On Friday, March 8, the Seattle Kraken were getting ready to host the Winnipeg Jets at Climate Pledge Arena. It was the first of a five-game home stand, with the Kraken vying for a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They still trailed the Vegas Golden Knights by six points and the Los Angeles Kings by eight. On the flip side, they had defeated the Jets in Winnipeg earlier that week, so there was hope. Flash forward 11 days and five games later, and the Kraken improved their points tally by just one. How did we get here?
What transpired throughout the club’s quintet of home dates was, on one hand, the culmination of some season-long struggles, most notably an inability to take advantage of home ice. On the other hand, fans witnessed what little the Kraken had left in the tank evaporate with increasingly poor performances. In this autopsy, we analyze what transpired over those five matches — all defeats — essentially putting the nail in the coffin of their postseason aspirations.
Jets Fly by the Kraken, 3-0
Fresh off an upset of the Jets as the road team and a two-year contract extension for Jordan Eberle, the home stand held promise. A confident Joey Daccord was back in goal again after playing the role of hero a few days earlier against the very same team. Not only that, but if Seattle could put four past Vezina Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck, surely backup Laurent Brossoit could be dealt with.
In theory, yes, but in order to do that, a team has to actually shoot the puck on net. We’ve written before about how the Kraken are among the more trigger-shy clubs in the NHL. This was a sadly inept performance by the hosts. By the final whistle, Seattle’s core had forced no more than 17 saves from Brossoit in a 3-0 defeat. One of the more painful moments was when Daccord performed a failed poke-check against Mark Scheifele in close in the third period with the score 0-0. Scheifele slotted the puck calmly between Daccord’s pads, and that was all she wrote for the Kraken.
Kraken Are Cleaned out by Vegas, 5-4 in Overtime
If the loss to Winnipeg was disappointing, then the 5-4 overtime defeat at the hands of the Golden Knights was of a more bitter variety. This was the rival that the Kraken had to catch up with. Dave Hakstol’s group also had three days to prepare as this match was on the following Tuesday.
For a long, long time, it looked as though fortune was smiling on the home side. Moreover, they were scoring! Andre Burakovsky, Matty Beniers, Brandon Tanev, and Oliver Bjorkstrand all netted, lending their side a 4-2 edge in the third period. This was it. This was how Seattle gets back in the race.
Nope.
Vegas scored responded twice, the second coming with only 17 seconds left in regulation on a play where Seattle’s defense, so strong all season, left Philipp Grubauer out to dry. The visitors went on to win it in overtime, leaving the Kraken and their fans bewildered.
Capitals Capitalize on Kraken Clumsiness, 2-1
How does a side regroup after what happened against Vegas? Probably a good pep talk by the coach and the squad’s leader acting like a beacon in a time of darkness. Who is the captain in Seattle anyhow? The answer is “nobody,” not since Mark Giordano was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022.
There is an old expression that refers to a straw breaking the camel’s back. That moment when one mistake too many deflates everything. In the Kraken’s case, it held a multilayered meaning as the club entered the third match of its home stand. Speaking of teams chasing playoff spots, the Washington Capitals were in town.
The Washington game was a bit of a snooze fest with not a ton of scoring opportunities. That is until Washington center Connor McMichael capitalized on a Kraken turnover on offense in the third period, raced back the other way and scored for the eventual 2-1 win. A debilitating straw, one might argue.
Predators Prey on Kraken, 4-1
At this stage in the story, the situation is looking rather glum. Even winning the final two matches of the home stand would only ensure a mediocre 2-2-1 tally. Not exactly a recipe for a playoff push. The fourth club to visit Climate Pledge Arena was none other than one of the league’s hottest, the Nashville Predators.
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This felt like the game in which Seattle put up its last decent fight. The good news is that the Kraken did well on the power play. Burakovsky’s marker in the third period secured a 50 percent efficiency on the night. The bad news is that it was the only goal Seattle scored, old news if there ever was some at this point. Nashville’s Roman Josi was rampant, earning a brace in a 4-1 Predators win. The eye test would be tempted to give the Kraken a mild pass, but the eye test can’t score more goals than the opposition, so it doesn’t matter.
Sabres Sabotage the Kraken, 6-2
Resignation. It’s a tough thing to fight against, especially when there are multiple weeks left in a campaign. A club can’t just stop playing. There is no such thing as forfeiting at this level. Yet you could have fooled Kraken fans in attendance this past Monday night when the Buffalo Sabres stampeded into town.
This game featured not only everything that typically goes wrong for Seattle, but other things that usually work went haywire. That Eberle scored 24 seconds into the contest was a refreshing change of pace. But said pace lasted 25 seconds, as the Sabres immediately responded. Six minutes into the game, Joey Daccord, who’s been such a tremendous presence in net this season, was pulled after coughing up three goals, a couple of which reeked of fatigue and mental lapses. When it rains, it pours, and the Sabres poured six on the Kraken en route to a 6-2 final.
And there we have it. There were five opportunities at home to make headway in the race for the playoffs. The result was a 0-4-1 record, with eight goals scored and 20 conceded, and three games during which the Kraken registered fewer than 25 shots on target. Vegas and L.A. got away Scot-Free despite not even playing very consistently in the interim. The biggest issue for the Kraken is the style of play doesn’t appear to translate well. It’s a defensive unit with solid goaltending. That’s generally a way to steal games on the road, not blow away teams at home. It will be a highly intriguing offseason in the Pacific Northwest because this issue needs fixing.