'Grubi' to the Rescue

After Joonas Donskoi lifted the puck over the shoulder of Chicago Blackhawks goalie Marc-Andre Fleury during the shootout Monday, the Seattle Kraken bench emptied on to the ice at Climate Pledge Arena to celebrate a much-needed win.

Half the bench skated to mob Donskoi, the other half to the Seattle net to hug and congratulate Philipp Grubauer. The celebration had an extra dose of elation to it. The win was welcome, Seattle's first since Dec. 14 and ended a nine-game losing streak.
It was the first time the Kraken had won in overtime or a shootout and the first time they've won after a third-period comeback. Those are good things to check off the list and repeat.
"A really great effort, one of the better games we've played all year," Grubauer said.
It was certainly an upbeat night for the Seattle goalie, too. He hadn't won a game since Dec. 3 despite playing well of late, including a solid performance against his former Colorado team (which since has continued to mow down opponents on its way to first place in the Central).
Against Dallas Jan. 12 during the same road trip, Grubauer allowed four goals in the loss, but fans and teammates would be hard-pressed to fault the goaltender on three if not all four goals.
Monday, Grubauer held off a Chicago team coming into the game winners of four straight, with future Hall of Fame goalie Fleury in the other crease. Fleury had an unbeatable look to him before Donskoi beat him in the shootout.
"It's probably a good thing [Fleury] was on his game because he got us a point tonight," Chicago coach Derek King said.

Fleury made 35 saves to keep the Blackhawks in the game and some of the chances he stopped were Grade-A looks by Kraken shooters. Jared McCann is most likely still shaking his head about the glove save Fleury made late in the third period with the score tied.
Grubauer didn't let the guy in the other net affect him.
"My approach is it doesn't matter who's on the other side," Grubauer said. "Get the two points and beat whoever is on the other side. It doesn't matter if it's Marc-Andre Fleury, who was having a great game or I don't know who else but yeah, he played unreal for them today.
"The saves he made, that's what you're going to see from him all year. Unbelievable goalie who made it tough for us to score. He made the saves at the right times for them, and it was a was a big battle."
While Fleury was good, Grubauer made some massive saves of his own. With the game in the balance during the third period he came up with big saves on Erik Gustafsson and Patrick Kane.
In the shootout he stopped Jonathan Toews and Kane, two guys headed to the Hall of Fame themselves.
It was an effort that resulted in a Kraken win and Grubauer throwing a plush fish into the adoring home fans in the stands.
Grubauer's night was the third straight game Kraken goalies have allowed two goals or less. With Chris Driedger's previous two starts, Seattle goalies have combined for a .920 save percentage in the past three games.
"First of all, 60-minute or 65-minute effort from everybody," Grubauer said. "We didn't give them too many odd-man rushes. They had a breakaway or two breakaways there but other than that, I don't think they really had anything.
"And then obviously great job on the [penalty] kills… special teams can always shift the momentum but overall, I think we were fast on pucks, closing them off, and didn't give them too much."
There's an old saying in hockey that your goalie must be your best penalty killer and that was true for Grubauer on Monday.
The Blackhawks had five power-play chances and in a one-goal game, that can end up being a game-changer. Chicago got one power-play goal, but Grubauer made 10 short-handed saves to keep the Blackhawks off the board through the other four man-advantages they had.
"You can bend a little bit, but you just can't break, especially when there's that many [power plays] consecutively," Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said. "Our guys did a great job and power plays were probably Grubi's best saves. Those are really important for the rest of the group."