The Kraken closed out their four‑game road trip through Calgary and California with the kind of gritty, resilient win that was a staple of this team in the early stages of the season, edging the Kings 3–2 to complete the first three-game Golden State sweep in franchise history.
All three victories came in regulation against teams sitting above Seattle in the standings, a detail that matters a lot more than it sounds. And on top of that, the Kraken finally snapped their long‑running curse on the second half of back‑to‑backs, a streak that stretched all the way back to March 5, 2024. It wasn’t always pretty, and there were long stretches spent absorbing pressure, but Seattle’s structure held, their depth delivered, and they flew home for the holiday break with six massive points in their pocket.
Takeaway 1: No Dunn, no Montour, no problem
The Kraken walked into Los Angeles missing their top two defensemen and still found a way to clamp things down when it mattered. Vince Dunn’s late injury in Anaheim forced him out Tuesday, and with Brandon Montour already sidelined, Seattle needed someone to step into the void. Enter Ryker Evans.
Evans logged a season high 21:36 and carried 82 percent of the team’s power-play minutes. Evans always looks comfortable when taking an expanded role, and no game was probably bigger than Tuesday night. The team needed him to step up, and he delivered.
Seattle also got Berkly Catton back in the lineup for the first time since Dec. 6. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he flashed the skill that makes him such an intriguing piece of the future. The little shake-and-go moves, the space creation, the confidence. Yes, there were turnovers. Yes, there was a penalty. But for a player jumping back in cold, it was an encouraging return.
And the fourth line? They were outstanding again. Tye Kartye, Ben Meyers, and Jacob Melanson continue to give Seattle honest, heavy minutes. Meyers’ goal stood up as the game winner, and he’s quietly become a reliable penalty-killing option. That line is earning every shift it gets.
Ben Meyers gets in on the party. Kraken 3-0…but LA would add a response goal…now 3-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/sijgHhouRa
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) December 24, 2025
Takeaway 2: Special teams is back
Two weeks ago, the Kraken’s penalty kill was in freefall, giving up seven goals on eight opportunities over a brutal three-game stretch. Since then, the turnaround has been dramatic. Seattle has posted kill rates of 83.3 percent over the last eight games and 88.9 percent during the California swing, driven by a structural adjustment the team made earlier this month.
The power play has been just as impressive. With nine goals on their last 28 opportunities, Seattle is converting at 32.1 percent since Dec. 7, the third best mark in the NHL over that span.
O' captain my captain. Eberle gets the #SeaKraken on the board first. Kraken up 1-0 early in the second period. pic.twitter.com/8V86z5Io9k
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) December 24, 2025
Special teams were sinking this team earlier in the month. Now they’re helping to drag it back into relevance.
Takeaway 3: Just when we thought we were out, they pull us back in
Let’s be clear: the Kraken still have a long climb ahead if they want to be taken seriously as a playoff contender. But sweeping the California teams — all in regulation, all above Seattle in the standings — is a massive step in the right direction.
The underlying numbers won’t blow anyone away. The Kings carried long stretches of play, and Seattle spent plenty of time weathering pressure. But the Kraken defended the interior, kept L.A. to the outside, and found timely goals despite missing four key players.
Help is coming, too. Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz are inching closer to returns, and their presence should give this team a much needed offensive jolt.
Three straight regulation wins against division opponents is enough to make things interesting again.
Odds and Ends
- Seattle scored first in all three games and trailed for just 1:19 across the entire 180 minute trip.
- Tuesday marked the Kraken’s 27th one-goal game of the season (excluding empty netters), second only to the Kings.
- Eeli Tolvanen extended his points streak to five games, equaling a career best he set back in 2022-23.
- Jamie Oleksiak might have had his best game of the season. His defensive play led directly to the Ben Meyers goals, and he was stellar defensively.
- Goaltending has been outstanding for the Kraken lately. Philipp Grubauer and Joey Daccord have really carried them through these three games.
- And a quick nod to the Seattle Torrent, who held on for a tense one-goal win of their own against Montreal. For those of us running dual screens, those final 10 minutes were… not relaxing.
Go Kraken!!!
The Kraken very well may have a special diamond in the rough in Berkly Catton. It’s going to be fun to watch him grow into his full potential.
Great California road sweep!
Catton looks good apart from the fact that he is still getting ragdolled like he was before the injury. It is well that he missed the Ducks game. At this rate he is going to get hurt again, but until Schwartz and McCann return he has to play big minutes. A teenager should not have to endure the upcoming scheduling nightmare in the top-nine, but there may be no alternative. It is a suboptimal situation. With luck, the team will get healthy enough in time to platoon a lot of the players and especially the young players like Catton.
you know, this entire season this team plays well when the 4th line is configured like this. i think ben myers or melanson need to stay up with the big club. whatever theyre doing (besides trying to put every other opposing player through the boards and forechecking like fiends) is paying dividends to the rest of the lines 1through 3. as much as i want to see nyman get more ice time hes obviously doing something (or not doing something) that doesnt make lambert happy and at this point the impact is being made by the call ups. i hope they carry this momentum into the restart because outside of the calgary game this has been a fun stretch of hockey to watch going back to the avs game.
The tough thing about Nyman’s situation is that, despite the fact that his defensive game appeared much improved in the past few games that he played, Jacob Melanson simply cannot be sat to make room for him at this point. He has done what all backups dream of doing: making themselves indispensible when they finally get their big chances. The good news for Nyman is that, if I am right, Coach Lambert is going be handing a lot of guys rest days leading up to the Olympics break to keep them at least somewhat fresh. Nyman should get plenty of opportunities to spell guys across the forward lines, because they are going to need it. Now he just needs to make himself indispensible.
I’d argue that Nyman really shouldn’t be on the 4th line if his best quality is his shot and offense (similar feeling about Winterton although he can flex more). He’s not a grinder like Melanson or Karts. So if you’re gonna keep the 4th line together when Canner and Schwartz get back who goes down or gets traded? Nyman could probably use the minutes in the AHL until the deadline and probably Myers?
I am guessing that the team will run with a full roster for as long as it can, but one of those healthy scratch slots is going to have to go to Matt Murray soon. Somebody is going to have to go down to CV when Schwartz and McCann return, and I reckon that Nyman or Melanson would be most likely given their waivers exemptions.
Maybe a trade materializes, but of the guys who are on expiring deals I don’t know who the team is willing to move. Eberle is the captain and has been scoring goals at a good clip. Tolvanen is on a heater and has been uncharacteristically racking up assists. Other teams would likely be hesitant to trade for Schwartz given he is currently on IR. Oleksiak is desperately needed given the injury situation at the blue line. The team cannot expect much of a return for Meyers, and he has proven to be a difference maker here. Trade any of those guys, and the team gets markedly worse. Tolvanen would probably be the only trade option, both because McCann can do most of what he does and thus can slot right into his place in the lineup and because Tolvanen is set to be a highly coveted free agent in the off-season with only Alex Tuch being a significantly more offensively talented young winger on the market. Tolvanen’s price will be very high next season; I would be surprised if the front office can re-sign him.
Roster management is definitely going to get tricky in the next month or two, with players coming off of IR, the Olympic break and the trade deadline.
The AHL isn’t breaking for the Olympics, so I’d like to see them send down everyone for that time period who doesn’t require waivers to get them more playing time – I believe that would be Nyman, Winterton and Melanson. Maybe try to figure out if there’s anything that can be done in terms of conditioning loan to get Catton down there as well. If he can’t get it into the net within the next couple of weeks, I’d seriously consider scratching him the last 5 or however many games they need to qualify him for conditioning and get down to CV to see if he can score there.
I think they’re going to need to keep Meyers on the NHL roster – with the current desperation for centers in the league, I’m not sure they can sneak him through waivers right now and they’re likely going to need him after the trade deadline. That’s assuming they’re planning to re-sign him, as he is also a pending UFA (and 27, so not technically one of the “kids”), so could also be a sweetener in a trade situation, or if they get a good offer for him from a depth-desperate contender.
Go Kraken! Another fan of the 4th line here. Meyers’ skill seems like it would fit with top 6 forwards, and Melanson and Kartye checks have rattled the opposition.
Just for fun, would you take Meyers, Kartye, and Melanson over Geekie, Donato, and Sprong?
No way. I like Karts but Geekie and Donato had an edge and scoring potential that gave teams fits. A lot went right in year 2 but I think those guys were the straw that stirred the drink and had a lot of what the Kraken lack.
Over Sprong – absolutely. He was a defensive liability and bad for the locker room.
Geekie isn’t/wasn’t a prototypical fourth-liner and really belonged on the top 9, so if we’re allowed to throw Winterton (who has been playing further up in the lineup recently but also has been on the fourth line a lot) into the mix, I’d keep Geekie and put him into that spot.
That would leave Donato, Winterton, Meyers, Kartye and Melanson to make up a fourth line.
Donato is a yes – I think he had more points in the playoff season than Winterton, Meyers and Melanson combined have in their careers.
I’ll say yes to Kartye – logically because he’s more versatile than Melanson and physically tougher than Winterton. His greatest value, however, may be what he provides off-ice as arguably the leader for the players coming up from CV. I think literally every player that has come up from CV mentions Kartye when they get those inevitable media questions about who’s made them feel welcome on the team and helped them settle in and that’s an asset even if it doesn’t appear on a stat sheet.
Now we’re down to Meyers, Melanson and Winterton. Right now, I’m giving the edge to Meyers, due to versatility, including PK and facelifts.
So yes to Geekie, Donato, Kartye and Meyers. No to Sprong, Winterton and Melanson.
LOL, Sprong!
He’s tearing up the KHL.
Just for fun, would you like whipped cream with your serving of hindsight bias?
The fourth line is doing what a fourth line is supposed to do, pressure pressure pressure, keeping tops players from gaining momentum. Scoring the odd goal doesn’t hurt either. I gotta say that this game that luck was involved in the last few minutes when an open net was missed. If you can’t be good, be lucky. I haven’t watch a Canuck game all week
I’m happy for the guys, well done for fighting till the end.
Unfortunately, their victories are strategically bad. It will only prolong the agony and delay the adoption of long-overdue decisions, ie replacing the whole management team.
The fact that we are discussing the heroism of the fourth line, which essentially just ran and fought but nothing more, already explain a lot about the team we have.
Why would they replace the management team when their build plan is finally just now starting to pay dividends?
I haven’t noticed that we’ve started receiving any dividends.
So true! Sweeping a road trip through CA with your young players like Kartye, Winterton, Melanson, Nyman, Beniers, Wright, Catton, AHL center Ben Meyers and with your depth D Mahura and Fleury playing…Kakko starting to get his game going…nothing to see here. You should just stop watching, Denis. 🤣
With $7m in cap currently, $18m in deadline space, and $35m next season with 18 spots already signed… I’d say the cap is on good shape as well.
Daryl,
That’s true, we have the money. We just don’t have the skill to turn it into real improvement.
By the way, who exactly do you think we can sign next summer to make this cap space matter?
I don’t think it’s free agency. I do think, however, they have a collection of picks, prospects and players that could position them well for a trade. I think it’ll take a little time for teams to sort and some names to shake loose, but I think they’re well positioned to be in on something.
I certainly hope it’s not free agency. If this team splurges $10M+ on Alex Tuch, then we’ll know for sure the FO is hopelessly incompetent.
Meh… Please remind me how many goals this whole group scored in these games?
A bunch of mediocre, not very creative and technically equipped, but hard-working guys. They can fight, block shots, battle, and grind it out. Hockey is built in a way that sometimes this + good goaltending is enough. However it is not sustainable. You might have forgotten how this same lineup played the previous 11 games?
The result is positive, not the performance.
Hey it’s Christmas!!
Don’t be a Debbie Downer!
Go Kraken!!!
My criticism is driven purely by wanting what’s best for the team) Merry Christmas!
If they can play more like they did against Dallas (one of those 11), I think they can “build” a team. I’m curious to see where they go from here. I’m not curious to see them bring in a whole new management group and start all over.
It’s good that you have a positive view. Honestly, I don’t understand what it’s based on. More precisely – on whom.
Who are our Gauthier-Carlsson-Sennecke?
I thought it was telling listening to Quenneville in his post game say the last game reminded him a lot of the season opener. During the Kraken’s first season the Ducks were in first place in the Pacific on December 18th and they finished seventh in the division. That was a different team (though part of the same rebuild) that was led by a couple of young, skilled forwards and supported by a deep group of veterans. I think Anaheim shows a lot of promise. I also think they’re – ironically – an old team with more than a third of their skaters 31 or older. They’ll need to show me they can turn over their depth and defend before I’m convinced.
I think Beniers, Wright, Catton and O’Brien are pieces down the middle a team can build around. They probably don’t have an Eichel, but do they have an Aho or a Suzuki? Maybe. I don’t think they’re going to have to worry about what happens when these guys need to play defense and they’ve got plenty of young depth replacements, but where is the scoring going to come from? Maybe a trade, maybe development, maybe system buy-in. I get it, the skepticism, but I think there is a plan and a path and I think writing off those young centers already to chase more lottery picks is a bit premature.
It’s always been my assumption that when they hired Francis they knew what they were getting. I think a patient, careful, development oriented build was what they signed up for and I think that’s what they’re getting… and it takes time.
Daryl, I think you are failing to understand the brilliant logic of Denis. Let me try to help.
1. It doesn’t matter if Seattle wins the next 30 games and goes to the playoffs. We don’t have a Gauthier, Carlsson or Sennecke. We will have won “poorly,” so it will not matter. Not having these elite stars will always make the team inferior, no matter what.
2. All “superior” NHL teams when winning always do it in a performatively dominant fashion. There is no luck. No messiness. It’s as though there is not another team on the ice also trying to win. This is common knowledge. NHL hockey always favors the team that should most obviously win.
3. Finally, any Seattle wins can only ever be attributed to luck and fluke. See points 1 and 2 above.
It’s all very simple really. Merry Christmas and happy Boxing Day!
I appreciate the appeal of stripping it down and starting over. I also believe there is more than one way to build a team. It’s seemed to me that even before day one, before hiring a GM, this team has been intent on drafting and developing and that’s why they hired someone with that same mentality in Ron Francis.
I don’t need to rehash the whole thing and I don’t need yet another “lesson” on the merits of tanking. There are examples of wins and losses on both sides and to me it seems pretty clear Seattle has been following a consistent path all along. Whichever approach you favor, I don’t think anyone advocates for impatient. There is no “express” to success.
I appreciate Denis G’s view Seattle G, I just think it’s too soon to bail on the current path when I think there is still plenty of youth and opportunity to build on. There is no guaranteed method and all choices may result in setbacks… we shall see.
Guys, thanks for the discussions over the past few weeks. It is evident that we have different preferences regarding management style and acceptable timeframes for results, all seems to be within an adequate range. It’s time to accept it and not argue about who is more correct.
Merry Christmas!
Here here!!!
… and a Happy New Year!
I think it’s okay to be cautious about saying we’re reaping benefits. Let’s see if they can continue to make something happen. We all want them to win, even if they didn’t make any changes in roster or F.O. So much can change in the next month. They could go back on a skid, they could win all their games. When the hobbled players come back there will be more adjustments to make. The other possibility is getting a signature player, but who’s available? Hopefully, the management isn’t making big plans for a mid tier player. Or maybe they have a yard sale? It’s the beauty of hockey.
Which two teams are these over their last 22 games?
10-11-1 21pts .477 -17
9-11-2 20pts .455 -11