VHN Daily: Kraken taste defeat; Knights ready to hit road

The expansion Seattle Kraken went to Canada Tuesday and it wasn’t a good trip as they were blanked by the Edmonton Oilers, 6-0. The Kraken opened their inaugural preseason with a win Sunday in Spokane, beating Vancouver.

Coach Dave Hakstol took it in stride, but admitted there are some areas that need to be addressed by his team, which is 1-1 and plays at Calgary Wednesday.

“There are some areas of our game that were poor,’’ Hakstol said. “There are some areas of detail that have to be in every shift of our game. We take those pieces and make sure we get them in place and we’re a little bit better in those areas.’’

The Vegas Golden Knights are also 1-1 and they are about to hit the road as well, traveling to Salt Lake City for Thursday’s preseason game vs. the Los Angeles Kings. It will be the first of back-to-back contests with the Kings, who downed the San Jose Sharks 4-3 and had a 4-1 lead two minutes into the third period before the Sharks came roaring back. 

It’s the first of three road preseason games for Peter DeBoer’s squad. They travel to Colorado Oct. 5, then wrap up the preseason Oct. 9 at San Jose.

Around the National Hockey Now Network:

PittsburghHockeyNow: An interesting story by Dan Kingerski on how fighting can be a catalyst for success for the Pittsburgh Penguins. There’s data that supports the theory that when the Penguins fight, they win the game more often than not.

PhillyHockeyNow: The Flyers lost their preseason opener Tuesday, 3-2 in overtime to the New York Islanders. But the good outweighed the bad according to Ryan Gilbert. Carter Hart looked good in goal and several newcomers turned in positive performances.

NYIHockeyNow: It’s been nearly a week since the Islanders training camp opened on Long Island and no one has seen Semyon Varlamov. Yes, the veteran netminder is banged up and that head coach Barry Trotz wasn’t too worried, but as the days pass by the more likely it seems that Ilya Sorokin may be the starter on opening night.

WashingtonHockeyNow: How’s this for a No. 1 line? Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha. That could be a trio that causes some serious damage offensively and Sammi Silber talked to Mantha, who the Caps acquired at the trade deadline last season from Detroit, about getting first-line minutes.

FloridaHockeyNow: Like many teams, the Panthers made their first cups, sending several prospects back to their junior teams. Colleague george Richards said the roster is starting to take shape.

VancouverHockeyNow: Sometimes it takes a change of scene for a player to rediscover his game. That may be the case in Vancouver where veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson appears to be getting things together and that’s great news for the Canucks.

DetroitHockeyNow: Could defenseman Troy Stecher use his fine play for Canada at the World Championships last spring and parlay it into a big year with the RedWings? Bob Duff looks at the possibilities.