It was not the prettiest of victories, but the Seattle Kraken managed to grind out a 4–3 shootout win in Vancouver to sweep another back-to-back. Yes, you read that right: shootout, back‑to‑back, and win in the same sentence.
The Kraken opened the scoring with the most unlikely of goal scorers. Cale Fleury, who had been a healthy scratch for the first 30 games of the season and hadn’t scored since November, 2019, uncorked a bomb to net his first goal as a Seattle Kraken.
1-0 #SeaKraken
Cale Fleury with his first goal with Seattle! pic.twitter.com/C8ibMEhDn4
— Alison (@AlisonL) January 3, 2026
The Kraken added a second goal on a wild power‑play sequence when Jordan Eberle found Chandler Stephenson on a rush chance down low halfway through the second. That goal came moments after Vancouver had flubbed a 2-on-0 opportunity at the other end, failing to put a shot toward Joey Daccord.
The fourth line chipped in again at a critical moment. Late in the second, after the Canucks had pulled within one, Jacob Melanson made a sharp defensive‑zone play to spring Ryan Winterton through the neutral zone. Winterton streaked down the boards, drove low, and eventually found Ben Meyers, who out‑hustled a pair of Canucks to bury a perfect feed for Seattle’s third goal of the night. It’s exactly the kind of play we’ve come to expect from this trio, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
KRAKEN GOAL!!!! The 4th line comes through again. Melanson-Winterton to Ben Meyers. Huge goal in the final minutes of the 2nd period. #SeaKraken up 3-1. pic.twitter.com/Co6lxewnfh
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 3, 2026
Vancouver answered with a power‑play goal late in the second to pull within one, then tied it in the third on a Linus Karlsson backhander that forced the overtime.
The game would eventually land in a shootout where Vancouver’s first three shooters could not convert while Freddy Gaudreau and Kaapo Kakko fell short for Seattle. That would set up Matty Beniers as the final shooter of the night.
Matty. Beniers. pic.twitter.com/DTApgyjmw9
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 3, 2026
There were long stretches where it felt like the Canucks were dictating play with sustained zone time, but as we’ve seen time and time again this season, the Kraken’s defensive structure kept them afloat long enough to steal the win.
Takeaway 1: A shootout win, in this economy?
Before Friday night, the Kraken were 0–4 in shootouts this season, and their shooters were converting at just 16.7 percent, well below the league average of 31.9 percent. It was starting to feel like simply reaching a shootout meant a loss was incoming.
Speaking to the media after the game, head coach Lane Lambert admitted they needed to shake things up: “This is no disrespect to any of the guys that have gone previously, we just haven’t been able to win one. So we had to switch it up, and we did.”
Never a doubt!!! pic.twitter.com/Z9jkrTx5Uy
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 3, 2026
Matty Beniers entered the night 1‑for‑10 in his career and hadn’t taken a shootout attempt in the previous four shootout games this season. His last and only shootout goal came back in December, 2023.
Takeaway 2: Bend, don’t break
As mentioned above, Vancouver controlled massive stretches of play with sustained pressure in the Kraken zone. While Seattle would have preferred not to surrender the tying goal in the third, it could have been far worse given how much time the Canucks spent buzzing in the Kraken zone. And yet, the Kraken actually out‑shot Vancouver 28–23. As we’ve talked about all season, this team is perfectly comfortable in tight, low‑event games, and Friday night was another classic example of what this 2025–26 Kraken group is all about.
Takeaway 3: Contributions of Shane Wright
Going a little off the board here, but Shane Wright deserves recognition for two specific plays. He wasn’t on the scoresheet and has struggled offensively of late, with just one shot in each of his last four games and no goals since Dec. 16. He’s well off last season’s pace in both goals and assists, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t contributing.
His first impact play came on Fleury’s goal, where he planted himself net‑front and created the perfect screen. The first goal is always huge, and I’m not sure that puck goes in if Shane isn’t on top of the crease stirring things up.
WE HAVE A #SEAKRAKEN GOAL. Cale Fleury with an absolute bomb. Kraken take a 1-0 lead with less than two minutes left in the first. pic.twitter.com/iprzoiM7mt
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 3, 2026
The second contribution was arguably a turning point. With the game tied and Seattle on the power play, Ryker Evans committed a brutal turnover that led to the aforementioned 2‑on‑0 shorthanded opportunity for Vancouver. Wright never gave up on the play, hustling back to get his stick on Kiefer Sherwood’s pass to Drew O’Connor, who had an empty net waiting. The Kraken scored 25 seconds later.
KRAKEN GOAL!!!! what a sequence of events…almost a disaster. Stephenson will eventually score on a great feed from Eberle. #SeaKraken up 2-0. pic.twitter.com/z4uy652EUG
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 3, 2026
You never know how the game unfolds if O’Connor buries that chance, and it’s a perfect example of how the little details can have dramatic impacts on a game.
The Kraken have points in seven straight games (6-0-1) and now sit in the first wild‑card spot, just two points back of the third‑place Anaheim Ducks with two games in hand. There’s still a long road ahead, but you have to like how this team is playing right now. Seattle gets two days off before heading to Calgary on Monday to begin the busiest stretch of the season.
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One note, although Jared McCann was on the bench throughout, he did not play the last eight minutes of regulation or overtime, and lines were clearly getting shuffled to work around him for the late stages of the game. He came out for a twirl during one of the late TV timeouts, appearing to test out the leg that has been causing him problems, but then we didn’t see him take another shift. His status will be something to monitor moving forward.
Go Kraken!!!
LL has shown that he can get these guys playing hockey and when he does we actually look pretty good. I don’t understand why he can’t let them play hockey for the entire game, sure sit back in the final two or even five minutes and play some LL hockey but otherwise let them play.
I am a believer that we’re a better team than we often look. That was very suspicious coaching to switch a playing style that was working very well against Vancouver, it almost cost us the game. Over half the game we almost always had three defenders back at all times and it’s wasn’t working.
They were tired AF.
It’s the same every game, once they have a lead they switch their system up and drop the F3 back. I don’t buy the tired as F.
I absolutely love how this team was roundly predicted to be total garbage but instead is solidly sitting in a playoff spot halfway through the season and some couch coaches are second guessing Lambert.
Nino, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… it sounds to me like what you want is exactly what Bylsma tried last season. It didn’t work. This season the “need to shoot the puck more” talk resurfaced, and once again the results followed. I’m not a tactician, but it seems to me this team doesn’t have the talent to “play hockey” and is going to have to rely on defense and situational deployment… and it’s working.
Second in the Division by points percentage and and you think you could do better with this roster? With these injuries?
Okay…
Daryl this is a very odd response.
First off there are 31 teams in the NHL that play more exciting hockey games then the Kraken do. Does it need to be Bylsma… no how about just a defensively responsible coach that isn’t content parking the bus half the game. Wouldn’t that be awesome 😎
So shoot the puck? So again….. it worked again? Was the other time that it worked the extended losing streak that followed the “shoot the fucking puck” explosion? We are getting more shots on net but we’re doing it right at the moment. We’re trying to get traffic and only spending half the game with three players playing defense, I’m kinda saying it’s working when we’re doing it but WTF do you (LL) have this uncontrollable need to switch the system up when it’s working during a game!!! We’re making it too easy on ourselves let’s give them 3/4 of the ice to do whatever they want to even the playing field? Hey and if that doesn’t help them then let’s just dump the puck back to them so they can try again.
We’ve seen a very concise effort from LL recently to let the players play a little more hockey then earlier in the season and it’s working…
Earlier even when we were winning we were on most nights being out played and only winning games because of outstanding goaltending. Recently I feel, most likely because of our extended losing streak, LL is allowing them to get to the net more and with better results….. but then he stops and still has to play his game even when it’s not necessary.
The lockdown is a very important tool for a coach to have in his bag but it doesn’t have to be played every game for half of it.
On to your final point… the playing hockey is working. When we push and try to play a more aggressive puck possession game we actually usually look like the better team and I don’t feel your argument that we’re not good enough to play like that holds water. If we’re not good enough to play like that why is it that it often gets us back in a game we’re down in and often gets us the lead when we’re not?
I don’t understand anything you said and obviously you have no clue what I’m saying if that’s you’re response.
I do not believe this team is built to be in a track meet or play 60 minutes of Canes hockey. Again, I’m not a tactician so I really don’t know and I don’t have the temerity to second guess a group of career NHL professionals. Certainly those folks make mistakes, but I absolutely do not belive I’m capable of outsmarting them in this – especially with limited insight – so I try and understand what it is they’re doing. To me it seems they can be aggressive and push for scoring, but I think if they try and do that start to finish, they’re gonna get their asses handed to em’. Maybe that’s why the staff “locks it down”? I don’t know, but I do know they’re in a playoff spot.
“I’m not a tactician so I really don’t know and I don’t have the temerity to second guess a group of career NHL”
So instead you second guess just about every other nhl team’s system…. Totally makes sense you should never second guess LL and his system.
We definitely need to play a more defensive system then Bylsma did I will never argue that BUT and this is something I’ve said all along since the hiring of LL… there is a middle ground. It’s that crazy balance between run and gun hockey and park the bus hockey. You’ve probably seen it even the Kraken do it to get the lead…..
But you right all those teams that play hockey know nothing, it’s all about how you dump the puck. 😂
Darren your a smart guy who knows hockey and go see a lot of live games.
This is something that is much easier to navigate during live play when you see the entire ice not just that is going on in the camera view.
Can you honestly say that you don’t notice the switch in system that we do once we have a lead. It’s not always a one goal lead but usually during the second period LL locks the system down just about every game. You honestly have to see this you can’t just think they are tired AF every game?
We switch to a just get the puck out let them have puck possession. It’s not even a good “trap” system we give up the neutral zone for the most part. It’s really just trying to make the zone entry difficult and dump the puck back out. If the F1 makes a good play and gains the zone we send in the F2 and F3 but only occasionally when we have clean possession.
They were definitely tired. You could tell on TV. They weren’t using their legs as much as just trying to get close and swiping their sticks at guys. It was pretty obvious.
Doesn’t matter anyway. A win is a win, and a Seattle win is what happened. Every good team in the league has had wins just like this.
Stationary hockey makes you look tired…. They were flat footed because they were back and waiting.
lol. If you say so. The more obvious answer is 2nd game of a back-to-back.
Not just taking about this game…
I would agree the team switches to a more shutdown mode and last night was particularly noticeable but IMHO, they had challenges even clearing the puck out of the zone. That’s an issue we haven’t talked about in 30 games.
But honestly, it works. What is the problem?
It barely worked. I just don’t understand how we can be paying a good game and it like.. ok guys that’s enough good hockey for today start dumping pucks?
Again not just referring to last night.
It works against the Vancouver Canucks. It doesn’t work against good teams.
They looked like it
And this is just the beginning of January–the month that the Kraken are slated to play more games than any other NHL team in history has played in a single month. They are going to be half-dead on their skates by the time the thirty-first rolls around. Man, do I hope that they stay healthy enough to rotate guys in and out of the lineup.
True, but I think there were some heavy legs showing as the game went on probably cause by the second half of the back to backs.
End results 2 more points and now top spot in the wild card and now only 3 points from the Pacific top spot. Granted there’s a long way to go yet.
Go Kraken!!!
Third by points percentage in the Pacific!!!
Oilers down 4-2 to the Flyers with less than ten minutes to go. If Edmonton drops the game in regulation, the Kraken will move to second in the Pacific by points percentage.
Hang in there Philly!
It’s official.
Kraken now second by points percentage in the Pacific.
Go Kraken!!!
Great perseverance. My only question is, who comes off when Jaden returns?
The next forward to get injured? Could be McCann again.
It’s gotta be Catton no? He needs another year of development. He’ll stay in that next man up role I’d like to think. That checking line is unbreakapartable. With Kartye rotating with winterton. That first line with kakko looks very good. Really crisp play from kakko recently. I see Gaudreau shifting back to third line and Schwartz shifting up to that second line. It’ll be interesting to see where Schwartz ends up at the trade deadline. Move him to make room for Catton? I can see that happening.
Catton isn’t going anywhere. He’s on the team.
If there was even a chance of that, we would have loaned him to Canada for the World Juniors. They probably asked him and he probably said “no”. Catton is a franchise fixture for this team.
Tired and sloppy, but not down and out. Another thing worth noting is they don’t seem to get too down after a goal against (lately) after that crappy call against Catton in OT, they hunkered down to get the PK. So glad they got the win. Back to back, back to backs. Go Kraken
Horrible call, it looked like a dive to me. Maybe EP40 just lost his footing but probably not.
Oleksiak has been solid lately. With an expiring contract and both Mahura and Fleury looking good when theGy get in games I wonder if JB will be willing to move him before the deadline if we get a good enough return.
Every game the 4th line is reminding me of how impactful a those role guys can be to the tempo and dynamics of a game. It has been noticeable how often LL rolls them out right after we get pinned in our zone for extended periods and guys get on their heels.
Oleksiak has been solid all season for the most part, the everybody back really helps his game.
Fleury deserves to be a full time NHL player, I feel sorry for him that’s he’s stuck behind a deep defense. I feel like we could trade a defender and be just fine.
Injuries happen, though. Montour already out. We only have one backup, Mahura, if another gets injured. Still a lot of hockey left.
Fleury is still young enough to get that contract someday.
He’s 27, he’s in the prime zone right now. He should be playing every game. Those backup to backup guys should be older vets that don’t have any upside not guys like Fleury.
I’m ok with it. So is he, apparently.
You honestly think he’s ok with not playing hockey? After you get that quote post it I’d be surprised.
He knew what he was getting into. Kraken could lose him when he’s a UFA.
I don’t think he expected to play every night in the NHL.
Still not so sure about this. Fleury signed a one way two year contract with the kraken this summer, he didn’t have a lot of bargaining power as he wasn’t unrestricted. Following his signing and later in the month the kraken signed Ryan. That clearly wasn’t part of Fleurys plan to be a year long backup to a backup when he signed.
In February they will be able to trade somebody. Nobody is getting traded this month without somebody capable coming back. Also, as things stand, Botterill may be disinclined to move anybody at all out, especially someone who is playing as well as Oleksiak is. The playoffs loom as a not-unlikely destination for this team. I wonder if come February contract extensions for certain valuable contributors on expiring deals may begin to materialize instead of trades out of town. Do Oleksiak, Eberle, or Schwartz, have enough left in the tank to justify a new deal? Can Botterill convince Eeli Tolvanen’s agent to not take the team’s leading hit-throwing, point-getting future Olympian to free agency and sign a new contract instead? Wannabe GMs are going to have some stories to follow before the trade deadline.
Darren, my son and I were at the game too, along with some other youth hockey friends!
The interference call was especially baffling in the building when the ref called it on number 29 by mistake. Having seen the replay, I’m with the intern. That call was weak as hell. Catton was not even looking at the canuck, the canuck skated into catton, and then flopped dramatically.
What was going on with McCann? He barely appeared in the last part of the game. We thought he might be hurt.
One note, although Jared McCann was on the bench throughout, he did not play the last eight minutes of regulation or overtime, and lines were clearly getting shuffled to work around him for the late stages of the game. He came out for a twirl during one of the late TV timeouts, appearing to test out the leg that has been causing him problems, but then we didn’t see him take another shift. His status will be something to monitor moving forward.
Oh thanks. either that last bit was added later or I just missed it somehow.
Did anyone else hear what Meli said when he gave away the helmet? It was kind of hilarious. He said something like “great interference there, Berks.” 🤣
I love Meli. This team seems relaxed, which is great.
Team did a great job overcoming one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. After a PK that looked pretty terrible that was a great effort!
Really appreciate the recognition for Wright. How about Meyers, great game from him!!
This team is super weird. Good on defense except terrible on the PK. Abysmal on offense except for a couple of stretches every game when they are pretty good. In a playoff spot but have less wins than several teams below them and less than every team in the Eastern Conference.
I’m getting worried about Catton and how he’s handling things mentally/emotionally. He legitimately looked like he was holding back tears when he got the interference call. And his body language and his expression just seem to be getting more and more dejected when he has another shot attempt stopped or blocked.
Also, he’s got to start checking properly instead of using his stick or holding – he’s gotten himself onto the ref’s radar with those moves and he’s not going to get the benefit of the doubt, which leads to things like the interference call.
He needs some confidence (and probably some protection). There’s got to be a way to get him some time in CV either before or during the Olympic break and a chance to just get some pucks into the net. In the meantime, get someone onto that line that can provide some physicality. If McCann is injured (again), move Melanson or Kartye up there. Or consider swapping McCann with Tolvanen or Kakko. At the very least, get Tolvanen to spend some time with him on hitting and checking – or even Eberle – as they’re all roughly the same size.
I don’t think Catton can check properly because of physics. He is a skinny dude, and as a result he gets bodied off the puck and bounces off big guys. He has no choice but to rely on his stick work and whatever he can grab onto. An off-season of weight training combined with youthful testosterone will do wonders for him. We should send him a care package full of ground beef and whey powder when this campaign is over.
I know it’s not always accurate, but according to the team roster info, Catton is 5’10” / 179, Eberle is 5’11” / 180 and Tolvanen is 5’10” / 182. Build-wise, I’d say Tolvanen is stockier, but Eberle and Catton are somewhat similar.
That’s like comparing a rookie to Michael Jordan just because they happen to be the same height and weight.
BTW Catton is the same height and weight of half of the Kraken team roster…. the whole team is so (compared to rest of NHL) small there is no retribution when more physical teams get desperate and/or strategically rougher.