If you missed Tuesday’s game between the Seattle Kraken and Montreal Canadiens and plan to go back and watch, I might recommend skipping ahead a bit. In fact, you can probably fast-forward all the way to about 13 minutes remaining in the third period, when Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble took an ill-advised penalty inside Seattle’s blue line, hooking Berkly Catton on the hands.
That’s when the tide finally started to turn for the Kraken, who looked flat through the first two periods. They’d shown more jam to start the third but had then just allowed their second power-play goal against at 5:55 of the final frame.
But on that Struble penalty, Seattle coach Lane Lambert opted to send out the second power-play unit instead of the first—which had struggled mightily in the contest—and Catton connected with Brandon Montour to finally get the Kraken on the board.
From there, it was the Brandon Montour Show, as he put the team on his back and willed Seattle to an astonishing point in the standings.
The Kraken ultimately came up short, but that was one heckuva comeback. Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken overtime loss to the Canadiens.
Takeaway #1: Brandon Montour… that’s it… that’s the Takeaway
Like most of the Kraken, Montour wasn’t having his best outing through two periods. One sequence that stood out came late in the first, when he threw an errant pass toward Adam Larsson, then got caught flat-footed in no-man’s land and was walked by Kirby Dach. Joey Daccord sprawled and flared his left pad out, robbing Dach and keeping the score 2-0 through the first period.
Woof. Sloppy puck play leads to a power move by Kirby Dach. Joey Daccord stretches out and robs him with the left toe. pic.twitter.com/A0jqc5bEOY
But just when Seattle appeared ready to fade quietly into the night, sinking into a 3-0 deficit with 14 minutes left, Montour lifted up his teammates with two goals and an assist in under 10 minutes.
Both his goals were simple one-timers through traffic, using Montreal defenders as screens. On the first, he fired low on the ice and got a fortunate redirection off Alexandre Carrier’s stick that ramped the puck into the top corner over Jakub Dobes.
BRANDON BOMBTOUR! 💣
The power play comes through! Catton with a simple pass, and Montour one-times it and gets a good bounce off Alexandre Carrier. Schwartz with the screen. #SeaKraken on the board, but still a big hill to climb.
“Just getting the shot,” Montour said. “I don’t even know— at that time [of the power-play goal], we might have had 12 shots on net, 11 shots on net. We didn’t give that goalie much work tonight, but [we had Jaden Schwartz], guys in front of the net, I just tried to get it there and kind of find a lane. Nice to see them go through.”
Montour’s next trick was helping Eeli Tolvanen turn a broken play into a perfect setup for Shane Wright. Both Montour and Tolvanen drove hard to the net, lost the puck, then kept the play alive with a retrieval and pass behind the net back to Montour. He quickly found Wright in the slot, who ripped it through traffic and beat Dobes clean.
Then, with the game on the line, Montour did it again—completing Seattle’s three-goal comeback with his second of the night. With Daccord off for an extra skater, Montour blasted another one-timer from distance that found its way in.
“We found ways to get a few more pucks to the net [in the third period] and get them in,” Lambert said. “Obviously, we did a really good job 6-on-5, and our power play scored a big goal for us to get us going. And again, it’s just another shot. There were power plays at the start of the game where we just passed it around. We’ve got to get pucks to the net.”
Remember, Montour is playing with a heavy heart; he’s just one game removed from a leave of absence after the passing of his brother, Cameron, on Monday following a battle with ALS.
“It’s pretty amazing to see [what he’s doing],” Wright said of Montour. “What he’s been through the last couple of weeks here, to even just be here, let alone playing as well as he is, and perform at that level. He always performs that way, day in, day out. It’s really special.”
Takeaway #2: Some interesting line shuffling
As Seattle struggled to generate any semblance of offense through the first two periods, the only trio that consistently created pressure was the fourth line of Tye Kartye, Ben Meyers, and Ryan Winterton.
Late in the second, with the Kraken desperate for a spark, Winterton, who looked fast and pesky all night, was suddenly elevated to the second line with Jaden Schwartz and Chandler Stephenson.
When Seattle came out for the third, Lambert had also moved Jani Nyman down to the fourth line, while the new third line featured Mason Marchment, Wright, and Tolvanen.
The juggling worked. And while Nyman’s move to the fourth line could be seen as a demotion, he made an almost immediate impact, going right after Dach following a dangerous hit on Meyers.
Yikes. Bad hit by Dach on Ben Meyers, and the whole #SeaKraken team goes after him.
Wright’s goal that got Seattle within 3-2 came during the ensuing 4-on-4.
“I think it was fantastic [by Jani],” Lambert said. “We have to be team tough, and when one of our teammates gets hit, which we considered it to be a dirty hit, we have to stand up for him. And I thought it was a good momentum turner.”
Takeaway #3: Cole Caufield finishes the job
Just like when the Kraken and Canadiens went to overtime in Montreal on Oct. 14, Cole Caufield scored his second of the game to end it. The circumstances were different this time—Seattle rallied instead of Montreal—but the result was the same.
COLE CAUFIELD ÉTABLIT UN NOUVEAU RECORD DE FRANCHISE POUR LE NOMBRE DE BUTS EN PROLONGATION
“Honestly, we had the puck, we lost the puck, they made a stretch pass, and we got it back,” Caufield said. “Hockey happens fast, and I saw a hole there, and luckily it went in. I [made it look] like I was going behind the net, and I just stopped up. I’ve never played goalie before, but that can’t be too easy to grab the post there. So, I just made a read.”
Caufield remains an elite scorer, surrounded by other top-tier talent that makes Montreal a skilled and increasingly dangerous team for the foreseeable future.
“I thought [Caufield] was excellent on both sides of the puck,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “I thought he was crisp, and he defended hard. He had his fastball tonight.”
Seattle’s season series with Montreal is now complete, with the Kraken finishing 0-0-2 against the Habs. Perhaps these two teams will meet again in the Stanley Cup Final, though?
Okay, I’ll show myself out.
It would have been nice for the Kraken to cap off the comeback with a win, but earning a point on a night when they trailed 3-0 with 14 minutes to go is no small feat.
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.
After the Kraken defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in overtime at home on Oct. 11, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said something about Seattle that piqued my interest:
“They had a game plan, and they weren’t going to lose D up the ice. Even though I think they did a pretty good job of getting involved in the offense, it didn’t allow us a lot of odd-man rushes to get through the neutral zone clean. So I think it took us a while to figure that part out.”
The high-flying, downright lethal offensive talent of the Vegas Golden Knights couldn’t generate odd-man rushes against Seattle? How is that possible? What has head coach Lane Lambert changed so successfully?
“I wouldn’t say there’s necessarily a ton of things different,” Matty Beniers said. “I think Lane is just big on details and making sure everyone knows where they need to be at all times, and we’re gonna be there. That just builds trust over time.”
Since that Vegas game, I’ve been watching closely for odd-man rushes against—and anecdotally, there just haven’t been many.
To make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, I checked in with best friend of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, Alison Lukan, who confirmed that the Kraken are, in fact, No. 1 in the NHL at limiting odd-man rushes against.
How about that?
Good tracking, staying above their defensemen
A few goals against have come off the rush—one that jumps to mind is the Alex Newhook goal in Seattle’s 5-4 overtime loss in Montreal—but even in those cases, the Kraken have generally had numbers back.
On that Newhook goal, for instance, Seattle had three players in defensive posture, with Mason Marchment back and helping Adam Larsson and Vince Dunn. The Kraken defenders were technically outnumbered, since Habs defenseman Alexandre Carrier jumped up to support Ivan Demidov, Newhook, and Oliver Kapanen, but Demidov still had to make an elite cut to get around Dunn and thread a perfect seam pass to Newhook.
Alex Newhook scores off a rush and a great pass by Ivan Demidov, and the #SeaKraken are chasing for the first time this season.
“I think [we’re doing] pretty good [in limiting odd-man rushes],” Lambert said Monday. “I think that we’ve talked about it as a group here. I think there’s some things that we can do better when we come into the zone with some of our reads, so that will again enhance our ability to not give up any chances or things like that off the rush, so it’s a work in progress.”
I also spoke with Beniers on Monday about Seattle’s improved defensive structure and mentioned the Demidov–Newhook connection as one of only a handful of times I could recall an opponent scoring off a rush.
“The Demidov play was brought up today,” Beniers said with a smile. Funny timing.
It makes sense that this play would be discussed with the Canadiens visiting Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday. But it also shows just how intent Lambert and his staff are on not allowing the same mistakes to happen twice.
Beniers said Lambert has emphasized “tracking”—another term for backchecking—and how players should react when they find themselves behind the play and chasing to rejoin Seattle’s defensive unit.
“That’s definitely a focus for us,” Beniers said. “On every play that could potentially happen, Lane’s trying to make sure that we have a plan for each time. If it’s a speed kick, if it’s a standing still guy on the wall, if there’s guys coming back, and you’re the fourth guy, or you’re the third guy, or you’re the fifth guy, he paints it pretty clear, so we know what we’re doing.”
Another factor Beniers pointed to in explaining Seattle’s success at limiting dangerous chances is “having a good F3.”
For context, F1, F2, and F3 refer to forechecking responsibilities, with F1 and F2 being the first two forwards into the offensive zone, usually pressuring the opponent’s puck carrier or working down low. The third forward (F3) stays high, available for a shot and ready to support the defense when the puck transitions the other way. When that happens, Beniers says the F3 must stay above any defensemen joining the rush.
“It’s getting back and staying above their D, especially against teams like Vegas with [Jack] Eichel that have active D or last game with Edmonton,” Beniers said. “They obviously have [Connor] McDavid flying around, and their D are pretty active too. It’s definitely a focus going into the game, just making sure we’re staying above them. And if you stay above a guy, you don’t give them a lot of time and space to create those rush chances.”
“It’s believing that we’re a good hockey team”
We’ve heard several players in the last week utter some variation of the phrase, “We believe we’re a good hockey team.” In discussing Seattle’s early-season defensive success with netminder Joey Daccord, he echoed that sentiment.
“I think it’s mindset,” Daccord said of what’s different about this version of the Kraken. “We’ve added some pieces, but we’re obviously down a lot of bodies right now and still finding ways to win. I think it’s a mindset from our group. I think it’s self-belief, I think it’s believing that we’re a good hockey team.”
Daccord added that having a strong game plan to keep opponents to the outside and limit rush chances is critical, but sustained success depends on total buy-in.
“I just think there’s a commitment to defensive structure and everyone being in the right spots,” Daccord said. “You look at the block that [Vince Dunn] made with a second left in the game [against Edmonton], those are game-winning plays. And that’s the mentality we have to have for 82 games.”
Injury updates
Seattle’s ongoing injury woes make its 5-2-2 start even more impressive. Even with Brandon Montour back from his leave of absence, the Kraken remain without four regulars—Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, Freddy Gaudreau, and Jared McCann—all on injured reserve.
There’s some good news and some bad news on that front.
First, the good: Kaapo Kakko appears ahead of schedule in his recovery and could return sooner than the original six-week timeline suggested. The team gave that estimate on Sept. 28, which would have put the Finnish winger’s return around Nov. 9. But Kakko was a full participant in Monday’s practice, even joining line rushes and taking light contact.
He’s unlikely to play Tuesday against Montreal, but Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers looks like a realistic target.
On the other hand, McCann has now missed four games and doesn’t appear close to returning. I asked Lambert if McCann is progressing or still in a holding pattern.
“He’s in a little bit of a holding pattern,” Lambert said. “So, we’ll see where we go with him. We should know more here, day to day, as we go forward.”
The Kraken haven’t changed McCann’s official status, but based on Lambert’s comments and McCann’s continued absence from practice, I wouldn’t expect to see him in a game any time soon. Hopefully, whatever the Kraken do learn about their best goal scorer in the coming days doesn’t bring worse news than that.
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.
The Kraken are officially off to the best start in franchise history, and this week, they won games in style, knocking off last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner, the Winnipeg Jets, and the two-time Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers. I try not to get too excited about early-season success, but honestly, they’re making it really hard to contain emotions.
Stingy hockey
One of the areas we flagged as a potential opportunity for improvement heading into the season was team defense. Head coach Lane Lambert came in with a reputation for being defensively sound, and so far, he’s delivered on that front.
The Kraken are allowing just 2.67 goals per game, the 10th fewest in the league, down more than half a goal from last season’s average. That’s a meaningful step forward and a big part of why they’ve been so competitive night after night.
The one area starting to show some cracks, though, is the penalty kill. Seattle’s penalty kill currently sits at 70 percent, which ranks 26th in the NHL. It didn’t start out this way; through the first four games, they were killing off 75 percent of their penalties, but things took a dip after Freddy Gaudreau was injured late in the second period of Game 4 against Ottawa.
Since that injury, the Kraken have killed just 67 percent of their penalties. That tracks, given that Gaudreau was on the ice for nearly 45 percent of Seattle’s total penalty-kill time before he went down. There’s no reason to hit the panic button yet, but it’s clear the Kraken miss Gaudreau’s steadiness and structure when they’re down a man.
If there are few areas of improvement the Kraken will be looking to tighten up heading into November, the penalty kill is probably one of them. Having said all that, Lambert did comment recently that he likes the way the penalty kill is performing, even though the stats aren’t reflecting particularly strong execution.
Tight hockey
Lambert has also talked about patience and getting comfortable in tight games. So far, the Kraken are walking the walk in this regard. In the seven games where they’ve picked up at least a point, 93.4 percent of the game time has been played either tied or within a one-goal margin.
I’m not saying a one-goal lead suddenly feels safe, but it definitely feels safer than it used to. In each of the last two games, Seattle entered the third period up by one. Across those two games, the opponents nearly doubled the Kraken’s shot attempts in the third, but Seattle held firm, keeping their defensive structure intact and limiting dangerous chances to close things out. Here’s a look at the third-period shot attempts against from those two games:
The Kraken are also blocking more shots than ever. Through nine games, they’re averaging 18.4 blocked shots per game, up from 16.2 last season. It’s not just players throwing their bodies in front of pucks for fun—it’s a byproduct of how the team is defending. They’re protecting the middle of the ice, forcing opponents into lower-danger areas, and as a result, they’re getting in front of more shots.
And, of course, teams tend to block more when they’re ahead—especially late in games when they’re collapsing to protect the lead. Vince Dunn gave us a perfect example Saturday night, blocking two shots in the final 15 seconds to seal the win. That’s commitment.
Rolling through October
Heading into the season, there was plenty of concern (mostly from the Sound Of Hockey crew) that October could be rough for the Kraken. They faced a six-game road trip, eight of 11 matchups against 2025 playoff teams, and an entirely new coaching staff installing fresh systems. That’s a lot to handle right out of the gate.
Then you add a boatload of injuries on top of all that? Yeah, it had the makings of a rocky start.
Instead, the Kraken have turned it into one of the most impressive opening months in franchise history. No matter what happens Tuesday, October has already been a massive statement, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch.
Other Musings
The dying minutes of the Kraken–Oilers game featured some hysterically long shifts. For the Kraken: Jordan Eberle (1:44), Chandler Stephenson (1:40), Jaden Schwartz (1:45), Dunn (1:43), and Brandon Montour (2:22). For Edmonton: Evan Bouchard (2:21), Leon Draisaitl (2:28), Jake Walman (2:15), and Connor McDavid (2:30). That’s a lot of tired legs.
It was confounding to see neither team use a timeout in those closing moments. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch probably didn’t want to give the Kraken a breather, while Lane Lambert likely didn’t want to give Edmonton a chance to draw up a play.
Saturday night was the first time this season that McDavid was held without a single shot attempt. The last time that happened was Dec. 28, 2024.
Saturday also marked the seventh time this season the Kraken scored the first goal of a game, the most in the NHL so far.
The Kraken are now 4-1-2 against last year’s playoff teams… Not too shabby.
In case you missed it, Kaapo Kakko is back skating and is currently day-to-day. It looks like he’s getting closer to returning, but with a three-day break between Tuesday’s game against Montreal and Saturday’s matchup with the Rangers, my money is on that Rangers game being his season debut.
Schwartz continues to be one of the more underrated players on the roster. He factored into all three goals against Winnipeg on Thursday, but his real value goes beyond the scoresheet. He is excellent along the walls, helping the Kraken gain and keep possession in key moments.
It’s way too early to be scoreboard watching, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t quietly rooting for every other Pacific Division team to lose every night.
Last week I said we’d get a better sense of how Lambert plans to handle the three-goalie rotation with Joey Daccord as the starter and Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray as the backups. I was wrong. We still have no idea how this is going to shake out. Both backups have played fine—just fine—but neither has really grabbed the spotlight yet.
The Coachella Valley Firebirds picked up their first win of the season last Wednesday and now sit at 2-3-1. It could be a bit of a transition year for the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, but this roster is loaded with real prospects. My eyes lit up when I saw their top power-play unit: Logan Morrison, Carson Rehkopf, Jagger Firkus, Tyson Jugnauth, and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard. Other than Morrison, every one of those players is 21 or younger.
And finally, a reminder that the PWHL season kicks off in November! PWHL Seattle opens on the road against PWHL Vancouver on Friday, Nov. 21, with their first home game a week later on Nov. 28. Tickets are limited, so if you want to witness history, now’s the time to grab them.
Goal of the week
This was such a huge goal for the Kraken, and I just love the setup from Ryan Winterton who is probably one of the unsung contributors to the early Kraken success.
The fourth line has been a big part of the last two games – they get rewarded. Two big blocks by Kartye, a battle won by Meyers and then an odd man rush Winterton->Kartye-> 🥅 pic.twitter.com/YUZjswxKb2
Jordan Eberle (SEA) – Three goals in the last two games, including a clutch third-period tally that stood as the game-winner against Edmonton on Saturday night.
Nathan Villeneuve (SBY/SEA) – The Kraken prospect put up seven points over two games this past weekend. After missing the first six games of Sudbury’s season due to an injury sustained in Kraken training camp, he’s racked up 13 points in just seven games so far.
Semyon Vyazovoi (SYA/SEA) – The first goalie ever drafted by the Kraken (back in 2021) had three wins and a .936 save percentage over the last week in the KHL. He’s expected to come to North America next season.
The week ahead
After a busy start to the season, the Kraken have a lighter schedule this week with just two home games: Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens and Saturday against the New York Rangers.
Seattle will look to avenge that overtime loss to Montreal from a few weeks back when the Kraken had the win in their grasp before the Canadiens tied it with under three minutes left in regulation. Montreal currently sits atop the Atlantic Division with a 7-3-0 record and has quickly earned the title of “most fun team to watch” in the early going.
On Saturday, the Kraken host the last-place Rangers—yes, Mike Sullivan’s new team is last place in the Metropolitan Division. New York has struggled to score and is still searching for its first win at Madison Square Garden, though oddly enough, they’re 3-1-1 on the road.
It’ll also be Will Borgen’s first game back at Climate Pledge Arena since the trade that brought Kaapo Kakko to Seattle last season. I always liked Borgen, who really hit his stride during the 2022–23 campaign. My favorite on-ice memory of his will always be that Winter Classic goal… but his “baking skills” might have left the bigger impression.
And finally…
To be clear, I still don’t know exactly what kind of team this is, and that’s okay. What I do know is that they’ve built a solid defensive identity, they’re winning close games, and they’re doing it while short-handed and still learning a new system. If that’s the foundation, the ceiling could be pretty high.
On an emotional day and night in which Brandon Montour returned from a four-game hiatus that was due to the tragic passing of his older brother, Cameron, the Seattle Kraken pulled out an impressive 3-2 win over the always-dangerous Edmonton Oilers.
“He’s a brother. I mean, anytime someone goes through something like that, it’s extremely hard,” Jordan Eberle said, his voice cracking slightly. “Just for him to be out here tonight and battling with us, it just shows his compassion and the level that he has… You just try to be there as much as you can for him.”
Meanwhile, the first game back after a long road trip is traditionally viewed as a difficult one for the home team, but Seattle was ready for the challenge. Although Edmonton pushed hard and spent long stretches in the offensive zone during the third period, the Kraken bent but didn’t break, sticking to their structure and snagging a few opportunistic goals.
In the end, Joey Daccord delivered an outstanding performance, Eberle scored two crucial goals, and the fourth line chipped in with some magic.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Takeaway #1: An emotional day
Montour took the ice with the Kraken at Saturday’s morning skate for the first time since the team had announced he would be leaving the recent road trip to deal with a personal matter.
While the team practiced, word came that Montour planned to address the media about his absence. Following the skate, he stood at his stall and—unprompted—spoke through tears about the devastating loss of his brother after a long and painful battle with ALS.
“So, my older brother’s been dealing with ALS for three, four years now, and it was a rough week,” Montour managed to say. “I’m very proud and very happy to be his brother. He’s somebody that I’ve looked up to since, obviously, Day 1. [He was] a great son, brother, best friend, father. He’s got two baby girls.
“He battled hard. It puts everything in perspective with the highs that I’ve had in the last couple years with winning and hockey and having babies and creating my own family. [All that time], he was at home battling. Right until Monday when it happened, he was smiling, and he was ready.”
An extremely emotional Brandon Montour discusses losing his older brother Cameron this past week after a long fight with ALS. #SeaKrakenpic.twitter.com/Gau614Xm96
It was one of those “bigger than sports” moments—a reminder that the professional athletes we admire are humans who sometimes face unimaginable challenges away from the rink. In the case of Montour, who is so affable and carries such a big personality, it’s hard to imagine the grief he’s managed through privately for years.
One thing we often hear from athletes who’ve endured emotional trauma is that returning to competition provides an outlet—a way to take their minds off what’s happened.
“It’s important to have him back, not only as a player, but certainly as a leader,” head coach Lane Lambert said Saturday morning. “And it’s important for him to get back into the groove of the game and maybe take his mind off a little bit of the outside part of it. But certainly, we feel for him, we’ve supported, and we’ll continue to support.”
Just as you wouldn’t have known Montour was carrying such a burden behind the scenes, you wouldn’t have known from watching him play Saturday that he’d just experienced one of the hardest weeks of his life. He looked like his old self—flying around, jumping up in the play, driving offense, and finishing with three shots on goal and a plus-one rating in 23:39 of ice time.
“In my mind, [Montour] didn’t miss a beat,” Lambert said. “Full credit to him for what he’s doing and how he played, and obviously, we’re all with him and feeling for him.”
Takeaway #2: Goals off rushes
Lane Lambert has placed plenty of emphasis this season on creating net-front traffic, and Seattle has found success scoring those gritty goals in tight. But that wasn’t how the Kraken scored their three goals Saturday against a leaky Stuart Skinner.
Instead, all three goals came off the rush—two from 2-on-1’s and one from a breakaway.
In a way, this game represented a “new way to win” for the 2025-26 Kraken, who turned defense into offense (another Lambert hallmark) on all three tallies.
Eberle opened the scoring early after Berkly Catton poked the puck past an over-aggressive Evan Bouchard, springing his linemates. Beniers slowed at the blue line and sauced a perfect pass. Eberle caught it and ripped it past Skinner, who looked oddly off balance.
O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN! 🫡 🚨
2-on-1 after Vince Dunn dumped Connor McDavid on his tuchus.
Matty Beniers hits Jordan Eberle, and Stuart Skinner moves politely out of the way.
In the second period, the fourth line contributed after an outstanding defensive sequence led to another 2-on-1 for Tye Kartye and Ryan Winterton. Winterton made a phenomenal pass to Kartye, and Skinner did the Kraken another favor by getting himself caught down on the ice and ineffectively diving for the puck.
KARTYE PARTYE! 🚨
At the end of a long shift in the defensive zone, Ryan Winterton makes an outstanding pass to Tye Kartye.
“I was calling for it, but that was an unreal pass from [Winterton]. Made it pretty easy for me,” Kartye said.
Eberle’s second of the night pushed Seattle’s lead to 3-1 at 12:11 of the third, when Bouchard (who also scored a power-play goal) again misplayed the puck at the offensive blue line. He whiffed trying to swat it deeper, sending it straight to Beniers, who sent Eberle on a breakaway. Eberle snapped it over Skinner’s shoulder for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN AGAIN! 🫡 🚨
Bouchard whiffs on a puck at the blue line, and Beniers sends Eberle on a breakaway. He goes BarrDown Studios™️ for his second of the game.
When Daccord earned his 32-save shutout Thursday in Winnipeg, I wrote that he didn’t need to be spectacular because the Kraken defended so well in front of him. Seattle again defended well Saturday, but against the supremely talented Oilers, chances are inevitable.
Daccord was brilliant, yielding only a Bouchard power-play blast and a Darnell Nurse deflection goal.
“Joey’s been outstanding,” Eberle said. “I think there’s nights where he’s had to make some big saves, and tonight was no different. To get wins, you need good goaltending, and obviously, he’s been there.”
Daccord stopped 31 shots, many of them in the “10-bell” category, while Skinner at the other end occasionally looked like he was ducking out of the way. I can’t believe the Oilers didn’t upgrade their goalie situation this offseason.
Anyway, it was an excellent performance from Daccord and a massive win for the Kraken, who improved to 5-2-2 on the season.
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.
“Down on the Farm” is your weekly Seattle Kraken prospects update. This week we’ll focus on Firebirds rookie center Oscar Fisker Mølgaard and his rapid ascension into an important role in North America. After that, we’ll pass along injury news, standout performances, and other notes from the Kraken system.
As always, if you have a Kraken prospect-related question you’d like to see featured in a future column, drop us a note below or on X or BlueSky @deepseahockey or @sound_hockey. Let’s dive in.
Oscar Fisker Mølgaard shows skill and maturity in key AHL minutes
When we highlighted Oscar Fisker Mølgaard last season, we noted that the Danish center was an impressive but underexposed prospect. His career to date had been in the Swedish league, and his trade was speed, smarts, and defensive ability, rather than gaudy scoring production.
Mølgaard came to North America for a cup of coffee with the Coachella Valley Firebirds at the end of last season. During that stint, he gave fans a hint that his game would translate to a smaller ice surface and the more physical, pressure-based play style of the AHL and NHL. But he was a role player in his time in the Valley, focused on acclimating.
“[Mølgaard] is a 20-year-old player, but he’s been playing with the men in the [SHL] for three years, [and] three years on the Danish Men’s National Team as well,” Firebirds vice president of hockey and business operations Troy Bodie said. “He’s a very smart player, good skill. We saw that last year when he adapted to not only the league, but he’s never played on the small ice. In a lot of ways it’s a different game. Just how smart of a player he is, he adapted very well.”
Mølgaard discussed his journey with Sound Of Hockey at Kraken Rookie Camp this summer.
As Kraken training camp progressed, players were re-assigned to junior leagues or the Firebirds in multiple waves, but Mølgaard remained. He stuck with the team until the very last day of cuts, along with players like John Hayden and Ville Ottavainen—both of whom have already been recalled to the Kraken for stints in the NHL early this season. This gave us a hint of the team’s view of the young Dane.
“It means a lot because you’re [still with the NHL team] in the final stages here,” head coach Lane Lambert said of the last group of cuts. “And let’s be clear, this is an NHL season, which is 82 games. It’s an Olympic year, which condenses those 82 games, and you’re going to need players. There’s a lot of games in a short period of time, and so anyone who’s here at this point in time… it bodes well for them, for sure.”
Even though he had only played a handful of AHL games, the team viewed Mølgaard as a top option for the big club.
Fair or not, this raised expectations for Mølgaard. It was up to him to prove that he could meet that standard on the ice in Coachella Valley. From my vantage—and, apparently, the team’s—he has done all of that and more.
“Oscar is a very intelligent, very skilled, two-way player,” Bodie said. “He’ll be a big part of [the Firebirds].”
With only two AHL “veterans” on the Firebirds roster at the moment (and one of them is day-to-day with a lower-body injury), Coachella Valley has been leaning on its young players in key roles. No first-year player has responded as well as Mølgaard.
He quickly assimilated to the smaller spaces available to him on North American ice; his speed through the neutral zone transporting the puck into the offensive zone is perhaps even more noticeable now than it was in Europe. It allows him to tilt the ice in his team’s favor, particularly when matched with his strong backchecking, shot blocking, and defensive-zone instincts. Those latter aspects of his game could be true high-end traits at his peak.
On the penalty kill he is active and instinctual, particularly as the high neutral-zone forechecker. He is responsible for a handful of disruptions in the early going that have helped the Firebirds qualify as a top-10 penalty-kill unit.
Most surprising to me is his deployment on the power play, where he has been the first center over the boards, taking the draw and manning the half-wall “quarterback” position. He can connect on a one-timer when the situation calls for it, but that is not a strength of his game at this point. Even still, he has been comfortable skating and passing the puck to open areas from the half wall, which is a skillset we didn’t see from him in Europe (perhaps because he never had the chance).
His overall offensive production, including a willingness to get to the net front, has also surpassed my expectations. I have seen a skill level in his hands in the early going that wasn’t evident in his role within his SHL team’s structure. If he can keep it going, and add some necessary size, his projection will look more and more like a middle-six player than a bottom-six defensive specialist.
Notes on five more Kraken prospects
Eduard Sale | F | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Injuries have been a theme of the early season for the NHL team. Kraken prospects in the system have fared a bit better so far, but the strain on the Kraken has been felt by the Firebirds as well—with key players like John Hayden and Ben Meyers unavailable to the team because they are filling roles in the NHL. The forward depth will be tested further with Eduard Sale also out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. (Luckily, Mølgaard did not miss any additional time after leaving the team’s game on Oct. 10.)
Ty Nelson | D | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Add to the strain on the Firebirds forwards a recent week-to-week lower-body injury for defenseman Ty Nelson, and the Firebirds are certainly undermanned at the moment. Nelson was one of only two players to play every game for the Firebirds last year, so his absence will be keenly felt.
Kaden Hammell | D | Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL)
Hammell made his AHL debut this week and picked up both his first professional assist and first professional goal in two contests. With Nelson out, Hammell should have an extended opportunity to make his mark and prove he deserves to remain active on game days. His size and physical play are valuable, though there are some details in his reads that he needs to improve to succeed at the AHL level.
Semyon Vyazovoi started the season playing sparingly, likely hampered by an injury. When he did get in there, the results were not up to his standard. That changed over the last week, with Vyazovoi earning each of his KHL team’s starts and performing well. He was 2-1-0 from Friday, Oct. 17, through Thursday, Oct. 23—the time period technically covered by this late-arriving column—with a .931 save percentage. With that, all of a sudden, he leads the Kraken organization in save percentage again, as he frequently has done in recent years. His performance makes him our Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week. (He also added a .958 save percentage win on Saturday, Oct. 25, but we’re objective here and did not allow that to sway our player of the week “voting.”)
Let’s Get Quzzical: Two of Vyazovoi’s starts last week matched him up against a former Kraken goaltender. Name the goalie. Answer later in the column.
Jake O’Brien | F | Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
You know you’re a star 19-year-old in junior hockey when a two-point-per-game week qualifies as “ho hum” and actually lowers your season average. That said, Sound Of Hockey got an in-person viewing of O’Brien last week from our OHL Correspondent John Barr. Check out that conversation at about the eight-minute mark in the most recent Sound Of Hockey Podcast.
Kraken prospects data update
(Author’s Note: This update covers games through Thursday, Oct. 23.)
Loke Krantz returned to the Swedish U20 league and had a productive week, scoring three goals and adding two assists.
Logan Morrison has stepped up as a top forward for the Firebirds in the early going, playing key minutes. As a third-year player, he qualifies as an experienced leader on this year’s club.
Kim Saarinen has had a couple of tough outings in recent weeks, but he continues to operate as a lead goalie for HPK in Liiga.
Victor Ostman cracked the Firebirds lineup last week, and while his numbers weren’t very good, he was mostly solid. He should be productive if he continues as the AHL backup this season. The longevity of the three-goaltender situation at the NHL level remains a question mark.
Let’s Get Quizzical Answer: The former Kraken goalie that Vyazovoi faced twice last week was Chris Driedger, who is playing for Traktor this season. Vyazovoi was 1-1-0 in those contests.
Sound Of Hockey Prospect of the Week tracker
2: Kim Saarinen, Julius Miettinen
1: Jake O’Brien, Semyon Vyazovoi
Previewing the week ahead
With apologies that this is coming late, hopefully it can still orient your watching for Saturday and the remainder of the week. Both Clarke Caswell’s Denver team and Ollie Josephson’s North Dakota team will have games available to stream on ESPN+ this weekend. The Deep Sea Hockey Game of the Week is a Sunday matchup between two top WHL squads: Julius Miettinen’s Everett Silvertips and the Spokane Chiefs.
Tracking 2026 NHL Draft prospects: Ryan Roobroeck
While he has been overshadowed by some buzzier prospects, few can match the junior scoring production of OHL forward Ryan Roobroeck. Add in a 6-foot-4, 216-pound frame and there is a lot to dream on with this player. Roobroeck has had a relatively quiet (by his standards) 11 points through 12 games this season.
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.
