If you missed Tuesday’s game between the Seattle Kraken and Montreal Canadiens and plan to go back and watch, I might recommend skipping ahead a bit. In fact, you can probably fast-forward all the way to about 13 minutes remaining in the third period, when Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble took an ill-advised penalty inside Seattle’s blue line, hooking Berkly Catton on the hands.
That’s when the tide finally started to turn for the Kraken, who looked flat through the first two periods. They’d shown more jam to start the third but had then just allowed their second power-play goal against at 5:55 of the final frame.
But on that Struble penalty, Seattle coach Lane Lambert opted to send out the second power-play unit instead of the first—which had struggled mightily in the contest—and Catton connected with Brandon Montour to finally get the Kraken on the board.
From there, it was the Brandon Montour Show, as he put the team on his back and willed Seattle to an astonishing point in the standings.
The Kraken ultimately came up short, but that was one heckuva comeback. Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken overtime loss to the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: Brandon Montour… that’s it… that’s the Takeaway
Like most of the Kraken, Montour wasn’t having his best outing through two periods. One sequence that stood out came late in the first, when he threw an errant pass toward Adam Larsson, then got caught flat-footed in no-man’s land and was walked by Kirby Dach. Joey Daccord sprawled and flared his left pad out, robbing Dach and keeping the score 2-0 through the first period.
Woof. Sloppy puck play leads to a power move by Kirby Dach. Joey Daccord stretches out and robs him with the left toe. pic.twitter.com/A0jqc5bEOY
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 29, 2025
But just when Seattle appeared ready to fade quietly into the night, sinking into a 3-0 deficit with 14 minutes left, Montour lifted up his teammates with two goals and an assist in under 10 minutes.
Both his goals were simple one-timers through traffic, using Montreal defenders as screens. On the first, he fired low on the ice and got a fortunate redirection off Alexandre Carrier’s stick that ramped the puck into the top corner over Jakub Dobes.
BRANDON BOMBTOUR! 💣
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 29, 2025
The power play comes through! Catton with a simple pass, and Montour one-times it and gets a good bounce off Alexandre Carrier. Schwartz with the screen. #SeaKraken on the board, but still a big hill to climb.
3-1. pic.twitter.com/utmOyr3LmW
“Just getting the shot,” Montour said. “I don’t even know— at that time [of the power-play goal], we might have had 12 shots on net, 11 shots on net. We didn’t give that goalie much work tonight, but [we had Jaden Schwartz], guys in front of the net, I just tried to get it there and kind of find a lane. Nice to see them go through.”
Montour’s next trick was helping Eeli Tolvanen turn a broken play into a perfect setup for Shane Wright. Both Montour and Tolvanen drove hard to the net, lost the puck, then kept the play alive with a retrieval and pass behind the net back to Montour. He quickly found Wright in the slot, who ripped it through traffic and beat Dobes clean.
Then, with the game on the line, Montour did it again—completing Seattle’s three-goal comeback with his second of the night. With Daccord off for an extra skater, Montour blasted another one-timer from distance that found its way in.
“We found ways to get a few more pucks to the net [in the third period] and get them in,” Lambert said. “Obviously, we did a really good job 6-on-5, and our power play scored a big goal for us to get us going. And again, it’s just another shot. There were power plays at the start of the game where we just passed it around. We’ve got to get pucks to the net.”
Remember, Montour is playing with a heavy heart; he’s just one game removed from a leave of absence after the passing of his brother, Cameron, on Monday following a battle with ALS.
“It’s pretty amazing to see [what he’s doing],” Wright said of Montour. “What he’s been through the last couple of weeks here, to even just be here, let alone playing as well as he is, and perform at that level. He always performs that way, day in, day out. It’s really special.”
Takeaway #2: Some interesting line shuffling
As Seattle struggled to generate any semblance of offense through the first two periods, the only trio that consistently created pressure was the fourth line of Tye Kartye, Ben Meyers, and Ryan Winterton.
Late in the second, with the Kraken desperate for a spark, Winterton, who looked fast and pesky all night, was suddenly elevated to the second line with Jaden Schwartz and Chandler Stephenson.
When Seattle came out for the third, Lambert had also moved Jani Nyman down to the fourth line, while the new third line featured Mason Marchment, Wright, and Tolvanen.
The juggling worked. And while Nyman’s move to the fourth line could be seen as a demotion, he made an almost immediate impact, going right after Dach following a dangerous hit on Meyers.
Yikes. Bad hit by Dach on Ben Meyers, and the whole #SeaKraken team goes after him.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 29, 2025
Nyman and Dach each got 2 minutes. We'll play 4v4. pic.twitter.com/aNj8C63PGJ
Wright’s goal that got Seattle within 3-2 came during the ensuing 4-on-4.
“I think it was fantastic [by Jani],” Lambert said. “We have to be team tough, and when one of our teammates gets hit, which we considered it to be a dirty hit, we have to stand up for him. And I thought it was a good momentum turner.”
Takeaway #3: Cole Caufield finishes the job
Just like when the Kraken and Canadiens went to overtime in Montreal on Oct. 14, Cole Caufield scored his second of the game to end it. The circumstances were different this time—Seattle rallied instead of Montreal—but the result was the same.
COLE CAUFIELD ÉTABLIT UN NOUVEAU RECORD DE FRANCHISE POUR LE NOMBRE DE BUTS EN PROLONGATION
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 29, 2025
COLE CAUFIELD, THE MOST OT GOALS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/8cYFKq2suT
“Honestly, we had the puck, we lost the puck, they made a stretch pass, and we got it back,” Caufield said. “Hockey happens fast, and I saw a hole there, and luckily it went in. I [made it look] like I was going behind the net, and I just stopped up. I’ve never played goalie before, but that can’t be too easy to grab the post there. So, I just made a read.”
Caufield remains an elite scorer, surrounded by other top-tier talent that makes Montreal a skilled and increasingly dangerous team for the foreseeable future.
“I thought [Caufield] was excellent on both sides of the puck,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “I thought he was crisp, and he defended hard. He had his fastball tonight.”
Seattle’s season series with Montreal is now complete, with the Kraken finishing 0-0-2 against the Habs. Perhaps these two teams will meet again in the Stanley Cup Final, though?
Okay, I’ll show myself out.
It would have been nice for the Kraken to cap off the comeback with a win, but earning a point on a night when they trailed 3-0 with 14 minutes to go is no small feat.
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.
1. Nice to see the two most important players for the Kraken future on the scoresheet.
2. I guess that pick on Catton in O/T was legal?
3. Still think Lambert is over-playing Joey. Is the plan really to have him start 65 games?
4. Knowing that refs like to even up the penalties, with the Habs up 3-1 on penalties going in the 3P, was not the refrain in the Kraken locker room, “watch your sticks”?
Just a brutally boring game to attend for 2 hours, then some very unexpected excitement for 20 minutes or so. 1.16 to 1.08 xG at 5 on 5 for the game. Yaawwwwnnnnnnn. Overall a very flat effort.
Another meh game from Joey against the Canadiens…he wasn’t awful or anything, but it’d be nice if he made one of those key saves, or if he wasn’t made to look like a fool in OT.
Montour was awesome, though. I know many of us went “yikes!” when they signed those contracts a couple years ago, but wow this team would be in really bad shape without him.
I was halfway out the door at CPA when Seattle scored the first goal. Had it been a regular 7:00 start time, I might have turned around, but between the 7:30 start, the rain and the rather miserable 48ish minutes of hockey I did see, I was ready to be home.
This is the system we run, if we play a well coached team and they don’t get frustrated by our play then it will be a very boring game. We will get more wins but paint drying could be more interesting the a good number of games.
I feel like Matty looked confident and had some great moments in this game. It’s a bit frustrating, because you see him demonstrate great defense, puck control, and have some really strong zone entries but the finishing just isn’t there. Regardless, I’d like to see him staying aggressive and keep taking shots. Feels like he just needs a breakthrough goal or two to get things rolling.
Great analysis of Matty’ play. He is a very good all around player but lacks that scoring touch. He is still young so hopefully that part of game will eventually come.
I suspect it will come on the same day that Kaapo Kakko returns to the ice.
That was a tough game to watch for about 50 minutes. It became more obvious in this game that Wright and Catton are the key offensive talent pieces to build around and try to get pucks to. Also odd we kept playing the “1st unit” when Wright is our best power play performer.
I love Matty and his defensive capabilities, but it looks like he’s trying to do too much on his own when it comes to offensive. Would love to see him take a breath, get the puck to Catton and then get open or go net front. Ultimately, I’m hoping to see Catton/Wright/Eberle and McCann/Beniers/Kakko when people are healthy.
What I notice from their system is the it relies heavily on the first zone entrance. It’s a one man entry trying to beat the first defender or it’s a dumb in with one forechecker. Seems like F2 and F3 hang back and don’t commit to offense unless we have clean possession in the O zone. Makes it tough for the puck carrier to generate offense but if we don’t get clean possession we have 4 defenders back…. Defensive hockey isn’t fun to watch unless mistakes are made by the other team and you generate offense through frustration.
Lambert started the “2nd unit” on the power play that finally scored. He commented on it post game and said that’s why they have two units, is so if one isn’t going, hopefully the other one is.
Kraken was having an off night. Nothing really happening so after allowing the 3rd goal well into the 3rd period, Click! Off with the TV. I went to bed.
Pleasantly surprised they came back and at least got a point out of it. My mistake to never give up, because the team obviously didn’t!
Go Kraken!!!
Proof that there is more than one way to win a hockey game. I appreciated the coaching staff’s attempt to keep changing things up until the players found some chemistry. They could have pulled it off, but that one bobble in the OT gave Caufield the opening he needed. Lots of things to takeaway from the superior team as well. Thank goodness they pulled out 1 point, imagine how cranky the comment section would be without it!
Pointswise… we managed a split with the Habs this season.
Looking forward to the next Strive for 95 already.
Why is no one talking about the totally egregious play by Eberle in over time. Kraken had possession, he then tips the puck into the Canadiens’ zone to go for a line change. Why in the world would he do this? Pass it back and keep possession and then go for the change. What a critical mental lapse by the Captain in overtime.
I couldn’t believe it at the time… I thought they’d fixed this. They’ve been much better this season playing possession in overtime – and then that. Being in the arena I was saying to my buddy, “WTF!!!”, but when I got home I pulled up the replay and watched the pass from Stephenson about a half-a-dozen times. It could be that Eberle just misplayed it, but whatever it was it may have cost them a point.
Probavly not talking about it because we either left the game early or changed the channel. 😉
I thought Eberle tried to catch the pass but it bounced off his stick too hard because of a defender and the pass being a bit too hot. It didn’t look to me like he meant to tip it.
The Kraken are already half way to their OTL total from the previous season. I guess that is a good thing of a sort.
Good things from the latest Habs game include Ryan Winterton who was disruptive on defense and determined on offense both with Ben Meyers and with Chandler Stephenson.. On a flat night for the club, Winterton regularly stood out. Of course, Shane Wright scored against Montreal. I wonder if he will ever in his career stop punishing the Canadiens. It was another good night for the Dunn/Larsson pair, which was unfortunately made noticeable when the two were separated. I get the urge to mix things up on a slow night, but, odd as it is for defensemen, those two work best together. That said, another good thing of note was the coaches shaking up the lines to try to get a fire started. Both Winterton and Eeli Tolvanen brought some spark and physicality to their new lines.
Speaking of Tolvanen, he has had a rough transition to the right side so far this season, but it is beginning to look like he is getting the hang of it. Of course, it has made deploying his hard shot a bit more of a challenge, so he appears to have been making up for it by moving a lot to draw attention and create chaos. He even attempted a backhander once. Hopefully, Jordan Eberle has been giving him some pointers on that, because it is a great tool for an offhand winger to have in his toolkit. Modern day goalies do not always anticipate the backhand.