That’s a shame. The Seattle Kraken took a good swing at the high-flying Edmonton Oilers on Monday, but one of the NHL’s best teams gained a shred of momentum in the second period, and that was all it needed to slip past Seattle for a 4-2 win.
In a game where the Kraken scored first—thanks to a positive goalie interference bounce—and carried a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes, they just couldn’t keep their foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes. In the end, a second-period lapse and a dismal power play cost them.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken loss to the Oilers.
Takeaway #1: Second-period letdown
The Kraken earned their second 5-on-3 in as many games toward the end of the first period. Even with the massive advantage, they didn’t generate much, and the Oilers came out and killed off the remaining 35 seconds when the second stanza began.
That seemed to spark Edmonton. Soon after returning to full strength, Connor McDavid had a 2-on-1 opportunity with Zach Hyman. Joey Daccord stopped the initial shot but lost track of it after it deflected off the inside of his blocker. McDavid buried his own rebound, tying the game at 2-2.
They gotta watch out for 97.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 28, 2025
2-on-1 rush, and McDavid gets his own rebound. Daccord loses track of it after it hit the inside of his blocker.
Oilers looking a little different to start the 2nd so far…
2-2. #SeaKraken #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/yIz3aMQGqk
The eventual game-winning goal by Corey Perry, scored at 9:38 of the second, came with several oddities. A little earlier, Hyman hit the crossbar with a wide-open net, and everyone in Rogers Place—including a goal horn operator with an itchy trigger finger—thought it was in. The horn blast created confusion in the building, and play on the ice went back and forth in a firewagony style. Seattle seemed momentarily disorganized.
Perry capitalized on the chaos by pulling off a variation of the “Hocus Pocus” play, sneaking onto the ice unnoticed by taking his time with a line change. While his mates defended down a man in their zone, Perry lingered near the offensive blue line, until Darnell Nurse found him with a stretch pass for a breakaway.
It was a clever move, but I partly blame the goal horn operator for causing the initial confusion. I also fault the Kraken for failing to convert on a 5-on-3, a missed opportunity that loomed large.
Takeaway #2: The power play killed the Kraken
I already mentioned the 5-on-3 in the previous Takeaway, but the Kraken’s power play as a whole struggled mightily in this game. Seattle had four power-play opportunities compared to Edmonton’s one. Not only did the Kraken fail to score on any of them, but they also struggled to create sustained pressure.
Coach Dan Bylsma didn’t hold back when assessing the team’s performance with the manpower advantage.
“Even the one in the third period, I think it was… It just wasn’t good enough,” Bylsma said. “You want your power play, A., to provide a goal, but B., provide a spark, and the power play didn’t do that. And that was a dent in the game.”
It’s also so easy to point to the failed 5-on-3 as the turning point in the game. Remember, against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Seattle converted on a 5-on-3, and that put the game on the rails for the Kraken. Bylsma emphasized after that game how crucial it was to convert on the opportunity.
But on this night, the Oilers killed the penalties with ease, and momentum swung firmly in their favor.
Takeaway #3: Interesting goaltending decision
Before the game, I was curious how Bylsma would manage his goaltenders for this back-to-back with travel. Conventional wisdom suggests using your stronger goalie against the better team and your backup against the weaker one.
Even with Joey Daccord in net for his 10th consecutive game (he didn’t start all of them but played in each), this matchup against the Oilers always felt like an uphill battle for the Kraken. To win, they needed more stellar play from Daccord and a full 60-minute effort from the team.
Daccord was solid, making 27 saves, though perhaps not as sharp as in his previous outings. Meanwhile, the team played well but fell short of the sustained 60-minute effort required to beat a team like Edmonton.
Now, Bylsma has no choice but to start Philipp Grubauer on Tuesday when the Anaheim Ducks visit Climate Pledge Arena. That shouldn’t be a concern; your backup goalie, especially one earning $5.9 million, should be able to handle the second game of a back-to-back against a relatively weak opponent.
But Grubauer has had two of his worst performances of his Kraken tenure when handling one segment of back-to-backs. On Nov. 29, he gave up seven goals on 26 shots in an 8-5 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the first of back-to-backs. That night, Bylsma clearly wanted to get the hook but resisted, knowing that he needed Daccord for the following night. Then, on Jan. 12, when Grubauer started the second leg of a back-to-back at the Detroit Red Wings, he allowed three goals on four shots before Daccord was forced to step in. That was the last time Grubauer has seen game action.
Part of me would have preferred to see Daccord rested Monday, giving Seattle the best chance to earn two points out of these four on Tuesday. That said, it was also encouraging to see the Kraken remain competitive with the Oilers, so… insert shrug emoji here.
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.
In our fourth year of experimentation we are firmly in 27th place, bravo to this team, to management and owners!
New day and new heights, we are 28th! Congrats everybody!
Sinking like the Titanic.
Almost guaranteeing a top 5 draft choice. Hopefully it’ll be a very great pick!
Woof, was that power play ever bad. The neutral zone should not be a problem area when the team has a man advantage, but it clearly was. It wasted some otherwise very good performances on the night by Ryker Evans, Matty Beniers, and Chandler Stephenson. Matty in particular looked seriously good defending against Dreiseitl and McDavid. You could tell that they were getting pissed at him. The Wright line had an uneven night. Sometimes they were driving momentum, and other times they got run off the ice. Adam Larsson played noticeably well in the defensive zone in particular. He personally blew up a couple of Edmonton’s plays just as they were getting dangerous. Two goals just ain’t gonna do it against Edmonton, though, and the reason why they didn’t get more was the power play.
Ok. We aren’t good and expecting to beat teams of this caliber should be low and the playoffs are a distant fever dream but expecting to see SOME improvements from here on shouldn’t be too much to ask right? The PP was a total mess. At some points it looked like a team that didn’t know what the hell to do and that the PP was some new invention they’d never practiced or even knew what the basic concept of it was. Even with 2 (2!) extra attackers they completely fumbled around out there and I’m glad Dan didn’t hold back on voicing his displeasure. I just hope that we aren’t having these same disappointments come December of next season. This coaching staff and players have been together long enough that everyone (except Kakko) should know their assignments but sometimes it looks like year 1 out there. Lord help us all if we are having these same discussions a year from now.
We will be having these same discussions in some form or another a year from now. 2 years from now is where I think this team starts to put it together.
Bingo. There is NO excuse (other than maybe bad coaching and not having nearly enough talent) for being unable to get gain O-zone entry and set up on a 5 on 3 situation. They were actually dumping and chasing!! That is totally inexcusable. I have not been impressed with their PP at all this year. I’d fire the entire coaching staff before firing RF. This team has never been this bad defensively, or looked so out of sync offensively, or on special teams. They are way underplaying their talent level.
What an embarrassing joke on the power play. Can’t even get shots on goal with a 5 on 3 advantage.
Good news daily, is the all around play of Beniers. He’s maturing into a future star and worthy of his number 2 draft selection.
Go Kraken!!!
I was very surprised by the coaching decision to play Daccord. I felt a betting man would play the odds game and put yourself in the best position possible to walk away with two points in two games especially since Daccord has had a long run of games. I feel our odds are not great today, tired team with Grubauer in net 😞.
Dave Hakstol doesn’t look so bad anymore compared to the overall play of this current team. He led the team almost through the second round of the playoffs in the team’s second year. Sure last year the team regressed, but I believe if he and his coaches were still here they would be playing better this year then what we are witnessing.
I don’t think H was the right choice but I do feel he had a much better assistant coaching staff. You must remember the rumors that a number of key players refused to play for H if he stayed another season.
Thanks for that reminder. That’s right there were those rumors.
His coaching staff well may have been the main reason for the second season success.
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