October 2018: Dragons Take Flight
Riley Nash finds the net for the first goal in Seattle Dragons' history. The first win would have to wait a few more days.
10/13 at Pittsburgh (0-0-0) – 5-3 L.
The Seattle Dragons put their first game in the books. The optimist’s take is they hung with one of the league’s elite teams for two-and-a-half periods. The pessimist’s take is that the Pens clearly had the better of the action (43-23 shots advantage) even when the game was close, and two late goals just cemented the Pens’ claim as the better team. Let the record reflect that Riley Nash scored the first goal in Seattle history (one of two on the day for him) at the 14:34 mark of the 1st period, and #1 draft pick Andrei Svechnikov scored what will hopefully be the first of many to tie the game at 3 in the 3rd period.
GOALS: SEA – Nash 1, Nash 2, Svechnikov 1.
PIT – Brassard 1, Crosby 1, Hornqvist 1, Hornqvist 2, Sheary 1.
10/14 at Nashville (0-1-0) – 3-1 L.
David Perron and Roman Josi trade goals in the first period, but then Nashville breaks things open in the 2nd. Victor Arvidsson and Kyle Turris put pucks past Chad Johnson for the final margin of victory.
GOALS – SEA – Perron 1.
NSH – Josi 1, Arvidsson 1, Turris 2.
10/16 at Florida (0-2-0) – 2-1 W.
Seattle finally breaks through for their first win on their third try. Riley Sheahan gets things going, but Aleksander Barkov wipes the lead away in the 2nd. But early in the 3rd, Riley Nash scores his third of the year and the Dragons make it stand up the rest of the way.
GOALS: SEA – Sheahan 1, Nash 3.
FLA – Barkov 1.
10/18 vs Chicago (2-1-0) – 3-0 L.
The home fans are out in force for the first home game in Dragons’ history, but the team respond with a pretty lackluster performance – only 15 shots on goal, and zero goals. (I do recall a fair number of blocks and deflections, though I forgot to get an actual number.) Robin Lehner keeps things even through the first period, but Chicago breaks out with a pair of goals in the 2nd and another in the third. The sole bright spot for the home team was killing off a 5-on-3 penalty. Other than that, let’s just move on.
GOALS: SEA – NONE.
CHI – Saad 3, Duclair 1, Anisimov 1.
TRADE: Buffalo trades a 4th round pick in 2019 (from SJ) and a 7th round pick for RW Ryan Reaves.
Between games Buffalo offers San Jose’s 4th and their own 7th for Ryan Reaves. I don’t plan to use him, early returns are not promising on this season, and that seems like fair value, so what the heck. Let’s do it. I think that’s my 4th 4th-rounder now.
10/21 at Dallas (2-1-1) – 5-2 L.
Grabner and Green keep things close early, but Dallas pulls away with a pair of uncontested 3rd-period scores. The Seattle defense allows 40 shots on goal for the day.
GOALS: SEA – Grabner 1, Green 1.
DAL – Elie 2, Spezza 1, Ritchie 2, Erne 2, Heatherington 1.
10/23 vs Anaheim (4-1-0) – 2-1 W.
The fans finally get to see their first win on home ice, and against a divisional opponent to boot. Jay Beagle and Ondrej Kase trade first-period tallies, but it’s Michael Grabner scoring the game winner late in the 2nd.
GOALS: SEA – Beagle 1, Grabner 2.
ANA – Kase 3.
10/25 vs New York Rangers (1-5-0) – 5-4 W (SO).
Early on, it’s exciting times, as the Dragons jump out to 3-0 and 4-2 leads over the Rangers. But then in the third, they almost blow it, as the Rangers score a pair to tie. Overtime passes uneventfully, but then Andrei Svechnikov wins it for the Dragons in the shootout.
GOALS: SEA – Bozak 1, Hansen 1, Cammalleri 1, Kunitz 1, Svechnikov SOW.
NYR – Namestnikov 1, Holland 1, Vesey 1, Carey 1.
10/26 at Ottawa (2-4-1) – 7-5 W.
Where were all these goals earlier? A back and forth game turns for good around the midpoint of the 2nd period, as the Dragons score 3 goals in less than three minutes to turn a 4-3 deficit into a 6-4 lead. Ottawa cuts it to 6-5 on a goal by Ryan Dzingel, but Michael Grabner adds a late insurance goal to seal the deal.
GOALS: SEA – Hamhuis 1, Bozak 2, Hansen 2, Hamhuis 2, Sheahan 2, Grabner 3, Grabner 4.
OTT – Chabot 1, Dzingel 2, Karlsson 5, Stone 1, Dzingel 3.
10/29 vs Arizona (2-6-0) – 1-0 W.
Seattle puts 41 shots on Antti Raanta but Scott Hartnell’s goal 15 seconds into the 2nd is the only one that finds the net. Meanwhile, Robin Lehner only has to turn aside 22 picks to notch the first shutout in franchise history.
GOALS: SEA – Hartnell 1.
ARI – NONE
MONTHLY SUMMARY
STANDINGS REPORT- MONTH: 5-4-0. After a rough start, finished above .500. If there’s a red flag it’s that we whooped on struggling teams and lost to good teams, which doesn’t seem sustainable.
- YEAR-TO-DATE: 5-4-0, 10 points
- DIVISION: 6th in division with 10 points. Looking up in the standings at ANA 16, LA 13, EDM 13, VAN 11, CGY 11.
- CONFERENCE: 11th in the conference. Top 8 Today: ANA 16, WPG 16, DAL 15, MIN 14, LA 13, CHI 13, EDM 13, STL 12.
TEAM LEADERS
- POINTS: Perron 6, Grabner 5, Cammalleri 5, Green 5, Nash 4, Bozak 4, Svechnikov 4
- GOALS: Grabner 4, Nash 3, Hamhuis 2, Sheahan 2, Hansen 2, Bozak 2
- ASSISTS: Perron 5, Green 4, Cammalleri 4, Johnson 3, Komarov 3, Svechnikov 3
- PLUS-MINUS: Hamhuis 2, Cammalleri 2, Morrow 1, Hansen 0, Beagle 0
ON THE FARM
Not a lot to report here. They did get out to a 6-0 start before sliding backwards a little bit. Not going to get too far into dissecting the stats so far; let's see how develop for now.