One: Let that Prairie Lightning Strike
Four games into playing on the same line, Saskatchewan natives Jaden Schwartz and Chandler Stephenson combined for four points against Nashville on Tuesday night. The duo knew each other growing up, playing against one another as youth team rivals and even living at the same Saskatoon home when Schwartz was summer teammates with Stephenson’s older brother and stayed with their family on weekends. “We’ve been talking the whole time; I think we’re more familiar with one another now,” Stephenson said.

Throw in recently added linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand, and the trio combined for six points – the first points by any of them this season. Continued synergy between them should give the Kraken some needed offensive balance that doesn’t involve a line with Jared McCann or Jordan Eberle on it.

Two: Ride that Gift Horse Longer
The good news is the Kraken have jumped out to multi-goal leads in two of their four games. The bad news? They’ve blown them both in short order. In their season opener at home against St. Louis, it took just 1:55 for the Kraken to see a 2-0 lead become a 3-2 deficit.

And in Nashville the other night, a 2-0 lead became a 2-2 tie just 2:13 later. In both cases, those leads were surrendered late in periods – a double blow. That the Kraken managed to win the Nashville game has kept the overall season damage minimal for a .500 team, but coughing up multi-goal leads was an early season problem a year ago and didn’t end well.

Three: Know Your Opponent
Philadelphia opened the season on a tough West Coast swing that concludes here, garnering three points with a shootout win and an overtime defeat in Edmonton on Tuesday night in which they blew an early 2-0 lead and a late 3-2 advantage. You know they’re ready to get home, so the Kraken jumping on them early could pay dividends. Flyers rookie sensation Matvei Michkov, who many believe was the second-best player in last year’s draft but dropped to No. 7 overall because of uncertainty over availability, scored his first two career goals against the Oilers.