The Seattle Kraken took the ice in Toronto under the bright lights of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. And, following their fourth-straight overtime contest, the team took home a rare win over the Maple Leafs, 4-3.
There were a number of storylines going into this one. Seattle’s hockey team was squaring off against Toronto’s squad the night before the cities’ baseball teams are set to face one another in Game 6 of the ALCS. Meanwhile, the Kraken personnel situation was strained, with mounting injuries (Freddy Gaudreau will miss four-to-six weeks) and other absences (Brandon Montour is away from the team right now for a personal reason). And Lane Lambert was returning to take on the team he coached last season.
In the end, though, the Kraken made their way through all of those distractions and delivered a sound, detailed effort against a high-powered Toronto team. There were isolated breakdowns in Seattle’s game (unnecessary penalties, failed or indecisive challenges at the blue line), but there was more good than bad overall on this night.
“[The Kraken] outworked us in front of the net. They blocked shots. They beat us up and down the ice,” Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz said postgame. “The score was indicative of that. They just outworked us, plain and simple.”
We’ll highlight a couple of the hardworking “plays before the play” that made a big difference in the outcome tonight.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken win over the Maple Leafs.
Takeaway #1: Nyman generates offensive-zone possession, gets rewarded
There were aspects of Jani Nyman’s game Saturday that were not perfect (he struggled with breakouts and transition skating a bit), but still, Nyman delivered one of his better performances in the National Hockey League on the strength of his work low in the offensive zone. In the first period, he dominated possession below the goal line to the extent that Toronto’s Nicolas Roy eventually got his stick in a bad position and tripped Nyman.
Excellent wall work from Li’l Jani, who draws the tripping call. #SeaKraken to the powerplay. pic.twitter.com/n4jFrvI7Jg
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 18, 2025
This sent the Kraken to the power play where Seattle grabbed an early lead on Shane Wright’s rebound goal.
Shane Wright buries a powerplay rebound from Marchment to open the scoring! A fitting way to celebrate his 100th NHL game. #SeaKraken up 1-0. Kraken have held #LeafsForever to zero shots so far. pic.twitter.com/OgBxClK7F3
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 18, 2025
Nyman’s work was a big part of that score. And the coaching staff recognized that, elevating Nyman into a middle-six role alongside Wright and Mason Marchment for the remainder of the game.
Nyman continued to deliver in the second period. After a brief push by the Maple Leafs, Nyman helped flip the momentum midway through the frame by contributing to another dominating possession shift in the offensive zone. That work cemented Nyman’s elevation and kept him on Wright’s line and in position to receive a feed from Marchment that Nyman would bury for Seattle’s second goal.
LI'L JANI! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 19, 2025
GREAT play by Shane Wright and Mason Marchment, and Jani Nyman blasts it home!
2-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/HJcshJa3Iz
In the end, Nyman posted a season-high 13:23 TOI. When Nyman, Marchment, and Wright were on the ice together 5-on-5, the Kraken had 63.57 percent of total shot quality, according to Natural Stat Trick. Nyman was a big part of Seattle’s success in this game.
Ryan Winterton was the player that moved down due to Nyman’s elevation. To Winterton’s credit, he continued to play his forechecking and backchecking game there, looking comfortable alongside his former Coachella Valley teammates Tye Kartye and John Hayden.
Takeaway #2: Seattle’s net-front work creates offense
As Stolarz said, the Kraken outworked the Maple Leafs at the front of the net all night. While Seattle forced the large majority of the Maple Leafs’ shots on Joey Daccord’s net to the outside, they were equally effective getting in close to Stolarz and making his life uncomfortable.
Seattle’s third goal may read like a simple, low-danger point shot from Vince Dunn in the box score, but the goal doesn’t happen without Jaden Schwartz’s hard-nosed play at the net front. If Schwartz is not working to that difficult area, the Toronto defender Brandon Carlo is not forced to make a split-second decision on checking through Schwartz’s body to prevent a potential rebound chance. Unfortunately for Carlo, Schwartz’s effective net-front screen turned into some legal “goaltender interference” as Carlo propelled Schwartz into Stolarz, allowing Dunn’s shot to pass uncontested.
“Ugly” goals like this come from the hard work. And, so far this season, the Kraken are putting in that work.
HE DUNN DID IT! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 19, 2025
Jaden Schwartz gets shoved into Stolarz by Brandon Carlo, and Vince Dunn gets a good bounce. #SeaKraken regain a 3-2 lead. pic.twitter.com/a7IKQ2UZTM
Takeaway #3: Work without the puck delivers the game-winner in overtime
Overtime hockey is all about puck possession. With Toronto gaining control first, Seattle needed to stay patient and prepare for any opportunity to seize the puck back. Schwartz did just that early in the overtime, when he stripped a puck clean in a confined area behind the net. This takeaway set Seattle up with a number of chances to win the game, which Stolarz rebuffed (at least temporarily).
Later in the five-minute frame, Chandler Stephenson redeemed an earlier sloppy possession play with a hard-skating backcheck to disrupt a transition chance from William Nylander. The Kraken gained possession thereafter, transitioned back to offense, sprung Josh Mahura on a breakaway, and the blueliner buried the game-winning shot—much to Stolarz’s chagrin.
no better time to score your first goal as a #SeaKraken 💙🩵 pic.twitter.com/6GTLKszCNF
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) October 19, 2025
The goal was Mahura’s first as a Kraken. Coincidentally, Mahura’s last goal, which came in 2023 as a member of the Florida Panthers, was also scored in Toronto. The goaltender Mahura scored on? Current teammate Matt Murray.
Bonus: You don’t see that everyday
At 19:05 in the second period, Marchment lost his edge attempting a transition chance, plowed into Stolarz, and came to a stop in the Leafs’ net. Stolarz—likely still hot from giving up a goal with Schwartz in his lap just over a minute earlier—had seen enough. He got to his feet, threw the goal off its pegs and dove on Marchment in attack mode. For a moment it seemed like we were watching pro wrestling. “I [was] not happy,” Stolarz said of the collision. “If guys are going to run me, I’m going to stand up for myself.” You don’t see that move everyday.
Mason Marchment slams into Anthony Stolarz, and an incensed Stolarz gets up and takes it out on the goal, for some reason. All heck breaks loose. #SeaKraken take a 3-2 lead to the 3rd. Goals by Nyman, Tavares, and Dunn in 2nd.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 19, 2025
Marchment will have 1:06 of penalty time left. pic.twitter.com/BfZCTto1Kw
The road ahead
The Kraken have taken four of a possible six points in the first three games of this difficult road trip. Overall, the team still has not lost in regulation this season. Seattle’s next game will come in Philadelphia on Monday. Puck drop is at 4:00 pm PDT.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Bluesky @deepseahockey.
I think Jani is here to stay and if he is, I don’t think you’re the least bit surprised Curtis.
On to Philly.
Go Kraken!!!
Toronto left Jani wide open in his absolute favorite spot on the ice – I doubt they’d done any scouting on him.
My biggest concern with him has been how he would fare once teams had played against him and/or scouted him because he wasn’t showing much beyond that shot. However, he’s been strong and tenacious against the wall and behind the net and deserved to be bumped up tonight.
Speaking of tenacious – I really like what I’ve seen so far in terms of going for rebounds and keeping possession after missed shots. That was another place last year that was infuriating – where a Seattle player would make a shot and then just surrender possession without even bothering to try for a rebound or recovery. There’s been a lot more second and third efforts when shots bounce back into play versus just giving up.
His shot definitely seems to be his “calling card”, but I also think you’re right that he’s hard on the puck. I think – and that’s not worth much – his size AND three years of playing against men has been a huge and under-appreciated part of what he brings and why he can stick in the NHL.
Really nice win for the good guys! I thought that was the Kraken’s most consistent game so far across 3 periods. Very encouraging to them generate offense throughout the whole game.
Also good to see them win when Joey was not quite at his best.
I think i saw a comment on this, but I thought Cale Flueru really stood out. He and Mahura had an opportunity to get serious TOI and they both made the most of it.
I am glad that somebody else noticed Cale Fleury playing the best game I have ever seen him play. He really stepped up in the opportunity he was given.
Add me to the list of Kraken fans who think Fleury was outstanding
The list is growing, add me as well.
He hits better than anyone on D other than maybe Montour. Oleksiak… makes me laugh every time I see that stupid checking commercial, seriously if your publicly saying you love checking then maybe try it sometime.
I know it’s only one game, but I think the Kraken should make the line switch between Nyman and Winterton permanent, at least for the foreseeable future. The defensive checking game Winterton has showcased thus far this season is a good fit for the 4th line anyway, and as we saw tonight, deploying Jani as a sniper alongside Wright and Marchment could really help unlock more offense from the middle-six going forward.
Great display of grit. Too bad we don’t have elite talent like the Leafs, eh? 😄
Also impressive winning in Toronto on a Saturday without Kakko, Montour and Gaudreau when the Leafs are under pressure to win games. Depth players Mahura, Fleury and Hayden were outstanding.
Shane…4 pts in 5 games. Fasten your seatbelts. He has taken a step and he looks pretty determined.
Love how engaged Lambert is on the bench. He’s actually coaching during the game. Imagine that.
Bonus takeaway. List of players still on this roster from expansion plus Kraken draft picks.
Eberle
Schwartz
McCann
Dunn
Larsson
Oleksiak
Fleury
Kartye
Daccord
Beniers
Winterton
Wright
Evans
Nyman
…and Gru
Too bad Ron didn’t know what he was doing.
Go Kraken! And go M’s!
Oh…and that incident when Mush ran into Stolarz? My first reaction was “what in the…why the hell would you do that?” Then I remembered I absolutely hated Marchment every time we played Dallas because he was such an agent of chaos and I was worried about someone getting injured accidentally/on purpose…like Hyman bumping into him and dislocating his hand, for example. Then I watched that whole sequence again with Stolarz launching the net and Mush on the ice desparately arguing his case to the ref…and I laughed my ass off.
Ya got to wonder what was going through Mush’s head during that entire sequence.
He did his job. Running the goalie is a long time tactic (hell, Florida won back to back Cups doing it). It’s up to the goalie’s team to stop it. Kraken D has its flaws but they’ve always been pretty good keeping the goalie safe (Dunn in particular always responds sometimes to a fault). Seattle is a pretty soft team but they’re the Rock of Gibraltar compared to the Leafs
See above. It was “Man I hate when the opposing team trips me with their skate”
You should watch the play again. Nylander kicked his skate out and he got off balance. Makes Mush’s reaction make total sense.
“I’d like to see Winterton and Nyman swap spots at the very least.”
From my post a few games ago… 😂
I think this is a better fit for both players, I would like to see how it works out after a few more games.
Nyman is going to make mistakes but has much more potential in the middle 6. I do like what I’ve see from Winterton though, hope he sticks with the team.
Where is Kakko playing when he returns? Curious to know your thoughts.
I don’t know we have too many middling players. Injuries could continue and it might not matter who is bummed out. I’m actually really not that impressed with Marchment (saying this after a great pass last game) he’s an absolute turnover machine. We have to stop bringing in middling players and give our young players a shot.
Start trading. Still a month away but people gotta go.
It’s only been a week and a half… but the Pacific is nuts.
The Kraken are second in the standings to the Golden Knights and neither team has dropped a game in regulation. Meanwhile, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Calgary have played a combined 17 games and don’t have a single win in regulation or overtime between them.
Where’s the guy who was saying Nyman belongs on the 4th line because he’s the same as Kartye?
We are witnessing how a good coaching staff can actually bring about molding a team to be the best they can be with just the talent that they have. Sure mistakes do happen from time to time with all teams, but I am just really impressed with the Lambert hire.
Go Kraken!!!
Go Mariners!!!
Toronto fans are losing their minds over this game. They seem to think that the Leafs lost, because they did not fight Mason Marchment after he crashed Stolarz (What are you doing, Mush? Seriously, that was dumb as hell) because they lack toughness. No. The Leafs lost, because, like Stolarz said, they got out-worked in front of the net and because they got out-played along the boards all night and thus could not maintain control of the puck for any decent stretch. Just look at how often the puck came out of the corners on the stick of a Kraken player even when that player was outnumbered. Kraken wall play was dominant the whole night. James Ngai’s article was well timed indeed. Shout out to Chandler Stephenson, Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle, Shane Wright, and Ryan Winterton for having wall hacks on. Matty may be a little guy, but he really digs into those board battles.
Then there was the defense. Fill-in guys Josh Mahura and Cale Fleury were fantastic. Fleury went crazy in the third period and was just laying out dudes like Brandon Browner on punt coverage. Best of all, he never had any defensive gaffs. It was just solid defense and big hits from him all night. And how about Mahura taking over on Power Play 2? Who knew he had that aspect to his game? With Monty out of the lineup, the defense did not miss a beat which is much better than I expected when I heard he would not play.
Per other comments, Mush isn’t run the goalie. Nylander tripped him. Go watch the play again and look at the feet.
I am honestly not seeing that on replay. At most, Nylander’s stick taps Marchment on the shin when he tries to sweep check the puck away. Even if that did throw Marchment off balance he made no effort afterward to not plow into Stolarz. Given Marchment’s personal history of diving it is difficult to afford him the benefit of the doubt. It is a pity, because otherwise we would be talking about the impressive play making skills he put on display that night.
Marchment didn’t lose an edge but had his skate kicked out by Nylander. Rewatch the play and it’s obvious if you look at the feet. I missed it several times before I had someone point it out to me.
That was my reaction as well. He got clipped by the defender at the last second causing him to lose his balance and and crash into the goalie. He should have been upset with his defense in front him. Especially after dude cross checking Schwartz into him on that goal just moments prior.
What got me about that was how Carlo kept pushing Schwartz on top of Stolarz after the play was over and the puck was in the net. It’s like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and just froze that way. Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous!
My question is, were they going to call a penalty on that the puck not gone in and Stolarz actually stopped it? Looked like a blatant cross-check to me. Not sure if the refs arm went up.
Refs never call cross checks in front of the net. Why is a mystery of the ages. Rule enforcement is so stupidly inconsistent in the NHL.