In a season that has brought some not-so-fun nights at Climate Pledge Arena, the Seattle Kraken managed to give their home fans a very fun night Wednesday. The Kraken rallied back from a two-goal deficit, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes to send the game to overtime, and then secured a game-winner just four seconds into the extra frame courtesy of a dazzling set play between Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour.
Seattle got a few monstrous individual performances from players like Montour and Jordan Eberle, plus a magical strike from Jani Nyman in his NHL debut and some late-game Matty Magic to equalize.
The Kraken came out flying in the first but only capitalized for one goal while also ringing three shots off the post. Montreal took control in the second and scored four straight goals, but Seattle showed its resiliency once again and earned a thrilling comeback victory.
“It was a really good first period, and they get the power-play goal, and they get the 4-on-4 goal, kind of special parts of the game, and then get up in the game,ā coach Dan Bylsma said. āAnd I think going into the third, our mindset was, we thought there was enough there for us to come back in the game.”
Here are Three Takeaways from a memorable 5-4 Kraken overtime win over the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: What a night for Montour
Iām starting with Montourās performance, although Nyman was arguably the bigger story. Donāt worry, weāll get to him in Takeaway #2.
Remember, Montour had his first-ever hat trick against Montreal when Seattle hung eight goals on the Habs in their barn back on Oct. 29. On Wednesday, he again was the top statistical performer, notching a whopping four points (2-2ā4).
On why heās had so much success against that particular team, Montour said, āItās just shooting the puck, reallyā¦ Guys are finding me in the right areas, and [we have good] net front. Itās nice to see a couple go through.ā
Montour was everywhere in this game and got rewarded with both the gameās first and last goals.
On the first goal, 4:54 into the first period, Jordan Eberle notched his first of three assists by jumping to knock down Jakub Dobesā rim-around clearing attempt. He found Montour streaking in and laid it out for him to skate in, pick his spot, and rip it past the Habs netminder.
BRANDON BOMB-TOUR! š£ šØ
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 13, 2025
Good forecheck by Jordan Eberle, who jumps to cut off the rim-around, then finds Montour.
1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/Ge1etSMt1P
The last goal was the special one. As the teams lined up for the extra frameās opening draw, the Canadiens positioned three players across the red line rather than keeping one back at the top of the circle for defense. Montour lined up on the right wing opposite rookie phenom Lane Hutson, who lamented after the game that he had āmissed his check.ā
Stephenson won the puck directly forward, and with the pre-determined play in place between the two players, Montour jumped past Hutson and was off to the races. He ripped a snap shot over Dobesā glove and sent the fans home happy while also tying the all-time NHL record for the fastest goal ever to start a period.
SHEESH, TAKE WAS QUICK! šØ
— NHL (@NHL) March 13, 2025
Brandon Montour scores the @Energizer overtime winner just FOUR seconds into the extra frame! pic.twitter.com/hZ0G4so6Xo
āThat was Chandler, to be honest. He came up with it,ā Montour said. āI told Chandler just to make sure he was staying back, just in case anything went south. I saw he bumped it up, and we went for it, so it was nice to see.ā
Bylsma called the play ābrilliant.ā
The goal was Montourās 15th of the season, setting a new franchise record for goals in a season by a defenseman.
āMontyās kind of one of the spearheads for how we want to play,ā Bylsma said. āPlay fast and quick and with some moxie and some jam, and heās the type of player that just has the big-time, big-play ability for your team. Obviously [you see that] with four points tonight.ā
Takeaway #2: A special debut for Jani Nyman
Sometimes, when a young player makes his NHL debut, you see nerves and tentativeness. We never once saw that from Liāl Jani Nyman in this game. On the contrary, on his very first shift, he threw his big body around to win a puck battle in the defensive zone and start a breakout, then went straight to the top of the blue paint in the offensive zone, where he could be seen on many occasions throughout the game.
On Seattleās first power play, Nyman got his first chance to let his lethal one-timer fly at the NHL level and nearly dented the post behind Dobes.
[PING!] Liāl Jani with an absolute laser beam off the post.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 13, 2025
Wright hit another post soon after, so three posts for the #SeaKraken in the period. pic.twitter.com/TNPtMp73Mi
On his next great power-play look, which didnāt come until 10:53 of the third with Seattle trailing 4-2, Nyman didnāt miss. Eberle gained the zone and took the puck deep before banking it off the boards to Montour at the point. Montour sent it right back to Eberle, and that little back-and-forth exchange, which seemed inconsequential in the moment, created just enough time for Nyman to get himself lost in the slot.
Eberle slid a cheeky little dish into Nymanās wheelhouse, and he ripped a snapper past Dobes.
LIāL JANI NYMAN SCORES HIS FIRST NHL GOAL AND HIS PARENTS ARE LOVING IT! ā¤ļø šØ
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 13, 2025
Great setup by Eberle for his third assist of the game, great finish by Nyman.
4-3 Habs. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/q0JLsIOnMs
āItās an amazing pass,ā Nyman said. āItās easy work doing the score. Itās almost an empty netter.ā
Nyman became the first Kraken draft pick to score in his NHL debut (Beniers had an assist in his first game, then scored goals in his second and third games). His parents had flown in from Finland for the game, too, making for some beautiful reactions after he scored.
āThe message to him is go out and leave no doubt about what kind of player you are and what youāre good at,ā Bylsma said. āAnd I think he did a good job of showing that tonight.ā
Bylsma then flipped the script in his presser, asking me what I thought of Nymanās performance. I said, āI thought he played pretty well.ā
Takeaway #3: Interesting lineup
**Authorās note:Ā Before I get into this Takeaway, let it be known that I do not care how much ice time any player gets, including Shane Wright. I trust the Kraken know how to deploy him and have shown they know what theyāre doing with his development. That said, there was a funny interaction related to his ice time after the game, so Iām sharing it.**
Seattle didnāt run full line rushes in practice Tuesday and held an optional morning skate Wednesday, so I wasnāt sure how theyād line up in this game. We knew Nyman was in, and we also knew Bylsma wanted to put him in a position to succeed, meaning a top-nine spot.
So, who would be bumped down to the fourth line?
Surprisingly, it was Shane Wright, who has been one of Seattleās best offensive players since December. When we tweeted the lineup, fans freaked out about Wright on the fourth line, so I asked Bylsma about the thought process behind it.
āWith Jani going into the lineup, we went with four centermen, with Canner in the middle of the rink,ā Bylsma said.
Fair enough.
But then he added: āSo youāre the only person labeling it as the fourth line.ā
Whoa! Whoa! First of all, I am definitely NOT the only person labeling it the fourth line, but it definitely is a fourth line that played fourth-line minutes (Wright had the most ice time of the trio with just 10:40). Second of all, I only asked the question because fans seemed to be fired up about it on social media, and I wanted to give Bylsma a chance to explain why that happened in this game.Ā
Now, having said all that, I know Bylsma was (mostly) joking with his potshot at me, and I probably deserved it to some degree for asking a lineup question after a thrilling win. Plus, to further stuff me in that locker, the team looked mostly very good in this game and came away with a thrilling victory.Ā
So, I guess you could say the lineup worked?Ā Either way, no need to call security, I will show myself out.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Let’s also not forget Fleury once again looks like he should be at this level. Felt like protected minutes but feel like he has his foot in the door to re-sign and be on the team next year.
Interesting thing I noticed about Fleury’s contract the other day…he was at games away from meeting the 80-game threshhold to be an RFA vs a Group VI UFA. So, after last night if the team plays him in 9 more games, he’ll be an RFA. If they don’t, he’ll be a UFA.
This was the best game I’ve seen them play in person. Fast, fast skating from the get go and pretty much the whole game. Whatever they’ve done different since the break, as far as starts, is working. They need to keep that shit up.
Coming back from 2 goal deficit, fantastic!
Lil Jani looked super strong. Way to go getting his first goal.
Solid game!
I think that was the most shot attempts by Burakovsky since who knows when. Maybe getting caught by the ESPN/ABC cameras this weekend appearing to be reamed out by a teammate and the coach on the bench lit a fire under him.
Burakovsky’s been trying to ramp it up a little bit lately. That is good to see, especially considering we couldn’t shop him out at the trade.
I loved the speed of this game – from the puck drop – it was fast!
Another observation I had that deserves a separate thread; does size really matter?
Cole Caufield was on the ice last night making s difference for the Habs. He is a wee fella! I found him listed once at 5’9″ and then at 5’8″ so he’s definitely 5’7″. But he seemed to be fast and effective. If Catton can keep up I feel like he’s got a good chance of making it.
Size matters, but its not the only thing that matters. Speed and IQ can be enough for a smaller player like Caufield to overcome it, but the most dominant players almost always tend to have at least average size. FWIW I don’t think Catton is small, I think he’s just a 19 year old who hasn’t finished developing. He’s 5’11” 170 lbs, and he’ll probably carry 10-15 more pounds on his frame when it’s all said and done. While Caufield is smaller, he’s also had time to get stronger and physically mature relative to his frame.. Catton may need time to continue to fill out and adjust, but I don’t think there is any reason right now to be concerned with his size.
The team’s/Dan’s excuses for Wright’s deployment are getting very strange at this point. There’s no defending 10:40 of ice time for the guy that’s led the team in scoring for the last 43 games. They can’t use the “ease him in” excuse anymore; the kid isn’t going to fall apart if he plays 14 to 16 minutes a night. He was granted exceptional status to play in the CHL at 15. He got a special waiver to play in the AHL before he turned 20. This treating him like he’s a porcelain doll is just odd as hell. It’s even more odd when it’s clear McCann’s best deployment is not in any way as a center.
Good teams and coaches find ways to maximize their talent.
The whole thing is just strange as hell.
It is strange and youāre correct to note it. McCann hasnāt played C all year long then suddenly they drop this move? They stick SW with 2 offensive nonentities? Bylsmaās snark is a bad sign, heās not in control. SW, despite all the excitement around Nyman (who is going to be very good), is the most important player in this organizationās next half decade
Player deployment has been so curious all season. Feels like there’s some sort of power struggle going on between the front office, the coaching staff and possibly some of the players. After all of the drama around the post-season exit interviews last year, I’m really, really curious about what’s going to come out this year. I think there will be some requests from players to be traded and I honestly wouldn’t be shocked to see McCann, Dunn or Wright go, with the other team getting the better end of the deal.
Yep. Francis has said he wants to bring in new players, but it’s equally important to sort out the internal situation if there are disgruntled or disillusioned players, especially core players such as Dunn or McCann. Outwardly they may be good soldiers, but if you are not happy at your workplace it’s hard to be at your best. It would be understandable if they want to play for a better team at this stage in their short careers.
To be clear, I donāt think those players are the problem. I donāt think the team is managing them well and I think they deserve better.
Unlike pretty much everyone else, I donāt think the GM is solely the problem. Contract terms aside, in terms of player selection, based on the information and resources available AT THE TIME THE DECISIONS OCCURRED have been generally good.
Much of the āthey should have gone for this type of talentā or they should have drafted player X or traded for player yā are pretty unrealistic – either because the criticism is happening in hindsight and could be leveled at multiple other teams, or that fictional draft pick/free agent/trade prospect didnāt actually exist on the market at the time.
I donāt agree with some of the contract decisions and the team needs to be more willing to rectify mistakes more quickly. That means (finally) buying out Grubauerās contract and somehow unloading Burakovsky. I think the signs pointing towards the first are promising and Iām cautiously optimistic about the second.
Where I donāt have confidence theyāre going to make the courageous decisions are with the coaching staff.
That the team has allowed the PR machine around coach Campbell to continue despite performance is disappointing. They should be quietly dialing it down and instead they seem to be amping it up – features in seemingly every city the team visits, and now a deal with a cosmetics company. Seriously?
As a woman who has worked in a male-dominated industry most of my career, the unfortunate reality is that not only do you need to be competent at your job, you need to be more competent than the men you are competing against*. By not being so, you are making the path so much more difficult for all of the women who have the potential to follow you. Quiet failure is bad enough. The loud PR makes the failure louder and the implications for the rest of us much larger.
Byalsmaās attitude in the press conferences seems to be getting worse and worse as the season has progressed. The world caught on years ago that Bill Belichek is an asshole, so channeling him in your interviews is not a good look, particularly when youāre coaching at team in 28th or 29th place, not one with multiple championships.
*happened to watch the Blackhawks/Sharks game last nightā¦and learned the Blackhawks have the 7th best PP in the league. If that doesnāt make our embarrassment of a PP even more pathetic, I donāt know what else does.
That Blackhawks PP is – I think- one of only three teams to have a PP SH% above 20% in the last like 15 years. It sounds hard to believe that they’re 7th because it is… and like the 100 point Krakenās shooting percentage… it’s unsustainable.
Nyman can seriously shoot the puck, he has better than average odds of making the team next season because we need that shot. I actually thought he looked a little nervous on his first shift and settled into the game as it progressed, but thatās just my take.
Thank you for asking tough questions, itās what makes a good writer and your readers definitely want to know the thought process. I thought McCann looked not so great at center and I personally would have dropped Burky down to the 4th line.
I feel Nyman has earned at least another game, Iām curious how our lineup looks next game.
From watching their play this season, I think McCann at center with Nyman tonight was the correct call. Wright is a good player, offensively he is in a great place, but I think his defensive game still needs a lot of work. Combining that with a rookie’s first game would be risky. McCann is fantastic at defensive play, which is probably why he also looked off. He was playing a responsible two-way game appropriate to playing center instead of a wing.
I am glad that you pointed this out. Wright already has a fantastic offensive game. They have been having him work on that specifically both in Seattle and in Coachella Valley. Remember when they seemed to be worried that he was getting too focused on his bottom-six center role and playing the part of the big, responsible grinder? They reset him to be more like the top-line center he projects to be. Unfortunately, that means, per the coaches’ instructions, he has not been working so much on the defensive aspect of his game. Right now he has a tendency to get baited out of position and spun around like a turnstile in the defensive zone. That limits the scenarios in which he can be reliably deployed. It makes him kind of Sprong-like. It is much better for keeping the team competitive in games for Stephenson to take those big minutes, especially given how Stephenson has been playing lately. My god, that OT draw…
Next season will be a different story. Then Wright will have the whole year to work on his defense. That’s when we can expect to see him begin to take on that top-six role and munch some minutes. Hopefully they will get him some more ice time in games down the stretch this year–perhaps if Stephenson’s hot streak cool down–but I see the plan they have for Wright.
Unless Bylsma is cutting Wright’s minutes due to lack of effort (highly unlikely) then he needs to just let SW play. Any deficiencies SW has won’t be solved by cutting minutes. Wright (along with Beniers) are young, honest two-way players and their improvement is critical to the team’s development. Coaches concerned about their job security tend to overcoach, which is the last thing good young players need. Shane Wright is going to be in Seattle a LOT longer than DB. If this is really an issue, then DB needs to be gone.
Do not forget that simplifying Wright’s game and getting him to focus on offense is what caused his break-out in the middle of the season. He is only going to have this one chance in his whole career in the NHL to work on his offensive game without having the kind of pressure to excell in all things the way that Matty Beniers did right out the gate. Hopefully, this extra bit of polish will stick with him for a long time.
Wright is a rare congelment of raw potential. I suspect that Bylsma feels like Michaelangelo having been presented with the perfect block of marble. Wright is going to come out of this a good center. The question is whether he will be just good or a masterpiece, and this is Bylsma trying to chisel him to perfection. Maybe that is over-coaching, or maybe it is taking advantage of the opportunity. He knows as well as anyone that Wright becoming great is key to his hopes of hanging onto his job in the long-term.
But isn’t that the true “job” of the coach? To see how they can get the most out of each player and take unconventional means when they think it’ll work?
Heat Miser – like the positive perspective and the “big M” coaching analogy. š If DB ends up being the Michelangelo of player development then Shane Wright could be something special. I’ve stated this before (ad nauseum) but I think SW will become at least a poor man’s version of Patrice Bergeron. Whether he becomes the NEXT PB will be dependent on not just his ability, but also the the talent surrounding him.
We’re so lucky to have you in there, Darren. SOMEONE has to ask the coach pointed, interesting questions about actual things fans want to know about the actual hockey. The typical media people do not do that anymore (it’s more stuff like, “Tell us about the grit and hustle you saw out of your guys tonight,” etc.). Don’t stop!
Question — it’s spelled “Nyman” but you guys and John Forslund are pronouncing it like “Newman” (so more like NU-man). Is that how it is actually pronounced in the Finnish, or are you just slipping into pronouncing a more familiar English name?
That’s how the Finns pronounce it.
Think of that “y” like a Cyrillic Alphabet “y” (eg. cŃŠŗŠ° Š±Š»ŃŃŃ).
On the pod there was a lot of talk about trading or not trading Oleksiak at the deadline. I’ve already been pondering on this a bit, but after last night I’m not convinced Evans is a lock for the top-four next season. Without knowing that I think keeping him on board into next season is the way to go. Even though this was a sellers market deadline, I think they’ll still be able to get good value next season and If they end up needing the cap space in the off season I’m sure there would be plenty of interested parties… especially considering his cap hit.
Just a thought.
Iām going back to this, Evans did a very good job filling in for Dunn in to top 4 when he was injured. Heās still a young player but from what weāve seen of him heās capable. Not that he doesnāt have room for improvement but he already has shown us he can handle top 4 matchups.
I’m optimistic on Evans, I just think between whatever is going on with Dunn and the lack of experience Evans has, there’s a lot of risk in moving Oleksiak right now. I was all for it going into the deadline, but I’m reconsidering now.
There was also a lot of talk about injuries on the pod and I think given everything, they could find themselves thin on the left side pretty quickly if they’re not careful.
I think Evans can “handle” top four matchups, but Slafkovsky went around him like he was a pylon last night… and put it in the net.
I also wonder about negotiating his next contract with the idea that he’s THE No.4… just a thought.
Evans was also responsible for the Newhook goal. He let him drive right to the net uncontested at 4 on 4. Heās got some work to do especially on D coverage but I think he can get there.
Sorry that wasnāt 4 on 4, it was 5 on 5. Either way, it was a totally blown coverage.
Ugh I wish we could edit or delete comments.
I also wish the there was an edit option…