Getty Seattle Kraken players go through their morning skate on Saturday before their home debut.
The Seattle Kraken (1-3-1) will makes its regular season home debut against its rival Vancouver Canucks (2-2-1) on Saturday night.
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In the United States, the game (10 p.m. ET start time) won’t be televised anywhere, but anyone in the US (in or out of market) can watch the Canucks vs Kraken live on ESPN+:
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You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Canucks vs Kraken Preview
Seattle will play its first-ever regular season home game with a rival in Vancouver that dates back long before the existence of the new Kraken team or the visiting Canucks.
The Seattle Metropolitans existed long before and became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917 according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. The Metropolitans had a big rival to the north in the Vancouver Millionaires, which won the Cup in 1915, MacIntyre wrote.
Both teams folded in the 1920s, but the Seattle-Vancouver rivalry resumed in 1945 through the Pacific Coast Hockey League. It lasted until the 1970s when Vancouver joined the NHL and Seattle folded again.
“When that team was announced, I think everybody from Vancouver knew it was kind of going to be an instant rivalry,” Canucks defenseman Kyle Burroughs said per MacIntyre. “I know that we’re excited to get that going and kick it off. Obviously, we want to be the best team of the Northwest.”
With both teams playing in the Pacific Division, the points for Saturday’s game matter all the more in the standings. The Canucks snapped a two-game skid with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday to get back to the .500 mark. Seattle won its first game at Nashville 4-2 on Oct. 14 but dropped three straight and mustered four goals in those games.
Seattle could snap the streak amid the excitement of playing in front of the franchise’s first regular season home crowd at All Climate Pledge Arena. The new stadium seats 17,459 and retains Seattle’s historic Seattle Center Arena roof from the 1926 World’s Fair.
“It’s going to be one of those experiences, we’re going to walk in in the morning on Saturday and we’re going to be checking it out for the first time,” Kraken left wing Brandon Tanev said according to NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “It’s exciting. It’s our home building. We’ll be playing in front of a great fan base. We’ve heard tons about it. We’re super excited.”
Most of the Kraken’s goals have come from Tanev and center Jared McCann, who have three apiece. Vancouver spread its scoring around significantly more in its first five games with right wing Conor Garland as the only Canucks player with more than one goal.
“We’ve got some skill in our group,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said per Bruce Miles of NHL.com.
In five games, the Canucks have goals from J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, Tanner Pearson, Elias Pettersson, Alex Chiasson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Bo Horvat, Jason Dickinson, Justin Dowling, and Vasily Podkolzin.