getting to a teammate. He has three assists with AHL Coachella Valley this season and an impressive knack for finding teammates who can instantly turn the play from defense to offense, especially on power plays.
"I can't shoot pucks on myself, but I can work on my stick skills [during summers]," said Daccord, providing insight for young goalies everywhere. "That's something I always grew up practicing. I just harped on it. Honestly, part of me wishes I was actually a forward. I think it's just a lot of fun ... I think it can help my team so that's a big plus."
Tuesday night, Daccord helped his Kraken squad in many ways, including 12 second-period saves to maintain a 3-1 margin against a top-five-in-the-league offense that includes 40-goal scorer Jason Robertson. There is no faulting any goal against. The first one bad-bounced off his helmet from the backboards and in. The last split-second, game-tying goal was scored by a player, Stars captain Jamie Benn, who clearly cross-checked Vince Dunn. No penalty was called, but if Dunn simply is on his feet, Benn would have little ability to connect his stick blade and puck.
"It's Daccord's second 5-4 win of the season with the Kraken. He was in net for a thrilling road victory at Calgary on Nov. 1. The early-season and now-late-season contribution of four standings points looks pretty good for Daccord right now and the same for Seattle GM Ron Francis drafting the goaltender from Ottawa when some media observers thought other higher-salaried goalies would have represented a smarter choice.
"It was a pretty crazy 24 hours but just super excited when they told me I was gonna get to play right away," said Daccord when asked about the emergency recall from Coachella Valley due to the uncertain status of Philipp Grubuaer with a non-COVID-19 illness. "It didn't really give me time to think, just get right in there and do it."