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.
“Well, what a disappointment that road trip ended up being.”
…Is what we would have written if the Kraken had come up short against the high-flying Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. After starting the trip 1-0-2—including an impressive win over the Toronto Maple Leafs—dropping the final three games and returning home 1-3-2 would have really stung.
Instead, the Kraken handed the Jets their first home shutout loss since the middle of the 2023-24 season and brought home a downright solid 2-2-2 record, collecting six points and improving to 4-2-2 on the year.
“I thought our guys did a really good job of responding from the Washington game [on Tuesday] where I don’t think any of us were happy, coaches or players,” head coach Lane Lambert said.
On this night, Joey Daccord pitched a 32-save shutout and had an assist, while Jaden Schwartz notched two goals and an assist.
Here are Three Takeaways from an all-around 3-0 Kraken win over the Jets.
Takeaway #1: Just a solid game
Considering all this team has endured over the past two weeks—visiting six different cities, crossing into Canada twice, jumping time zones, and dealing with as many as six simultaneous absences to key players—it would have been understandable if they’d limped home with an underwhelming result.
(Thankfully, Mason Marchment returned after a one-game hiatus and delivered some high comedy.)
The Kraken refused to let their manpower challenges be an excuse, though, and built off an improved third period in Washington on Tuesday and followed it up with a full 60-minute, all-hands-on-deck effort Thursday. The result was a huge win over what should be one of the top teams in the NHL.
We’ll talk about Joey in the next Takeaway, because he deserves plenty of praise. But it’s worth noting he didn’t need to be spectacular in this one. The Kraken played with structure and discipline, stifling nearly every bit of momentum Winnipeg tried to generate.
Did you ever hear the typically raucous home crowd really get into the game? Maybe for a few minutes in the third, when the Jets strung together a couple of solid shifts in the offensive zone, but otherwise, Seattle made them look disjointed and kept the home fans quiet.
Takeaway #2: Daccord out-duels Hellebuyck
Joey Daccord surely wants to make Team USA for the Olympics, though his inclusion has generally been seen as a long shot. Meanwhile, the presumed starter for that team—Connor Hellebuyck—was in the opposite crease Thursday, fresh off a season in which he won both the Vezina and Hart Trophies and started for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
On Hellebuyck’s home ice, it was Daccord who came away victorious.
Daccord needed a strong outing after a couple of questionable goals in Philadelphia on Monday landed him on the bench for the third period and ultimately took the Kraken out of that game. He responded in a big way.
As noted in Takeaway No. 1, he mostly needed to be steady rather than spectacular, thanks to the defensive effort in front of him. But against an elite team like Winnipeg, any goalie will face chances, and Daccord turned aside every one of them.
The biggest scare came late in the first period, when Mark Scheifele’s point shot deflected up and over Daccord, clanged off the crossbar, and dropped into the crease. Daccord swept it out with his stick, right back to Scheifele, then dove across and gloved Scheifele’s follow-up shot to end the period in chaotic fashion.
Aside from that wild sequence, Daccord was calm, cool, and collected throughout and even chipped in offensively with an assist on Jordan Eberle’s empty-net goal to seal the deal.
I’m pretty sure Joey was thinking about taking the shot himself before he rimmed it around. Good for him for taking the unselfish point.
Is it me, or does Jaden Schwartz just keep getting better? After posting 26 goals and 23 assists last season, the 33-year-old winger is off to another hot start with eight points (4-4=8) in eight games.
He got the sluggish Kraken on the board with their lone goal Tuesday, then on Thursday provided all the offense Seattle needed by doing what he does best: going to the front of the net.
Just 2:28 into the second period, Shane Wright made a heady play from the right circle, intentionally shooting into Hellebuyck’s right pad to create a rebound. He placed it perfectly, forcing the big netminder to kick the puck into a dangerous spot.
THE POWER OF THE SCHWARTZ! 🚨
Shane Wright with a pass off the pads, and Jaden Schwartz bangs it home for his second goal in two games.
Note Jani Nyman right in front, creating confusion.
Sure enough, Schwartz crashed in from the weak side, found the rebound right on his stick, and buried it into an open net. For good measure, he added an empty-netter at 18:20 of the third, then assisted on Eberle’s ENG 23 seconds later.
Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz.
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.
On this episode of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, the guys react to a strange week for the Kraken, who got off to a great start to their long road trip but then got decimated by injuries.
There have been a lot of interesting storylines, so they spend much of this episode talking about what’s been happening for the team of late.
Also, lots of food talk, and segments include Food for Thought, Weekly One-Timers, and What’s Good?
The Kraken won’t make any excuses for losing on back-to-back nights—Monday in Philadelphia and Tuesday in Washington, D.C.—but if there were ever a time to make them, this might be it. Just when it seemed like the injury situation couldn’t get any worse, a team already missing Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, Freddy Gaudreau, Brandon Montour (personal), and Jared McCann also announced that Mason Marchment would be out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
“We’re definitely being tested,” Jordan Eberle said. “We have some adversity, some big guys out, but ultimately, you’re going to go through a season, and every team there’s injuries that happen, guys need to step up, play more minutes. Right now, that’s the case for us… Adversity happens, and that’s right now.”
Marchment’s sudden absence makes it six regulars out of the lineup at once.
Meanwhile, because Seattle continues to carry three goalies on its roster, there are no extra skaters available. The team has maxed out its roster while resisting placing McCann and Marchment on injured reserve, moves that would require either player to miss at least seven days. (The fact Seattle hasn’t done so suggests the organization doesn’t expect either player to be out for long.)
Still, we were hoping for a little more from the Kraken on Tuesday against the Capitals, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead and fended off a late push.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-1 Kraken loss to the Capitals.
Takeaway #1: Slow start dooms undermanned Kraken
When you consider the depleted roster and the tired legs from playing the night before, it’s easy to imagine a team looking sluggish and ineffective—and then packing it in once it falls behind. The Kraken did fall behind, but to their credit, they put together a strong third period and even started to generate a bit of belief that maybe… just maybe… they could come back.
That didn’t happen, but it was still an impressive final frame in which they turned the momentum and controlled large portions of play.
Matt Murray made his official Kraken debut, and although it would have been nice to get a save on the third goal—a power-play tally by Jacob Chychrun from the top of the right circle—he played a relatively solid game, stopping 30 shots in all.
Seattle, however, looked understandably flat for most of the first two periods. Before Murray could truly settle in, Nic Dowd scored an easy tap-in off a sharp passing play, Ryan Leonard beat Murray after an Adam Larsson turnover, and Chychrun added the power-play goal.
“I felt a little bit off, and really, if I make a save there early in the second period, maybe there’s a different flow to the game,” Murray said. “But I love the way that our guys battled out there. We defended hard, and for a team going through a lot of adversity right now, I loved our compete level. So, there’s some positives to build on.”
Seattle battled hard in the third, but it was too little, too late.
“I thought we made more plays in the third period,” head coach Lane Lambert said. “We inflicted pain on ourselves by turning pucks over, not making plays quick enough, certainly early on in the game. And you can’t do that. We have to be better than that… You can’t put yourself in a position where you’re down 3-0 in this league.”
Takeaway #2: Berkly Catton is an NHLer
Although Berkly Catton had an assist and a few good looks in the Philadelphia game, he looked tentative—similar to what we’ve seen from other young Kraken players in their debuts. He’d get the puck and quickly dish it off even when he had time, a sign of a 19-year-old trying to avoid mistakes.
On Tuesday, he looked like a different player… an NHL player, in fact. He held onto pucks, distributed confidently, and showed real creativity and poise.
Catton could have had several points, both goals and assists, but a few big saves by Logan Thompson and some near misses kept him off the scoresheet. Case in point: This perfect pass by Catton to Eberle that should have gotten Seattle within one goal.
While the Kraken came out losers again, it was an impressive showing for Catton. He made the most of his opportunity, earning 18:13 of ice time—including power-play minutes and a late shift during the 6-on-5 push when Lambert was trying to spark a comeback. He finished with three shots on goal and a plus-one rating.
When you think back to how Shane Wright looked in his first few NHL games—when he frankly seemed in over his head—as a 19-year-old, it’s encouraging and exciting to see Catton driving play and earning the coaching staff’s trust in just his second game.
Of course, it’s only two games, but I’m now feeling more sold than I did a week ago that Catton can stick with this team and be an impactful player.
Takeaway #3: Injuries killing the vibes
Seattle started the day Tuesday by sending defenseman Ville Ottavainen back to Coachella Valley of the AHL and recalling forward Ben Meyers. Then, just before puck drop, it became clear Meyers would be playing. For a moment, that raised the question of whether Catton might be coming back out of the lineup.
Not so. Instead, the team announced minutes before the game that Meyers had actually been summoned to replace Marchment, who had joined the ever-growing injured list.
This rash of injuries is both shocking and, somehow, predictable. When Seattle saw players dropping during training camp, it felt concerning—not because of the immediate absences, but because when injuries pile up early, they often have a way of snowballing once the season starts.
Sure enough, three weeks into the season, Seattle is desperate for healthy bodies.
And while the roster has taken a massive hit, the vibes on this six-game road trip have also tanked. For a while, it looked like Seattle might cruise through this stretch and bring home eight or more points out of 12. Now, after two regulation losses, the Kraken need a win against a good Winnipeg Jets team on Thursday just to salvage six of 12.
“We have an opportunity here,” Lambert said. “We can lament in the last couple games, but we have an opportunity in Winnipeg to go .500 on this road trip. That’s our focus.”
The vibes have gone from immaculate to pretty stinky in just two days. Let’s see if the Kraken can turn it back around and come home from this long road trip feeling good about themselves, despite this massive adversity.
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.
With nothing else going on in the Seattle sports world on Monday, the Kraken had the full attention of the local sports fandom (right?). Sadly for those fans, the guys on the ice didn’t have their best against the Flyers and fell 5-2 in Philadelphia.
“Not sharp. We were not sharp,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “It wasn’t our best effort, that’s for sure. We have to be better.”
It was a night of firsts: Berkly Catton’s first NHL game and point, the first time the Kraken trailed by more than a goal this season, and their first regulation loss of the year.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 5-2 Kraken defeat to the Flyers.
Takeaway #1: Berkly Catton immediately gets on the scoresheet
The Kraken were already injury-riddled before they announced Monday morning that their best goal scorer, Jared McCann, was out day to day with a lower-body injury. McCann joined an ever-growing injury ward that already housed Kaapo Kakko, Ryker Evans, and Freddy Gaudreau, while Seattle also continues to miss Brandon Montour, who is away from the team on a temporary leave of absence for personal reasons.
McCann being out meant five regular players were unavailable for this game.
In stepped 19-year-old top prospect Berkly Catton, who had been waiting in the wings as a healthy scratch since breaking training camp with the team. With his parents in the building after flying from Saskatoon to Calgary to Atlanta to Philadelphia, Catton got on the scoresheet just seven minutes into his first NHL game.
Matty Beniers hustled to the corner to pick off a bad Vladar clearing attempt, then rimmed it around to Catton at the right hash marks. Catton simply pulled it off the wall and tapped it to Cale Fleury at the point, who ripped a shot toward goal. Eberle got a piece of it, and just like that, Catton became the fourth Kraken player to record a point in his regular-season debut.
“I think my first touch of the game was an assist, so that was pretty cool,” Catton said.
I do believe the Kraken were trying to keep him as a healthy scratch long enough to make him eligible for a rehab stint in the AHL. But with McCann out, that forced the Kraken’s hand and pushed Catton into the lineup.
All in all, it was a solid first outing for the youngster, who nearly scored in the second period and didn’t have any glaring turnovers or costly mistakes, finishing plus-one in 13:49 of ice time.
Takeaway #2: Tough night for Joey
On a night when the Kraken were facing Dan Vladar—a backup goalie who has oddly had Seattle’s number since their inception—their own netminder, Joey Daccord, had an uncharacteristically rough night.
Daccord allowed five goals on 21 shots through two periods before being lifted and replaced by Philipp Grubauer.
Two of the goals against, both scored by the red-hot, red-headed Owen Tippett, were of the “wanted that one back” variety. The first of those came just two minutes after Eberle had given the Kraken an early 1-0 lead.
As a dumped-in puck rattled around behind the Seattle net, Daccord corralled it and had options, with Jamie Oleksiak and Ryan Lindgren both available in the corners. He waited far too long to make a decision, though, and by the time he went to move it, Sean Couturier snuck up behind him and stripped him of the puck. It eventually got to Tippett, who chipped it into an open net.
1st period is in the books. 2-1 Flyers. #SeaKraken jumped out to a 1-0 lead, scored by Jordan Eberle and created by Berkly Catton's first career point.
But then Philly took advantage of a Joey Daccord Adventure™️ (video of that here) and added a PPG. pic.twitter.com/L9HsWVU5Ch
The other stinker was the one that effectively sealed the game for the Flyers. Seattle had gotten back within two goals after falling behind 4-1. If the Kraken had scored again before the second intermission, they might have entered miracle comeback territory. Instead, off a 3-on-3 rush with four minutes left in the frame, Tippett threw it at Daccord from a sharp angle. Reading pass, Daccord got too deep in his net and left the short side open. The puck squeezed through.
5-2 Flyers. Joey gets too deep in his net, and it leaks through.
Grubauer came in for the third period and looked solid. It will be interesting to see what the Kraken do in goal Tuesday for their first back-to-back of the season. Does Grubi go right back in after stopping six of six shots Monday? Or does Matt Murray get his first look of the season?
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Vladar improved to 7-1-1 all time against the Kraken.
Takeaway #3: Jani Nyman is a weapon on the power play
…but we already knew that.
Jani Nyman’s utilization in a fourth-line role with no power-play time to start the season wasn’t particularly bothersome to me—except that it didn’t give him many chances to showcase his best asset: his howitzer of a shot.
With injuries piling up and Nyman’s steady play earning him more trust, he’s quietly worked his way up the lineup at 5-on-5 and, with McCann out, finally got a look on the power play Monday.
After scoring at even strength on Saturday in Toronto, Nyman cashed in again against Philly, this time on the power play after Beniers pulled a loose puck out of a bevy of humanity and snapped it over to an open Nyman, who sent it home for his third goal of the season.
LI'L JANI! 🚨
Beniers pulls a loose puck out of the pile, and Jani Nyman scores for the second game in a row. PPG.
It was a smart play by Beniers to recognize that with the puck in the slot, all four Flyers penalty killers had collapsed to try to gain control. Once it squirted out to Matty, he didn’t force it back into the pile. Instead, he pulled it out and passed it to Nyman, who had the much better angle.
Back to Nyman… It was especially fun to see him rip two one-timers in a row in the third period, one that rang hard off the glass and another that rang even harder off the post.
One would have to think that Nyman—and his wicked shot—will get more opportunities with the man advantage moving forward.
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.
Don’t look now, but the Seattle Kraken have a five-game point streak to start the season and just grabbed four of six possible points on their swing through eastern Canada. If you’re not on the Lane Train yet, it’s time to hop aboard.
Being competitive
I’ve mentioned it on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast and in our preseason roundtable, but one of the biggest things I wanted to see from this team was simple: be competitive. Anyone can look at the team’s four overtime games and see that the Kraken have been right there in every one, even coming away with victories in two of the four.
It is more than just the end results. I love how this team responds after getting scored on. It’s almost like they refuse to let opponents build momentum off a goal. Several times against the Maple Leafs, I thought Toronto might take over after tying the game, but to the Kraken’s credit, that never really happened. In fact, a few times, it felt like Seattle grabbed control right back.
They’ve never trailed by more than one goal this season and have only allowed two consecutive goals in regulation once. That’s likely another byproduct of Lane Lambert’s defensive structure, and honestly, it’s a pleasure to watch.
Face-off possession
One area that continues to challenge the Kraken is face-offs. And I’m not just talking about the percentages you see in the box score. While there’s no public data tracking “possession after a face-off,” the Kraken are currently allowing the second-most shot attempts against within 10 seconds of a face-off draw, an average of 10.8 per game.
That issue burned them a couple times this week, most notably on Cole Caufield’s overtime winner for the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday and John Tavares’s third-period goal against Toronto on Saturday.
It’s something they’ll need to tighten up as the season goes along.
Injuries continue to pile up, Catton making NHL debut
In case you missed it, the team announced that center Freddy Gaudreau has been placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss four to six weeks. Gaudreau is much more than just a fourth-line center. He plays a crucial complementary role as a right-shot pivot who kills penalties and thrives in the shootout.
Before his injury, Gaudreau was on the ice for nearly 45 percent of the Kraken’s total penalty-kill minutes. He now joins Kaapo Kakko and Ryker Evans, who have both missed the entire season to this point and remain a few weeks away from their original return targets.
The Kraken called up John Hayden from Coachella Valley to fill that fourth-line center role. He got some time on the penalty kill, but it looks like Tye Kartye and Chandler Stephenson will take on more of Gaudreau’s PK minutes for now.
On top of that, Ryan Lindgren left the Toronto game late in the third period after being struck in the face by a puck. The team hasn’t shared an update yet, but they did recall Ville Ottavainen on Sunday to join them for the back half of this road trip. With back-to-back games ahead, the Ottavainen call-up might just be a precaution in case anyone else gets dinged up.
As if it could not get any worse, the Kraken announced that Jared McCann is out day-to-day with a lower body injury. That’s another unfortunate development for arguably the Kraken’s best goal scorer.
On the flip side, McCann’s injury creates an opportunity for Berkly Catton to make his NHL debut, which he will do Monday in Philadelphia.
#SeaKraken forward Jared McCann will not play tonight and is out day-to-day with a lower body injury.
We have generally assumed the plan was to keep Catton on the roster as a healthy scratch long enough to send him for a conditioning stint in the AHL, but the long list of injuries has forced Seattle’s hand. Now, the 19-year-old rookie will get a look on a line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.
It’s probably stating the obvious, but with three wins and two overtime losses in their first five games, the Kraken are off to their best start through five games in franchise history.
Before Saturday night’s matchup, the Kraken were just 1-6-1 against the Maple Leafs all time, and they still haven’t beaten Toronto at Climate Pledge Arena.
With four of their first five games going to overtime, it’s no surprise the Kraken have played more OT games than any other team so far this season. For comparison, it took Seattle until Game 15 last season to reach four overtime appearances.
The Kraken have also scored first in four of five games, which is a trend you love to see.
It’s felt like the Kraken have taken a lot of penalties and spent a lot of time shorthanded this season, but that’s actually not the case. They’re averaging just 2.4 times shorthanded per game, which ranks among the top five in fewest times shorthanded per game in the NHL.
It’s still early, but the Kraken’s power play is clicking at 28.6 percent, currently fifth best in the league.
Seattle also leads the NHL in blocked shots, averaging 20.6 per game, a stat that fits perfectly with the blue-collar identity Lambert is building.
Chandler Stephenson is the only Kraken center with a face-off win percentage above 50 percent this season.
Before I get in trouble, I fully recognize that the “Lane Train” was first coined by the BFOTP, Alison Lukan.
Goal of the week
From everything I’ve heard, Josh Mahura might be the most universally liked guy in the Kraken room. So when he scored that huge first goal as a Kraken, the celebration said it all, everyone was fired up for him.
Shane Wright (SEA) – After a quiet start, Wright flipped the switch this week with two goals and two assists in three games. The confidence is showing, and it feels like he’s just getting started.
Ryan Donato (CHI) – A forever Kraken OG, Donnie’s doing Donnie things again — three goals, two assists, and an overtime winner against the Ducks for good measure. It’s hard not to root for him.
Chandler Stephenson (SEA) – Stephenson continues to be an absolute workhorse. He has four points in three games, leading all Kraken forwards in ice time, and is now taking on even more with Gaudreau out. The man’s everywhere.
The week ahead
With injuries stacking up, the back half of this road trip is about to get tricky. The Kraken will play their first back-to-back of the season, Flyers Monday, Capitals Tuesday, before wrapping it up Thursday in Winnipeg. Three games, six possible points. If they can come away with three or more, that’s seven of 12 for the trip, not bad at all for a team that’s decimated by injuries and is still finding its rhythm.
The second game of that back-to-back will be the one to watch. Washington is 4-2-0 and playing well, and remember: the Kraken went 0-12-0 on the second night of back-to-backs last year. Even a single point Tuesday night would already be progress.
Then there’s the goaltending situation. Joey Daccord has started four out of the five games this season, and he’s been solid. But with games on consecutive nights, we should see one of the backups — Philipp Grubauer or Matt Murray — get a look. The team hasn’t tipped their hand on how they’ll handle the rotation yet, so this week should give us our first real clue about how this might play out with three goaltenders.
And finally…
The Kraken are far from perfect, but through five games, they’ve shown they can hang with anyone. To be clear, I still don’t really know what we have with this group yet, but the early results are undeniably positive. If they keep grinding out points on this trip, we might be looking at a team that’s quietly figuring out how to win the hard way.
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.
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.
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
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! 🚨
GREAT play by Shane Wright and Mason Marchment, and Jani Nyman blasts it home!
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! 🚨
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.
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.
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.
