Never a doubt! Not to sound hyperbolic, but of the 26 wins the Seattle Kraken have now racked up this season, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in their building on Saturday may have been the biggest one yet.
Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, let it slip away in the second, but recovered in the third and then held on for dear life to secure a victory that pulled them within three points of the first-place Golden Knights and opened a small two-point cushion on Anaheim and Los Angeles, their next two opponents.
Eeli Tolvanen, Jared McCann, and Kaapo Kakko had the goals, and Chandler Stephenson recorded two assists against his former team.
Here are Three Takeaways from a huge 3-2 Kraken win over the Golden Knights.
Takeaway 1: Joey Daccord was the difference
This team has gone as its goaltending has gone. When the goalies have been outstanding, the Kraken have won. When they’ve been just OK, they haven’t. Lately, both Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer have been outstanding, and the Kraken have—unsurprisingly—won five of their last six.
After a stretch of alternating goalies from game to game, coach Lane Lambert recently gave Grubauer two straight starts against the Islanders and Ducks. It had been a while since Daccord played consecutive games, but Lambert gave Joey the nod again Saturday after a solid outing Thursday against Toronto, and Daccord rewarded him.
Daccord stopped 27 of 29 shots, plainly outplaying his counterpart at the other end, Akira Schmid, who allowed three goals on 23 shots and continued a mediocre season.
Joey was especially big in the third period. A few minutes after Kakko restored Seattle’s 3-2 lead, Adam Larsson joined the rush as the trailer, took a feed from McCann, and rifled a shot wide of Schmid. Larsson missed badly enough that the puck rimmed around to Jack Eichel on the half wall, springing Vegas the other way. Having taken himself out of the play, Larsson couldn’t recover in time, and Eichel easily sent Ivan Barbashev in alone on a breakaway.
Barbashev—who had already scored once in the game—cruised down Las Vegas Boulevard and ripped a shot that Daccord snared to keep Seattle in front.
🗣JOEYYYYYYYYYY!
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 1, 2026
Ivan Barbashev gets a breakaway after Adam Larsson slid down for a shot and missed wide.
Daccord snares Barbashev's shot. What a save! pic.twitter.com/SvyJjVgI8y
Then, with time winding down, Daccord was exceptional in the final two minutes, battling through traffic and tracking shots off weird, broken plays and bouncing pucks.
When the horn sounded, Daccord celebrated accordingly.
NEVER A DOUBT! 🎉
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 1, 2026
What a celebration by Joey Daccord, as the #SeaKraken hold on to defeat the 1st-place Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2.
Enormous win. pic.twitter.com/diIe1HRrf4
Takeaway 2: Bend, don’t break
Any time a team coughs up a two-goal lead—especially in the fashion Seattle did in the second period—it’s not a great feeling heading into the third.
The Kraken had opened the scoring after Stephenson set up Ryan Winterton, who created a rebound for Tolvanen at 6:50 of the first. McCann followed that up with a one-time missile off a Vince Dunn feed on the power play to make it 2-0 at 13:04.
MCCANN CAN! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 1, 2026
Power-play goal on a beautiful setup, Stephenson->Dunn->McCann->🥅
Three straight games with goals for McCann, 10th in January, 200th of his career.
2-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/xZ6LuPHF33
That was McCann’s 10th goal of the month (tying Matty Beniers, who set a franchise record for goals in a month last game), 200th of his career, and fourth in three games.
It was an excellent first period, punctuated by Jacob Melanson nearly putting Jonas Rondbjerg through the curved glass by the Kraken bench with one of his franchise-record 12 hits on the night.
Melly Smash! 💥
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 1, 2026
2-0 #SeaKraken through 20. Heckuva period. pic.twitter.com/ANyAS9EwVH
“We’ve talked about our starts, and it’s the third game in a row, I think, we scored first. The stats don’t lie,” Lambert said. “The guys have done a good job of making sure that they’re ready to go. It’s not that they weren’t [doing that] before, but I think there’s just a little extra focus that we had to have.”
The Kraken Hockey Network noted that Seattle is now 19-6-3 when scoring first this season and 20-0-0 when building a two-goal lead, underscoring just how critical those starts have been.
After the strong opening frame, the second period felt different. Vegas came out visibly intent on shifting momentum. Eichel found Barbashev with an elite pass to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 8:52, and Mitch Marner tied it with 11 seconds left after Seattle gave the Golden Knights’ lethal power play two straight opportunities.
Historically, giving up a tying goal that late in the second can be a backbreaker. But to Seattle’s credit, the group reset during the intermission, got Kakko’s goal off a fortunate bounce three minutes into the third, and then committed to protecting the lead the rest of the way.
KAAAAAAAAPO KAKKO! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) February 1, 2026
Kaedan Korczak knocks down Adam Larsson's shot nicely for Kakko, and he lofts it past Schmid.
3-2 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/jK263soC7g
“The message was, ‘It doesn’t matter how we got here. If we win a period, we win a game on the road in this building,’” Lambert said. “Whether you’re up 2-0, down 2-0, it doesn’t matter. The score is 2-2 right now, go win a period, and they did.”
Takeaway 3: Another huge win
The streakiness of this Kraken team has been wild this season. They lost 10 of 11 between November and December, then won eight of nine and went on a 10-game point streak from late December into early January. After another skid—losing six of seven—they’ve once again rebounded, winning five of six.
After the win over the Islanders, it felt like if Seattle could string together a run before the Olympic break, it could climb right back toward the top of the Pacific Division.
Lo and behold, aside from two brutal periods against Anaheim on Jan. 23, the Kraken have been playing some of their best hockey of the season and are now just three points from first place. Contributions are coming from throughout the lineup, and the goaltending has been excellent.
Now, Seattle gets a rare two-day break before facing those same Ducks in Anaheim on Tuesday and then closing out pre-Olympic play the following night in Los Angeles.
Talk about big games.
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!!!
I like it when the team is winning because they have different scorers on different night. This gives everyone the confidence to play two way hockey and do the coaches game plan. Holding Vegas to only 2 goals is also a big achievement.
“There’s winning, and then there’s misery”
What a great win! Go Kraken!
It’s great to see this team play with some jam. Melanson sets the bar early and the other guys fall in. “Hey! We can use our bodies to disrupt and impede people!” It’s fun to watch. Nothing is more frustrating than watching NHL players listlessly skate by an opposing player with the puck.
I have to add. The thing I LOVE about Melly is he isn’t a “shit stirrer” or a dirty player, and he’s not just checking for the hell of it. He is focused on playing hockey and trying to get the puck. He’s a very good player.
Regulation Wins this season:
Vegas: 18
Seattle: 20
You want to talk about a team feasting on loser points? Exhibit A: 2025-2026 Vegas Golden Knights!
There is no reason the Kraken can’t finish top 3 in the Pacific. Edmonton is probably the best bet for the top spot (although their regulation points percentage is the same as the Kraken: .509)… but after that, wide open for spots two and three. (The Athletic had Vegas 6th in their power rankings two weeks ago which seems, well, absurdly high. I’m sure Dom will drop them to 20 next week since they lost to the Kraken.)
A lot more fun this season that last, that’s for certain.
Dom’s model currently projects the Kraken to finish the season with 83 points. It would take a .393 points percentage over the final 22 to hit that mark… from a team that’s .565. Only the Canucks are that bad at .382. The Rangers are next at .446.
His odds for the Kraken to make the playoffs jumped up to 14% from 6% after the win over Vegas. MoneyPuck has them at 64%.
I think maybe Luszczyszyn’s model does a poor job quantifying defense and that combined with Seattle’s situational play creates a real problem for it.
Also they have a pretty soft remaining schedule (23rd) according to tankathon.
Some wins just hit different. What was the last time we saw them want a win that hard? Melanson, Kartye, and Gaudreau did their job well, but I don’t think the rest of the team even needed an energy boost. The whole roster left everything they had on the ice.
It may have gotten lost in the highlights, but did you notice Vince Dunn with the puck? He was throwing dimes up the ice and pulling off next-level stick-handling moves to defeat forecheckers the whole night. Yeah, he had the penalty, but he was seriously dialed in and was a huge part of how the Kraken were able to survive trips through the neutral zone so well. In a tough season like this one, it is easy to lose sight of just how talented Dunn actually is.
Ryker Evans has added “light guys up” to his list of skills this month, which is a bit of a surprise to me. You don’t normally expect smaller puck-moving defensemen to lay the wood, but Evans seems to be making a concerted effort to do just that. Maybe he noticed the reaction to all Melanson’s hits and thought, “well, hell, I can do that.”
Tye Kartye is back! And there he goes again, throwing hits, backchecking hard, and making a nuisance of himself. He, Melanson, and Freddy played together like it had been no time at all. Speaking of Freddy Gaudreau, his deployment was interesting. Lambert had him trading off with Chandler Stephenson on big defensive zone draws. He has Coach’s trust.
That brings us to the guys who put up the numbers. Of course, Jared McCann was not going to allow a new Kraken scoring record (goals in a month) get set without having his name added to the book. Team Finland FTW! Eeli and Kaapo are working on their Olympic shots ahead of the big tournament. On Tolvanen’s goal Stephenson displayed why secondary assists get tallied as points by the league. Him using his speed to force the defensemen right up to the front of the crease before popping that pass into the slot for Winterton was incredible.
That big finish from Joey Daccord was worthy of the celebration that followed. Joey was mauling teammates in his jubilation. Remember what John Madden used to say? “Don’t do the great thing if you can’t handle the celebration.”
All really good points.
Only things I’ll add are: Stephenson looked awesome, fast, and engaged last night. He was going toe-to-toe with Eichel for much of the game. He was too late to cover Barbashev in front of the net on their goal, but overall a solid effort.
Kartye was good, but he’s slow. There’s a significant difference in his pace vs. Catton’s.
Oleksiak is back to his turnover ways. He is almost a guaranteed turnover in the D-zone in the face of forecheck pressure. Even if the Kraken go for some upgrades, I’d be more than fine with him getting traded. He wasn’t as physical as Evans was last night and he’s like twice his size. Time to move on.
I’m on the Shane train! Or a Shaniac??
Interesting I thought Stephenson had an off game especially later in the game. I thought he was not engaging and watching plays develop a little too much. Directly responsible for the cross crease goal, that was his man and all he had to do was lift his stick but just watched him score. A few plays just drifting to the wall when they had zone possession leaving a lot of open space. During the goalie pull was up top and made no effort to block shots or make the point shots difficult just sat near the dots watching.
I’ve been impressed with him more this season for sure but thought he wasn’t interested in the game tonight?
That is interesting. Maybe the lesson is he’s a very inconsistent player, and you see what you pay attention to. That would explain how the SOH folks, many other fans, and I can all come to different conclusions about his play.
I know what you are talking about where Stephenson plays high on the penalty kill (or six-on-five in this case) and appears to give the blue liner all the time and space in the world. It is a trap I have noticed him spring a few times. He watches and waits for his man to lose focus on him or to make a little mistake. That is when he darts forward and stabs at the puck. Often it will pop out to center ice as happened during the first (or the second?) penalty kill in the game. On occasion, he is able to get control of it and sprint up ice, which is how he scores two shorthanded goals every year.
It is an obvious risk to allow the power play quarterback to largely do his thing, but the Kraken appear to invite long shots on the penalty kill. During the disaster that was the triangle-plus-one PK they had a high forward challenge the blue line, but since they went to the box scheme they have largely been content to play low and allow stuff up top in favor of shutting down cross ice passing. Stephenson’s rope-a-dope trick fits the box scheme. I imagine that is why the coaches give him so much PK time.
But he did miss the stick lift on the Barbashev goal. He tried to reach for it, but he was a moment too slow getting there and missed. Ivan Barbashev is quick.
Stephenson single-handedly made one of the goals happen and got an assist on another one. It’s really ok to just say you hate the guy and don’t parse the game well.
Nah, he made a valid observation. Stephenson is good in a unique way, but he is definitely not flawless. He has bad games on occasion. Boist said it pretty well above. Stephenson is not always consistent, and a viewer will see what he looks for. For example, I will see his sick speed move to create the Tolvanen goal, and Nino will see the defensive whiff on the Barbashev goal. Both happened.
I was so glad to see them start hard and fast. Set the tone and try to maintain. It reaps so many rewards. This was a good blueprint for every game going forward. Keep it!
Melanson’s checking skill is very, very good: 12 hits on Vegas, his second double digit hit night this season, and 108 hits on the season with only one minor penalty (he did get 5 for fighting, but opponent got 2 extra for roughing). Melanson leads the NHL in Hits/minute TOI.
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Darren’s take on netminding is on the money: Kraken rank 2nd in NHL in Goalie Point Shares.
As they say in the investment business “the trend is your friend” and given the way they’re playing right now it’s hard to see the Kraken not making the playoffs. The eighth seed would suck (hello Colorado!) but the 7th seed would (right now) would mean LV but they’re nowhere near as dominant as past years and (as last night showed) are eminently beatable. Any higher seed probably means Edmonton – also beatable. Would be great to get past the first round this time….
By “this time” do you mean again?
Opps yes correct – thanks for pointing that out.
I would not sweat Colorado in the playoffs too much given how the team that has won the President’s Trophy has fared in recent playoffs. The team you have to look out for is the one that is just getting hot right at the end of the season. We will not know who that is until after the Olympics are over, but it could be one of several teams. Vegas is better than they have been playing and could conceivably shift into another gear. Edmonton is notorious for late season heroics. The Mammoth are capable of scoring in bunches and do not have any gaping holes on defense. I can even envision a scenario where the Kings, resigning themselves to their season being over, trade a bag of pucks for a second round pick and a has-been thirty-five year-old with a bloated three-year contract only for said veteran to rediscover his scoring touch and turn their ridiculous number of one-goal losses into wins, and all of the sudden they become the wildcard that nobody wants to play against. Who knows? A lot of crazy stuff can happen in thirty games.