Believe it or not, the Seattle Kraken have stormed their way right back into the playoff picture. While still on the outside, they’ve climbed to within a single point of the final wild-card spot, currently held by the San Jose Sharks, who actually have a lower points percentage than Seattle. The Kraken reached that position thanks to a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, stretching their season-long win streak to four games and giving themselves their first named win streak of the season.
By the way, we heard back from the National Win Streak Service, and although I was hopeful we could call it Win Streak Darren, they have informed us that this streak is called Win Streak Caroline. We will explain the thought process of the NWSS on the next Sound Of Hockey Podcast.
In this game, the Kraken once again leaned on outstanding goaltending from Philipp Grubauer, plus the offensive production of their three hottest hands: Jordan Eberle, Chandler Stephenson, and Eeli Tolvanen (who potted not one, but two empty-net goals).
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-1 Kraken win over the Flyers.
Takeaway 1: Tolvanen, Eberle, and Stephenson are rolling
The lack of offensive production from the Kraken has been maddening for long stretches this season. The last few games haven’t been all that different in this area, but Seattle now has a few players who’ve gotten hot and are creating just enough offense to fuel the winning streak.
Eberle has four goals in his last three games, Tolvanen has points in six straight (3-7=10), and Stephenson has 12 points in 11 games (6-6=12), with his lone scoreless outing coming in Seattle’s 3-1 win at Anaheim on Dec. 22.
Eberle and Stephenson both scored pretty goals Sunday, with Stephenson’s coming directly off an outstanding play by Tolvanen.
On Eberle’s icebreaker at 3:48 of the second period, Matty Beniers—facing a 1-on-3 disadvantage at the blue line—drove low to buy time for Eberle and Kaapo Kakko to catch up. He then dished to Kakko in the right circle, and Kakko lofted a perfect saucer pass into Eberle’s wheelhouse. Eberle once again picked the top right corner.
O, CAPTAIN! 🫡 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) December 29, 2025
What a setup by Matty Beniers and Kaapo Kakko, and Jordan Eberle places his shot perfectly inside the post.
1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/zseBdor8v8
“We’re just finding ways to score,” Eberle said. “I think on that goal, Matty did a good job, driving in and finding Kaapo, and then he did a great job finding me.”
Clinging to a 1-0 lead deep into the third period, it felt like the next goal would decide the game—and Tolvanen and Stephenson made sure it did.
After a stretch of back-and-forth in Seattle’s zone, Adam Larsson settled the puck and sent a forehand lob up and over everyone to the far blue line. It was too far for Tolvanen to sprint onto, but he didn’t quit on the play. Dan Vladar misplayed the puck behind his net, and Tolvanen beat Travis Sanheim to it, hit the brakes, one-handed the puck off the back of the net—sending Sanheim crashing into the boards—and found Stephenson streaking down the slot. Stephenson buried it for a 2-0 lead.
STEVIE DOES IT! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) December 29, 2025
What a play by Eeli Tolvanen to bank the puck off the back of the net to himself, then feed Chandler Stephenson cruising down Lenny Wilkens Way.
2-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/zU265dTYJ0
“The biggest thing about the goal for me, and he’s been doing it all year long, is [Tolvanen] got in on the forecheck,” coach Lane Lambert said. “He separated the puck from the man and made a heads-up play to Stephenson in the slot. But he’s moving his feet, and he’s heavy on the forecheck.”
While no Kraken player will sniff the top of the NHL scoring charts, Eberle is now up to 14 goals, Stephenson has 10, and Tolvanen leads the team with 18 assists. Tolvanen also paces the Kraken with 25 points (7-18=25), while Eberle (14-10=24) and Stephenson (10-14=24) are tied for second in scoring.
Takeaway 2: McCann and Dunn return
Jared McCann and Vince Dunn both returned to the lineup Sunday after injury-related absences of different lengths. Dunn missed just one game following a high hit by Ross Johnston in Anaheim, while McCann missed seven in his second extended absence of the season. It was only his 12th game of the campaign, which has been derailed by two separate lower-body injuries.
“It’s kind of tough,” McCann said. “Obviously, this is the first time in my career I’ve kind of gone through something like this. Mentally, it’s been tough, but I’ve got great teammates here who’ve been supportive with me, and I’m just trying to make it through a game at this point. So, I’m looking forward to the future.”
I liked McCann’s shooting mentality in this one—any time he found himself in a position to put the puck on net, he didn’t hesitate—but there were also some miscues between him and linemates Shane Wright and Berkly Catton.
“I thought we had some good chances,” McCann said. “Obviously, Cats made some good plays tonight; you can see the offense coming for him. And me and Wrighter are still trying to work with each other and create good offense.”
There were a few noticeable misfires, including a first-period 2-on-1 where Wright got handcuffed and couldn’t get a shot away. If that trio sticks together, expect the execution to improve in the coming games.
“I liked his performance,” Lambert said of McCann. “He adds an element that we need. I think that line becomes that much more dangerous right now. And I thought he did a lot of good things, thought he was good on the walls, made some heads-up plays, had some opportunities. So, obviously, he’s a key player for us, and it’s good to see him back.”
McCann finished with two shots on goal in 13:27 of ice time.
Takeaway 3: The PK (and Grubauer) came up huge
Grubauer earned first-star honors, frustrating Flyers shooters into just one late, largely inconsequential goal that spoiled his bid for his first shutout of the season. He finished with 31 saves on 32 shots and improved to 6-3-1, with a 2.44 goals-against average and .917 save percentage—stellar numbers from a goalie who had never previously topped .900 in a Kraken uniform.
“The numbers are always a reflection of how the team plays,” Grubauer said. “So without the team in front of us, we couldn’t do this, right? The way we played, the way we blocked shots, boxed out, let us see the puck, the way we worked back in our zone as a five-man unit. Without that, it wouldn’t be possible [to have these stats].”
Grubauer was especially impactful during Seattle’s three penalty kills—twice in the opening period and once in the second after Catton jumped on early, and the Kraken were nabbed for too many men.
While Grubauer made a few acrobatic saves during those kills, the penalty killers deserve a ton of credit for eliminating seam passes and applying pressure up top.
I’ve written about it several times now, but the formation change has completely transformed this penalty kill, which bottomed out during Losing Streak Camille. The new diamond setup still stretches when the puck goes high, but it puts two players across the slot instead of one, and those two have worked in tandem to erase passing lanes and force perimeter shots.
By the way, Lambert was not thrilled with that too-many-men penalty, and I ended his presser on a sour note by asking why it bothered him so much.
Here’s why Lane Lambert got so mad about the too-many-men penalty. 😬 #SeaKraken https://t.co/6b5LL6jhhv pic.twitter.com/CO0WZXOSZE
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) December 29, 2025
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.
Go Kraken!!!
Who would ever have thought that Grubauer could possibly be at this point of the season the teams most valuable player? He’s been really incredible!
Grubauer looked, to my untrained eye, better in preseason but was still getting way out of the crease too far and doing the belly sprawl occasionally. That continued a little into the season but I’d say since about mid-November he’s not just putting up excellent numbers, he’s actually looked very, very sharp and controlled. I hope it lasts. He’s gone on runs in the past bytthis is the first time I can recall his play actually looking like there’s been a change.
A few moments still slip through, but for the past 4-5 weeks, it’s difficult to even identify that it’s Grubauer in goal. The movement and body positioning is often completely different than he’s ever looked in Seattle.
I would argue that the play of the game may have been Lindgren’s penalty for holding on the Flyers breakaway in the first. That looked like a sure goal against (the old) Grubauer – and the type of defense he so frequently hasn’t gotten in the past. Following that with a successful penalty kill to leave it as a scoreless game had to be a confidence boost for the entire team.
I really liked the decision to put the fourth line out to take the faceoff after each of the first two goals. Response goals have always been an issue with Grubauer, and it often feels like the players back off a bit following a goal, so I thought putting out the line that always gives 110% was a really smart choice to avoid that dip.
On the criticism side, the Catton/Wright/McCann line had a rough night trying to move the puck. None of them are particularly strong on the wall and collectively just too easy to knock around. It will be interesting to see if they keep them together tonight, swap McCann and Kakko or sit Catton and put Nyman or Winterton back in.
Considering they haven’t played together, I thought that line looked pretty good. Catton looks fantastic to me. He is much stronger a two-way player than I ever could have expected. He looks to have the potential to be even as good a two-way player as Matty.
Personally, I think Catton is a better center than Wright. Catton sees the whole ice and can take charge of a line in a way that Wright just doesn’t (I’d say Catton is more similar to Stephenson in this way, but a lot of the rest of his game is more like Beniers). If they’re going to be on the same line, I’d like to see them switch. If Wright were to move to wing, I could see Catton being the set-up man for him similar to what Catton had going with Cristall last season in Spokane
This was my takeaway as well. There were a couple turnovers specifically by Catton and Wright, but they created some good chances on the offensive side. Considering the default seems to be to dump the puck in and chase and/or change, it’s refreshing to have a line with some offensive skill and creativity, even if they turn it over occasionally.
I was noticing Catton’s forechecking game as well. Dude would be a beast on defense with about forty more pounds on him, but that is not what Francis drafted him for. Still, we can feel confident that he will not get caved when he starts to get big minutes.
Now that I think about it, Catton’s neutral zone checking style looks a lot like that of Chandler Stephenson what with how he suddenly closes distances to sweep at the puck and create turnovers. I wonder if Lambert gave him that classic coaching advice, “when in doubt, do what the veteran guy (Stephenson) does.”
We thought they would take away Tolvanen’s first EN goal and give it to Stephenson. On the replay, it looked like the puck bounced in off the defender.
Why didn’t Grubauer come out to toss the fish?
I thought the exact same thing but another replay from overhead shows the puck clearly bounce off Tolvanen’s skate.
P.S., Grubauer also reacted to that too many men penalty. He banged his stick on the ice really hard. I think he was not thrilled about having to kill a third penalty and a little pissed at his teammates.
The PK has been excellent in recent games. Also can’t remember the last time the Kraken didn’t have any chance of a power play opportunity in a game.
When the game ended Gru bolted off the ice and didn’t come back. Not sure why. I hope he just had to pee. =\
Grubauer is correct about team defense, but Grubie’s netminding has been exceptional this season.
I like Darren “Win Streaks are Fun” Brown better than that other guy
Other than goaltending, the underlying stats don’t look much different during the winning streak vs. the losing streak. We had less than 10 good offensive zone shifts in the entire Philly game. But who cares, we’re contenders again, woo hoo!
Grubauer seems to excel when he has a trustworthy defense in front of him. A 50/50 split with Daccord is the way forward.
And the team seems to play with more confidence when they don’t have to worry about their goalie as much. It’s so much easier to watch too.
Apparently underlying stats don’t dictate who actually wins a hockey game. There have been several games where the Kraken statistically “won the game” but the score went the other way.
One thing I don’t understand is when the media types claim Kraken games aren’t exciting when the scores are always so close and the play is tight. I don’t think they are actually watching.
The “exciting to watch” thing cracks me up too. Folks are still calling the Ducks “must watch” even though they acknowledge they’re “horrible defensively” (DFO Power Rankings). If I’m a fan of a team, watching them get smoked isn’t exciting to watch just because they’re doing it with speed. As bad as the Kraken have been, the Ducks have been even worse since their “hot start” faded, but they’re still fun to watch?
…also, since every game is it’s own event and there are only two possible outcomes, one team could have inferior underlying stats 10 games in a row, and still win those 10 games.
Darn those laws of chance and probability!!!
I do feel like the games are much more exciting in person this season vs on tv. There’s a lot that has happened that just isn’t getting caught by the cameras.
Good goaltending wins you games that you otherwise might have lost based on how the rest of the team played.
They also had a couple games during the losing streak where they “should have won” but were badly missing on open shots in high danger areas.
Last night Philly made a couple of mistakes on breakouts and we won a couple key forechecking battles that turned into goals.
All I’m saying is that we didn’t suddenly go from a top-5 pick to a playoff team in the span of a week. We got a little better and a little luckier.
The team has been in playoff picture pretty much all year when you look at points percentage. Raw points are basically irrelevant when you’ve played significantly fewer games than a lot of opponents and the standings are this tight.
They didn’t go from a top 5 pick to a playoff team in week. They are what they have been all year, a bubble team.
That’s honestly idiotic. We literally went from a playoff team to a non playoff team in a week.