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ESPN staff
The gaze of the sports world will turn toward Seattle on Saturday night, as the Kraken are set to open their new barn, Climate Pledge Arena. For their first home game, they’ll host the geographic rival Vancouver Canucks, live on ESPN+ and Hulu at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET.
To help get you ready for the matchup, we’ve put together a guide on the key players to watch for both teams, in-depth statistical insights on the teams from ESPN Stats & Information, and more.
This season, ESPN+ will broadcast 75 exclusive regular-season games, with ABC and ESPN airing a combined 28 exclusive regular-season contests for a total of 103 games. The complete broadcast schedule can be found here.
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10 p.m. ET | Watch live on ESPN+
Line: Kraken -115 | Over/under: 6
Kraken
Record: 1-3-1
Leading scorer: Jared McCann (5 points)
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Among the 64 expansion teams across the NHL/NFL/NBA/MLB since 1960, only the Vegas Golden Knights finished their inaugural season with a winning record and were one of two to reach the championship round in their first season of existence; the other team was the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues. However, an expansion team was guaranteed to reach the Stanley Cup Final that season because the West Division had eight members that were all expansion franchises.
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Seattle is returning home from a five-game road trip and a 1-3-1 start to open the season under coach Dave Hakstol. Points of emphasis during the past couple of practices have to be generating more offense and getting off to better starts. Seattle has been outscored 8-2 in first periods this season, the second-worst goal differential in the opening period by any team; the Chicago Blackhawks are worse, at minus-7.
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Meanwhile, Wayne Gretzky famously said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” The Kraken average a league-low 26.0 shots per game, and according to Stathletes, have a league-worst 1.98 expected goals so far this season. Only the Blackhawks — who…
Source : espn
