SUNDAY, MARCH 6 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D11
BY TIM BOOTHseattle — It started with an unsolicited email
that landed in the inbox of the game presentation
executives for the Seattle Kraken.
The name Rod Masters didn’t immediately reso-
nate with Jonny Greco and Lamont Buford, who
are in charge of overseeing entertainment and
game production for the expansion franchise,
though they would soon make a connection.
“I remember [Lamont] looking at me... a nd he ’s
like, ‘The dude from ‘Slap Shot’ just sent me an
email,’ ” Greco recalled. “And I’m like, ‘What are
you talking about? What dude?’ ”
That dude would be Masters, and if the name
still doesn’t ring a bell, that’s fine. Just know he
may be the most famous organist to ever appear on
the big screen in a sports movie, and now nearly a
half-century after he made a lasting impression in
“Slap Shot,” Masters is the first organist for the
Kraken.
His name never appeared in the credits of the
beloved 1977 movie starring Paul Newman. But
anyone who has seen the movie knows Masters as
the organist plunked in the head by a wayward
puck and abruptly asked by Newman’s character,
Reggie Dunlop, to never play “Lady of Spain” ever
again.
More than 40 years later, he’s now part of the
fraternity of organists around the NHL, a 68-year-
old living out a dream, even for someone who has
worked as a professional musician all over North
America.
“I love playing for the people, and they seem to
be loving it. It’s just the best job I could ever even
dreamed that I would have,” Masters said. “I had
retired, and then I thought just for the heck of it I’llemail them.... I would think this is a great job for
any musician.”
Organ or keyboard music is synonymous with
hockey. It was even part of the soundtrack of the
Beijing Olympics during stoppages in play.
Of the 32 NHL teams, s ix — Arizona, Carolina,
Dallas, Edmonton, Philadelphia and Vegas — don’t
have an organist playing during games. Vegas, the
last team to join the league before Seattle, didn’t
have an organist in its first year but tried it in
Year 2. With all the other entertainment that went
into the game production, the organ sound didn’t
fit the soundtrack of Las Vegas.
“ I don ’t think we set up the people that we had in
the mix for great success, but it also just didn’t kind
of feel right,” said Greco, who along with Buford
oversaw entertainment and game presentation for
the Golden Knights before joining the Kraken.
“The train was on the tracks for a lot of the Vegas
elements, and that just felt a little obtuse.”
In the midst of starting the franchise in Seattle,
there were thousands of boxes for the entertain-
ment staff to check. One that remained unmarked
when the season began was in-house organist.
But Masters’s email offering his services lin-
gered as a reminder. If the Kraken wanted that
organ sound reverberating through Climate
Pledge Arena, someone was interested.
One problem: While he played a h ockey organist
in the movie, Masters had never done that kind of
performing in his long musical career. At the time
“Slap Shot” was being filmed in Johnston, Pa.,
Masters was playing regularly at the Sheraton
Hotel where the cast and crew were staying.
Most of his music background was in top 40,
pop, disco and country — not little vignettes to play
between slashes, trips and goals.“I’m new at this. That’s why I’m doing all this
resea rch all of a sudden,” Masters said. “I never
knew that I would ever get a job like this.”
One of the peers Masters reached out to for
advice is Jeremy Boyer, who has been the organist
for the St. Louis Blues for 15 years. Boyer is a star,
performing primarily for the Blues but also the
St. Louis Cardinals at times. He has amassed a
massive social media following with his skill taking
popular songs and making them rock via the organ.
“I think you have to be a little bit of a fan. You
have to enjoy the game, and your music has to
refl ect what is happening in the game, too,” Boyer
said. “I feel like I’m lucky. I’m out in the crowd, so I
really get the vibes of everybody that’s around me
and I try to take that energy and funnel it into my
music.”
Coincidentally, Masters’s debut with the Kraken
on Jan. 1 came against Vancouver, whose coach,
Bruce Boudreau, also appeared as an uncredited
extra in the movie.
Since that debut, Masters has grown into his role
and the team has found more ways to showcase
him. For instance, Masters tries to lighten the
mood by playing after opponents score, which has
been far more than the last-place Kraken were
hoping this season.
Masters is also thinking ahead to the future and
the idea of having a true organ in place for next
season, rather than the keyboards he’s been using
in this first stint.
“I think people just thought it was really a good
fit for where we were headed,” Greco said. “And it
was just a super unique story we got to tell and a
character we got to add to our show that only the
Seattle Kraken get to own.”
— Associated PressFrom ‘Slap Shot’ to Seattle
Masters, who portrayed the organist in the 1 977 m ovie, i s n ow doing the job in real life for the Kraken
Entering Saturday’s games.
GOALS GP G
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 38
Auston Matthews, Toronto................................. 51 37
Chris Kreider, N.Y. Rangers ................................. 55 36
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg ........................................ 55 33
Alex Ovechkin, Washington ................................ 54 33
David Pastrnak, Boston ....................................... 55 31
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago ...................................... 55 30
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado ............................... 47 29
Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary ............................. 53 29
Connor McDavid, Edmonton ................................ 54 29
Troy Terry, Anaheim............................................ 52 28
Filip Forsberg, Nashville...................................... 41 27
Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh ................................... 51 27
Dylan Larkin, Detroit ........................................... 50 27
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay .............................. 53 27
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary.................................. 53 27
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota ................................... 52 26
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 26
Jason Robertson, Dallas ...................................... 46 26
ASSISTS GP A
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida .............................. 54 57
Connor McDavid, Edmonton ................................ 54 50
Adam Fox, N.Y. Rangers...................................... 52 47
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary................................... 53 47
Nazem Kadri, Colorado........................................ 52 46
Artemi Panarin, N.Y. Rangers............................. 50 44
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay ................................. 54 43
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh ....................................... 53 43
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota ................................... 52 42
Roman Josi, Nashville ......................................... 52 41
Cale Makar, Colorado ........................................... 51 41
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 40
J.T. Miller, Vancouver.......................................... 54 40
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver ................................... 52 39
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 39
Patrick Kane, Chicago .......................................... 51 38
Morgan Rielly, Toronto........................................ 54 38
Jakub Voracek, Columbus.................................... 53 38
POWER-PLAY GOALS GP PP
Chris Kreider, N.Y. Rangers ................................. 55 18
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 17
Sebastian Aho, Carolina ...................................... 52 12
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago ...................................... 55 12
Auston Matthews, Toronto................................. 51 12
David Pastrnak, Boston ....................................... 55 12
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Winnipeg............................... 54 11
Matt Duchene, Nashville ..................................... 50 11
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 11
Mika Zibanejad, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 55 11
Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota ............................... 48 10
Timo Meier, San Jose .......................................... 49 10
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay .............................. 53 10
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary.................................. 53 10
Alex Ovechkin, Washington ................................ 54 9
Joe Pavelski, Dallas ............................................. 54 9
SHORTHANDED GOALS GP SH
Aleksander Barkov, Florida ................................. 41 4
Isac Lundestrom, Anaheim.................................. 57 4
Gustav Nyquist, Columbus .................................. 55 4
Cam Atkinson, Philadelphia ................................ 54 3
Alex Formenton, Ottawa..................................... 50 3
Mark Giordano, Seattle ....................................... 50 2
Roope Hintz, Dallas ............................................. 52 2
Mathieu Joseph, Tampa Bay ............................... 51 2
David Kampf, Toronto.......................................... 54 2
Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles................................. 53 2
Chris Kreider, N.Y. Rangers ................................. 55 2
Adam Lowry, Winnipeg ....................................... 55 2
Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary ............................. 53 2
Brad Marchand, Boston ....................................... 44 2
Mitch Marner, Toronto ........................................ 45 2
Ilya Mikheyev, Toronto........................................ 25 2
Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado ................................ 37 2
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver ............................... 56 2
Reilly Smith, Vegas ............................................. 54 2
Teuvo Teravainen, Carolina ................................. 50 2
POWER-PLAY ASSISTS GP PPA
Connor McDavid, Edmonton ................................ 54 24
Adam Fox, N.Y. Rangers ...................................... 52 23
Artemi Panarin, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 50 21
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay ................................. 54 20
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver ................................... 52 20
J.T. Miller, Vancouver.......................................... 54 20
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida .............................. 54 19
Roman Josi, Nashville ......................................... 52 17
Kris Letang, Pittsburgh ....................................... 53 17
Cale Makar, Colorado ........................................... 51 17
Brad Marchand, Boston ....................................... 44 17
Teuvo Teravainen, Carolina ................................. 50 17
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh................................... 45 16
Patrick Kane, Chicago .......................................... 51 16
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton....................... 45 16
Tony DeAngelo, Carolina ..................................... 43 15
Seth Jones, Chicago............................................. 51 15
Moritz Seider, Detroit ......................................... 55 15
Jakub Voracek, Columbus.................................... 53 15
Mats Zuccarello, Minnesota................................ 45 15
SHORTHANDED ASSISTS GP SHA
Connor Brown, Ottawa ........................................ 39 3
John Carlson, Washington .................................. 52 3
Aaron Ekblad, Florida........................................... 53 3
Logan O'Connor, Colorado ................................... 55 3
Mika Zibanejad, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 55 3
Sebastian Aho, Carolina ...................................... 52 2
Patrice Bergeron, Boston .................................... 51 2
T.J. Brodie, Toronto ............................................. 54 2
Yanni Gourde, Seattle.......................................... 48 2
Zach Hyman, Edmonton ...................................... 49 2
David Kampf, Toronto.......................................... 54 2
Alexander Kerfoot, Toronto ................................ 54 2
Adam Lowry, Winnipeg ....................................... 55 2
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton....................... 45 2
Michael Raffl, Dallas ........................................... 48 2
Morgan Rielly, Toronto........................................ 54 2
Matt Roy, Los Angeles ........................................ 54 2
Moritz Seider, Detroit ......................................... 55 2
Riley Sheahan, Seattle ........................................ 43 2
Dominic Toninato, Winnipeg ............................... 50 2
POWER-PLAY POINTS GP PPP
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 31
Connor McDavid, Edmonton ................................ 54 31
J.T. Miller, Vancouver.......................................... 54 26
Artemi Panarin, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 50 26
Roman Josi, Nashville ......................................... 52 24
Chris Kreider, N.Y. Rangers ................................. 55 24
Teuvo Teravainen, Carolina ................................. 50 24
Adam Fox, N.Y. Rangers ...................................... 52 23
Brad Marchand, Boston ....................................... 44 23
Sebastian Aho, Carolina ...................................... 52 22
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh................................... 45 22
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago ...................................... 55 22
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay ................................. 54 22
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida .............................. 54 22
Patrick Kane, Chicago .......................................... 51 22
Auston Matthews, Toronto................................. 51 22
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 22
Mika Zibanejad, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 55 22
SHORTHANDED POINTS GP SHP
Aleksander Barkov, Florida ................................. 41 4
David Kampf, Toronto.......................................... 54 4
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington ......................... 53 4
Adam Lowry, Winnipeg ....................................... 55 4
Isac Lundestrom, Anaheim.................................. 57 4
Gustav Nyquist, Columbus .................................. 55 4
Logan O'Connor, Colorado ................................... 55 4
Reilly Smith, Vegas ............................................. 54 4
Cam Atkinson, Philadelphia ................................ 54 3
Connor Brown, Ottawa ........................................ 39 3
Pavel Buchnevich, St. Louis................................. 47 3
Alex Formenton, Ottawa..................................... 50 3
Roope Hintz, Dallas ............................................. 52 3
Zach Hyman, Edmonton ...................................... 49 3
Mathieu Joseph, Tampa Bay ............................... 51 3
Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary ............................. 53 3
Mitch Marner, Toronto ........................................ 45 3
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton....................... 45 3
Dominic Toninato, Winnipeg ............................... 50 3
Mika Zibanejad, N.Y. Rangers ............................. 55 3
GAME-WINNING GOALS GP GW
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 10
Jason Robertson, Dallas ...................................... 46 8
Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles................................. 53 7
Patrik Laine, Columbus........................................ 36 7
Andrew Mangiapane, Calgary ............................. 53 7
David Pastrnak, Boston ....................................... 55 7
Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay .............................. 53 7
Troy Terry, Anaheim............................................ 52 7
Sam Bennett, Florida........................................... 44 6
Jesper Bratt, New Jersey .................................... 50 6
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh................................... 45 6
Filip Forsberg, Nashville...................................... 41 6
Nazem Kadri, Colorado ........................................ 52 6
Elias Lindholm, Calgary ....................................... 53 6
Auston Matthews, Toronto................................. 51 6
Timo Meier, San Jose .......................................... 49 6
SHOTS GP S
Kyle Connor, Winnipeg ........................................ 55 242
David Pastrnak, Boston ....................................... 55 242
Alex Ovechkin, Washington ................................ 54 238
Auston Matthews, Toronto................................. 51 224
Connor McDavid, Edmonton ................................ 54 213
Timo Meier, San Jose .......................................... 49 211
Patrick Kane, Chicago .......................................... 51 196
Patrice Bergeron, Boston .................................... 51 195
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado.............................. 40 188
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota ................................... 52 186
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton.................................... 55 185
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 185
Viktor Arvidsson, Los Angeles ............................ 49 181
Chris Kreider, N.Y. Rangers ................................. 55 181
Jake Guentzel, Pittsburgh ................................... 51 180
Roman Josi, Nashville ......................................... 52 180
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago ...................................... 55 179
PLUS-MINUS RATING GP +/-
Devon Toews, Colorado ....................................... 44 46
Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary................................... 53 40
Elias Lindholm, Calgary ....................................... 53 40
Justin Faulk, St. Louis ......................................... 47 35
Cale Makar, Colorado ........................................... 51 35
Aaron Ekblad, Florida........................................... 53 34
Mikko Rantanen, Colorado .................................. 52 34
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary.................................. 53 34
Anton Lundell, Florida ......................................... 50 29
MacKenzie Weegar, Florida................................. 54 29
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado ............................... 47 28
Christopher Tanev, Calgary ................................. 53 28
Ryan Hartman, Minnesota .................................. 53 27
Alex Goligoski, Minnesota................................... 48 26
Radko Gudas, Florida ........................................... 52 26
Oliver Kylington, Calgary..................................... 52 26
Mason Marchment, Florida ................................. 29 25NHL LEADERSTED S. WARREN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“I love playing for the people, and they seem to be loving it,” said Rod Masters, right, who sent an email and was hired as organist for the Krake n.hockey
ASSOCIATED PRESSJuuse Saros made 20 saves for
his third shutout of the season,
Matt Duchene scored twice and
the visiting Nashville Predators
handed the San Jose Sharks an 8-0
drubbing S aturday night.
Matt Luff and Michael McCar-
ron also scored two goals apiece
for Nashville. Yakov Trenin and
Mikael Granlund also scored, and
Roman Josi had four assists for the
Predators.
The Sharks lost for the 10th
time in 12 games and matched
their m ost l opsided shutout defeat
ever at home. The previous 8-0
loss came against Pittsburgh on
Dec. 5, 1991, in the Sharks’ expan-
sion season.
l BRUINS 5, BLUE JACKETS
4 (SO): David Pastrnak scored in
the shootout and had an assist to
lift s urging Boston to victory in
Columbus, Ohio.
Boston has won seven of eight
and is three points ahead of Wash-
ington for the top wild card and
seventh seed in the Eastern Con-
ference playoffs. The Bruins also
are two points behind third-place
Toronto in the Atlantic Division.
Jake DeBrusk, Erik Haula,
Craig Smith and Patrice Bergeron
scored for Boston, and Brad
Marchand added two assists.
Jakub Voracek scored for Co-
lumbus with 1.8 seconds left in
regulation to send the game to
overtime. Gus Nyquist, Vladislav
Gavrikov and Zach Werenski also
scored for the Blue Jackets, who
have lost four of their last five.
l ISLANDERS 2, BLUES 1: Ol-
iver Wahlstrom and Brock Nelson
each scored, Ilya Sorokin made 27
saves, and N ew York won at home
against St. Louis.
Robert Thomas scored for St.
Louis, which f ell despite a late
push. Thomas cut the Blues’ defi-
cit to one at 17:08 of the third
period. Playing with an empty net,
the Blues’ R yan O’Reilly and
Brayden Schenn had opportuni-
ties to score the equalizer, but
Sorokin preserved the lead, mak-
ing 14 stops in the third period.
Before the game, the Islanders
honored Zdeno Chara, 44, for be-
coming the NHL leader in all-time
games played by a defenseman.
He surpassed Chris Chelios dur-
ing a recent West Coast road trip.
l FLYERS 4, BLACKHAWKS
3: C am Atkinson had two goals
and an assist, Joel Farabee
chipped in three assists, and Phila-delphia beat Chicago.
Oskar Lindblom and Derick
Brassard also scored for the Fly-
ers, who have won 16 straight reg-
ular season contests at home
against the Blackhawks dating to
Nov. 9, 1996.
Atkinson put Philadelphia in
front f or good at 4-3 with 11:32 left
in the third period. Dylan Strome
had a p air of goals for Chicago.
l COYOTES 8, SENATORS 5:
Nick Schmaltz had two goals and
five assists for a f ranchise-recordseven points, and Arizona r ecov-
ered from a five-goal Ottawa rally
to win in Glendale, Ariz.
Schmaltz helped set up four
straight goals in the third period
after the Coyotes fell behind. Car-
son Keller scored twice, including
a goal that made it 5-all, and Law-
son Crouse put Arizona ahead
with a power-play tally.
Parker Kelly s cored twice as the
Senators got five goals in a little
over six minutes to lead 5-4 early
in the third period.Earlier in the day, the Coyotes
signed c enter Travis Boyd, 28, to a
two-year, $3.5 million contract.
l CANADIENS 5, OILERS 2:
Nick Suzuki scored the game-win-
ner and added two assi sts as M on-
treal won at Edmonton.
Brendan Gallagher and Cole
Caufield each had a g oal and an
assist for the Canadiens, who have
won seven of their last eight
games. Evander Kane and Ryan
McLeod scored for the Oilers.
l CANUCKS 6, MAPLE
LEAFS 4: Alex Chiasson had the
go-ahead score in Vancouver’s
three-goal third period as the Ca-
nucks rallied to win in Toronto.
J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Travis
Hamonic and Tanner Pearson
each had goal and an assist for
Vancouver, and Bo Horvat added
two assists.
A uston Matt hews scored twice
for the Maple Leafs to g ive him an
NHL-leading 39 goals this season.
l PANTHERS 6, RED WINGS
2: Anton Lundell scored twice,
Aleksander Barkov had three as-
sists and F lorida routed Detroit in
Sunrise, Fla.
Mason Marchment, Anthony
Duclair and Lundell scored in the
first period as the home side built
a 3 -1 lead. Sam Bennett had a g oal
and an assist a s the Panthers
moved to 25 -6-0 on home ice.NHL ROUNDUP
Nashville’s Saros gets plenty of support in shutout of S an Jose
PREDATORS 8,
SHARKS 0JEFF CHIU/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nashville goalie J uuse Saros focuses on t he puck and San Jose’s
Jonah Gadjovich during his 20-save effort for h is third shutout.