Mason McTavish’s line has led the way of late, as the 21-year-old centerman earned the NHL’s Second Star of the Week honors with back-to-back multi-goal performances.
“He’s amazing,” Zegras said of McTavish. “It’s nice to see them go in for him. We’ve beenm calling him ‘iron sights’ because he’s hit a lot of posts and crossbars, but we’re going to get him that third one (for a first career hat trick). It’s coming, I can feel it.”
“When a [scorer] like McTavish starts scoring, the whole team picks up right there,” Cronin said. “There’s more pace to the game, more confidence around the puck. I thought he was terrific.”
Anaheim now visits the Emerald City for a matchup against a Seattle squad also scrapping to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff picture while struggling to find consistency. The Kraken have earned a a 5-5-0 mark in their last 10 games, and last night fell 4-2 to the first-place Edmonton Oilers in the return of star Connor McDavid from suspension.
“I think it’s a game of momentum, especially with the firepower they have,” Seattle forward John Hayden told the team’s Geoff Baker. “And in the second (period), I think some turnovers — myself included — fed them a bit.”
Seattle earned four power-play opportunities in the loss but could not connect on the man advantage, ultimately a key factor in the result for head coach, and former Mighty Duck, Dan Bylsma.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” Bylsma said. “You want your power play to provide a goal and provide a spark, and it wasn’t there. There’s no other way to say it, the power play didn’t do that and that was a dent in the game.”
Seattle (22-26-3, 47 points) sits sixth in the Pacific Division, eight points back of a Wild Card spot.