The Seattle Kraken have had decent results so far this season, but their three previous wins came against the very bad Calgary Flames, the even worse Calgary Flames again, and the floundering Detroit Red Wings.
Their first two outings against “good” teams ended in a 3-1 loss at the Edmonton Oilers and a 6-2 home loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. So, expectations were managed when they arrived in Washington to take on a Capitals team with its sights set on a Stanley Cup run.
But the Kraken had an OK first period, dominated much of the second, and then recovered in the third after coughing up the lead early in that final frame. They got timely scoring, more production from the fourth line, and big saves in big moments from Joey Daccord.
“We started off with a couple huge penalty kills right off the bat, our goaltender played really well when we needed him to, for sure, and I thought we stuck with it most of the night,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly, when they scored their third goal early in the third period, I liked the response on the bench. I liked the fact that the guys that were on the ice that got scored on just went straight to the center-ice dot and lined up. In other words, ‘Don’t take me off the ice.’ That means a lot to me.”
Here are Three Takeaways from an impressive 5-3 Kraken win over the Washington Capitals.
**Author’s note: I was under a time crunch to quickly hit the road for Philly after this one, so instead of watching the whole game and then giving my thoughts on a more macro level, I’m doing this rendition of Three Takeaways in a more chronological order than usual to get it written during the game. Enjoy!
Takeaway 1: Catton line gets ’em going again, Kraken escape first tied
The Kraken led the shots-on-goal race 11-8 after the first period, but like we saw from them in Detroit on Thursday, it didn’t feel like they should be tied at the first intermission. Perhaps that was because I had watched Seattle slap the puck around for several minutes in its own zone, fumbling it repeatedly in dangerous areas, before Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season and 930th of his NHL career to make it 2-1 at 16:47.
A couple minutes of incredibly sloppy puck management from the #SeaKraken ends with Alex Ovechkin scoring his first goal of the season. 2-1 #allcaps https://t.co/yiXQXYaZF6
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 11, 2026
But if we zoom out on that opening frame, put that little stretch of sloppy play in a safety deposit box, and throw away the key, there was a lot to like.
For example, the Kraken got themselves into penalty trouble early with two consecutive penalties (that’s not the part to like) to Ryker Evans and Chandler Stephenson. But the PK was stellar and allowed only one shot in almost four straight minutes of playing shorthanded.
Soon after that, the Berkly Catton line got Seattle going yet again—just as we had talked about with Lane Lambert on Sunday morning—when Vince Dunn found Kaapo Kakko with a perfect pass off the pads.
HEYYYY KAAPO KAKKO! 🚨 🕺 Just like we talked about with Lane Lambert this morning, the Catton line gets the #SeaKraken going again. Pass off the pads by Dunn, Kakko gets the rebound. 1-0 https://t.co/dZx91h6dmk
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 11, 2026
Add a beautiful spin move off Jakob Chychrun and a saucer pass by Stephenson in the dying seconds of the frame to set up Jordan Eberle, and you end up with a 2-2 tie through 20 minutes.
Again, on the whole, it was a solid opening period in a tough building against a tough team.
Takeaway 2: Fourth line comes through again
Where the first period felt more tilted in Washington’s favor than the shot count showed, the second period was the opposite. Seattle had the Caps penned in for several long stretches and had a handful of prime looks at Logan Thompson.
But while the top three lines all looked dangerous, it was the fourth line that finally broke through again at the 13:24 mark.
On a forecheck deep in the offensive zone, the first two players (F1 and F2) into the zone get on the puck and try to force the defensemen to cough it up, while the F3 goes to the front of the net. Ben Meyers (F1) and Ryan Winterton (F2) pried the puck loose twice, with Winterton ultimately winning it away from Justin Sourdif and putting it right onto Freddy Gaudreau’s stick in the low slot.
“It’s exactly what we talk about,” Lambert said. “And when I talk about pressure and gaps and all that, we’re [also] talking about 200 feet away from our net, so it starts there, and that’s kind of exactly what we’ve been talking about all year long. So, it’s kind of a nice little systems clip for us.”
As we’ve seen with Gaudreau on several occasions in the early stages of this season, he showed good skill and patience to wait out Thompson and slide a backhander past his right skate.
FREDDY EN FUEGO! 🔥 🚨 Textbook forecheck by Meyers and Winterton, and Freddy Gaudreau gets his third goal in two games. 3-2 #SeaKraken https://t.co/xajKyXvfsu
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 11, 2026
That’s three goals in two games for Freddy—he now has four on the season after scoring seven all of last season—and, eventually, after Ryan Winterton’s dagger later in the game, 13 combined points for the fourth line in those same two games.
Again, this fourth line producing this way could be one of the big keys to success for the Kraken this season.
Takeaway 3: Kraken recover for a monster win
Evans played a starring role on two of Washington’s goals in this one, first committing the turnover that led to the Ovechkin goal in the first, and then making the loose breakout pass that resulted in Boone Jenner’s tying goal 46 seconds into the third.
But to his credit—and to the credit of the Kraken as a whole—the team rode Daccord’s outstanding play after that goal and withstood an onslaught just long enough for Evans to start the play that led to Jared McCann’s eventual game-winning goal.
MCCANN CAN! 🚨 Wait, wait, wait, shoot, score! 4-3 #SeaKraken with five minutes left. https://t.co/fFCDl9Mjyn
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 11, 2026
“[Evans has] been playing really, really well for us, using his legs, using his speed, making breakout plays,” Lambert said. “You know what? When you’re playing that much, and you have the puck on your stick that much, there is some possibilities that you’re going to make some errors at times. But it just shows, you shake it off, and then, also, what a great block there at the end.”
And hey, how about Ryan Winterton getting his first goal of the season as the dagger? He’s had so many great looks this season, and his goal meant the fourth line once again all contributed two points on the night.
That’s a huge win in these early stages of the season for the Kraken for a lot of reasons.
What say you, folks?
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 say FABULOUS! And thanks for the shoutout on the pod…I’m back to work where I belong! See you around, SOH!
Really glad Winterton got to see one go in. Gaudreau has been terrific to start the year, but it really feels like Winterton is the player that brings the juice and activates that 4th line. He’s always flown under the radar a bit as a 3rd round pick who was hurt a lot during his time in the OHL, but he has some real speed, skill, and competitivenes. I’m happy to have that on our 4th line for now, but I think he has a larger role in him as he matures.
On Winterton… I really didn’t miss watching Tanev shovel that puck right into the goalies chest.
We fans were so much more forgiving of missed scoring opportunities in the first couple seasons. Remember how genuinely happy everyone was for Joonas Donskoi when he finally got his first goal of the season after shooting a bazillion pucks on-net and getting robbed constantly like a tourist in Tiajuana? I miss that. We didn’t pretend to know anything; we just loved our boys.
I say good start to the 5-game road trip and season.
It was another good day for Josh Mahura and Ville Ottavainen, and Vince Dunn was once again shut-down against the rush. Lambert is right that Ryker Evans got unlucky with his break-out attempts. It happens when you want to make plays up-ice, which he did to Jared McCann’s benefit.
That Gaudreau/Winterton/Meyers line has just been gold. What do they do when Jacob Melanson gets back? You just can’t scratch Winterton at this point. If anything, he needs to move up the lines, but there is no spot open. And did you see Meyers duck that big run McIlrathtook at him? He still took a glancing shot, but that is why you play with your head up.
I noticed that the Catton line picked up some defensive zone draws. Berkley Catton still is not a face-off guy, but he will get there. And Shane Wright went to the dot a couple times, I suspect to take advantage of having both a right-handed center and a left-handed center on the same line to face specific opponents.
Last year after a good start the Lane train ran off the track. So far this season there seems to be good chemistry with the team and they are actually putting the puck in the net, a very good sign so far… Go Kraken!!!
if you told me (i know its only 6 games, im not getting ahead of myself) that the kraken would be tied for second most goals scored in the league id laugh in your face.
you know what the most prevalent theme ive noticed so far is? RESPONSE. they are almost immediately scoring response goals or applying pressure. early in the season and i cant tell you how many times i groaned during the wings, knights and caps games as a beautiful play falls apart right at the net, or an terrible breakout pass kills momentum, or a puck hops a stick but everytime i think sloppy hockey is all im going to see for the rest of the period they stitch together an impressive handful of sequences while the goalies stand on their heads and then suddenly theyve scored 2 goals. i almost dont believe what im seeing and i mean that in a good way.
still irritated about loose plays like the one that lead to the ovechkin goal but if the team is always going to respond like they have been ill get over it. everyone looks dangerous right now and thats awesome 1 more win on this roadtrip will have me pretty satisfied with this trip but if they end up with 3+ points ill be ecstatic! been a lot of fun to watch
Somehow this team made up of old middle-sixers is icing two scoring lines that have just one skater over 25 (McCann 30).
Weird.
We’re already hearing the comments from the national media. “The Kraken are a mystery. They’re confusing!” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. All our players, coaches and KHN team talk about is rolling four lines. That’s literally all they talk about, but no one can wrap their head around it.
This is starting to feel like a re-run of Season 2. Same exact media narrative. “No one understands The Kraken.”
First off, let’s hope Melanson is okay. That diagnosis was scary.
I am happy the fourth line is providing scoring. But it is also unsustainable when the fourth line is providing (most of) your scoring.
Ryker has played well so far this season. I thought those kinds of panicky plays were behind him. The play before the Ovechkin’s goal actually reminded me of that Rasmus Andersson’s play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when he tried to switch the puck from his backhand to forehand behind the net leading Stankoven’s goal that changed the momentum of the whole series.
Let’s go Kraken! Let’s take this momentum to Philly!
It was really cool to watch all four of our 1st through 4th round picks in the 2021 draft (Matty, Ryker, Ryan and Ville) all playing in this win. That is great.
I get a little nervous when The Kraken possess the puck low in our D zone, regardless of who is back there. Ryker just reminded us a couple times he is still a young NHL player. Good news is he really takes these things to heart, in a good way, and he will be thinking of ways to improve. No doubt about it.
Great win. Go Kraken!
Oh yeah. Melanson could easily have played in that game if not injured. That’s all players from rounds 1-5 of the 2021 draft.
And meanwhile in Russia, Semyon Vyazavoi was winning the KHL Goalie of the Month award. Say what you will about Ron Francis, he hit that first draft out of the park.
I was thinking about 4th line production prior to reading this. For the Kraken to make the playoffs they’ll need “outsized” production to replicate the 2022/23 experience. What is “outsized”? Hard to beat the 2022/23 production, but something like 35+ goals between them (Winterson, Gaudreau, Myers) would help.
Given their lack of top-tier scoring talent, the Kraken have adopted the balanced scoring approach out of necessity – which requires consistent production up and down the roster. Sounds like a disadvantage, but maybe not. The advantage being the ability to (somewhat) sustain success despite an injury (or two). Not wishing injuries to anyone, but if Edmonton loses either McDavid or Draisaitl their season is over. Same for Vegas and Eichel/Marner. The salary cap era has forced teams retaining elite talent (and their salaries) to hollow-out their rosters. The Kraken haven’t been forced to make this choice.
What the Gaudreau line has been doing is absolutely absurd. Gaudreau, Winterton, and Meyers have scored six goals in six games between them despite taking fewer than 30% of their 5-on-5 draws in the offensive zone. They are scoring on break-aways and on transition from plays that begin in their own zone. That’s game-changing; it tilts the ice. It’s also probably completely unsustainable. I mean, unless they and the defensemen really are just that good at puck battles and break-outs.
Speaking of 5-on-5 o-zone start percentage, have you seen what has happened to Matty’s number? It has dropped 12% from the previous season down to 42%, meaning he is taking a lot more defensive zone draws, likely owing in part to the offensive success of the Gaudreau and Catton lines. So now Beniers gets to actually play that 200-ft. game of his, and with McCann back to full-strength the top line doesn’t even have to surrender offensive production.
And Chandler Stephenson has looked just so damn good this month, hasn’t he? A goal and five assists in six games. Do you know what his 5-on-5 o-zone start percentage is? It’s up five points from last season to 46%, a little shy of an even split, so the play making that is the hallmark of his game is getting a chance to shine. The production of the Gaudreau line and the Catton line (down to 58% so far) have made it possible for the Kraken to actually for the first time ever play to their players’ respective strengths. Nobody has to be sheltered. Nobody has to do all the dirty work. It is why we are seeing that production up and down the roster that you are talking about. Hopefully they will be able to keep it going when the Gaudreau line’s numbers inevitably come back to reality.