Three Takeaways – Kraken close roller coaster road trip with last-minute loss to Jets

For as bad as this road trip felt, the Kraken were just one lucky goal away against one of the best goalies and teams in the NHL from coming home with a 3-2-0 record. Instead, as they were holding on for dear life to push the game to overtime, Seattle got a bad bounce off a stanchion, and the game turned south with just 27 seconds left.

So, the Kraken limped home with four standings points. When you consider how badly two of the games on the trip went, four points isn’t terrible. But also considering their current spot in the standings, they pretty much need to win every game to even get back into the conversation, and two out of five isn’t going to cut it.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 2-1 Kraken loss to the Jets.

Takeaway #1: Best performance of the road trip?

On a trip where Seattle secured two wins (including a lopsided 6-2 win in Buffalo), it’s odd to point to a 2-1 loss as the team’s best game, but there’s a case to be made that this was their strongest top-to-bottom outing. The start was infinitely better than anything we’ve seen from this group lately, and they got rewarded with a 1-0 lead on a beautiful play by the Jaden Schwartz / Matty Beniers / Kaapo Kakko line.

See more

MATTY MAGIC! 🚨

Schwartz goes over the top to Kakko, who sets up Beniers. Beautiful goal.

1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/SiRzlw7KI2

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 17, 2025

Coming through the neutral zone, Schwartz used his lob wedge to drop a perfectly weighted high flip onto the tape of Kakko in stride. Kakko, showing his impressive hands and vision, backhanded a saucer pass over the outstretched stick of Josh Morrissey. Beniers finished the sequence by chipping it over Hellebuyck.

It was a great first period, but things started to turn in the second when Jamie Oleksiak and Mitchell Stephens each got called for questionable penalties. The interference call on Oleksiak was hot garbage, and while the high-sticking call on Stephens was legit, it coincided with an obvious missed hooking call on Winnipeg.

Mark Scheifele converted on the first power play to tie it 1-1, and Winnipeg racked up a massive 19-5 shot advantage in the second, putting the Kraken firmly on their heels.

Takeaway #2: Tough break on the winner

Once the Jets gained momentum in the second period, they didn’t relinquish it. However, the way Seattle battled in this one was refreshing. They played well in their own end for the most part, and when things broke down—which they did on several occasions—Joey Daccord was excellent again, stopping 34 shots in total.

As the Kraken were desperately trying to hold on and get to an extra frame, they caught a terrible bounce at the worst possible time. Adam Larsson attempted to clear the puck with a chip off the glass deep in Seattle’s zone, but the puck hit a stanchion, took a left turn, and landed on the stick of Nikolaj Ehlers.

Ehlers quickly found Dylan DeMelo in the slot, and his shot through traffic deflected off Vince Dunn’s pants and perfectly into the top corner.

See more

#SeaKraken lose in brrrrrutal fashion.

Dylan Demelo scored through traffic with 27 seconds left in regulation.

Kraken were playing with fire for a while, but it looked like they were going to make it to OT. pic.twitter.com/diF4UDdPuZ

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 17, 2025

There’s not much you can do when bad bounces like that happen. But if the opposition has you on your heels for long enough—and they’re one of the best teams in the league while you’re one of the worst—they will eventually break through. It’s just extra painful when that happens with 27 seconds left in the game.

Takeaway #3: When do we start rooting for losses?

Seattle still sits eight points out of the last playoff spot with five teams to leap over in 36 games. In today’s NHL, that is extremely unlikely, if not impossible. At some point, the hope for this team will shift to remaining competitive in games but losing to improve their draft position.

Have we reached that point? It feels like we might have.

If so, this was an ideal game for the Kraken, who played well despite minimal offensive production. It was a fun one to watch, and in the end, they didn’t hurt their chances of landing a high draft pick.