Seattle's big story is Mackie Samoskevich. The Kraken traded a first-round pick and a second to Florida for him in June, then gave him a 3-year, $11.5 million deal. A camp upper-body injury kept him out of the opener. His debut in Edmonton was on the fourth line with Frederick Gaudreau and Ben Meyers. Next game, he scored twice in the second rout of Calgary. If that earns him a bigger role, it's a different lineup from the one that lost to the Oilers.
Then there's Joey Daccord, who stopped 30 of 31 against Calgary and gave up 1 goal in each of his wins. Vegas brings a lot more than the Flames do. Calgary is 0-3 with 3 goals in total, and its only goal in the second loss to Seattle came on a third-period power play long after the game was decided. Seattle's 12 goals in 2 wins say as much about Calgary as about the Kraken. The game in Edmonton, a 3-1 loss, is probably the closer comparison for Tuesday.
Seattle has 2 forwards on injured reserve. Jacob Melanson (upper body) went on IR on October 3, and Jake O'Brien (lower body) is on non-roster IR. Neither is a top-6 piece, but losing both cuts into the depth that has to handle Vegas's bottom 6. Vegas has been the healthier team so far, which is a change from a season when Mark Stone, William Karlsson and both goalies all missed big stretches.
There's no board on this one yet, so for now it's a hockey question. Can Seattle's speed and a hot Daccord hold up against a Vegas team that's scoring through its whole lineup? Or were the 2 blowouts mostly about Calgary? We'll know a lot more once Vegas's top line is on the ice in Seattle.