On Monday, Dec. 8, the Seattle Kraken hosted the Minnesota Wild for their first matchup of the 2025-26 NHL season. The first 20 minutes were a strong back-and-forth contest with no change in the score. Early in the second, Joel Eriksson Ek changed that and got the Wild up on the board first. Jordan Eberle answered back with a power-play goal five minutes later to tie the game.
The third period, though, was all Minnesota. They scored three goals, including two empty net goals. With their strong performance in the final frame, the Wild took home a 4-1 victory over the Kraken.
Eberle Scored Seattle’s Only Goal
As mentioned above, Eberle was the only player to score in this game, ensuring the Kraken were not shut out on home ice in this six-game homestand again.
Related: Wild’s 3-Goal 3rd Period Lead Them to 4-1 Victory Over Kraken
Six minutes into the second period, Matt Boldy took a seat for hooking Brandon Montour. Chandler Stephenson won the initial faceoff on the extra-man advantage. The Kraken worked to keep it in their zone, with Vince Dunn handling it at the blue line. He passed it up to Jared McCann, who passed it across the ice to Stephenson. From the faceoff circle, he took a shot. Eberle was in front of the net to course correct it to tie the game.
As the only goal scorer for the Kraken, Eberle spoke to the media at the end of the game. He stated, “We need to find a little bit more from everybody. You can say we’re working hard and competing, but I just think that we need to find a little bit more from every single guy. I’ve said this before, but the line between winning and losing is so thin; we’ve lost six in a row now, and you don’t feel good.”
The Kraken played a strong game against Minnesota, but as Eberle said, this can only get them so far. They needed more chances, more plays from all the players on the ice. Yes, Eberle scored a goal, but one can only take them so far, especially when Minnesota scored three in the third. Sure, Tye Kartye scored a goal in the final frame that was waved off for a high stick, but Seattle needed to find a way to answer back to the Wild again. Their lack of scoring, just like in the five games prior, is what has caused them to lose their last six games.
Kraken Kept Pace with the Wild
Although their scoring chances didn’t land how Seattle needed them to, they still managed to keep up with Minnesota’s pace. The Wild were strong out of the gate, recording seven shots before the Kraken managed to get their first one in the opening 20. Seattle managed to catch up, recording eight shots in the first; Minnesota still outshot them, though, with ten total. At the end of the game, the Wild had 29 shots, while the Kraken had 24.
There is no denying that the Kraken have struggled on the penalty kill in their last several games. This time, they did not allow a single goal on the extra-man advantage. They gave Minnesota three opportunities that they failed to capitalize on. As mentioned above, the Kraken’s only goal came on the power play, something they have also struggled to score on lately. Special teams still need work, but they performed better in this game.
Grubauer Proved Himself
Philipp Grubauer finally got a chance to start in a game that wasn’t part of a back-to-back or because Joey Daccord was injured. The Kraken finally decided to give him a rest and let Grubauer have a chance. He stopped 25 of 27 shots, earning a save percentage (SV%) of .926. This was his second-highest SV% of the season, not including his shutout victory. Although the Kraken lost by four goals, two of them were empty-netters, so those did not affect Grubauer’s SV%.
Yes, the Kraken lost, but Grubauer had a strong game. He proved that he can defend the crease just as well as Daccord can when they need to give him a rest; there is no need to overwork him to the point he is exhausted.
The Kraken will have three goaltenders on their roster once Matt Murray returns from his injury; they all need to be utilized.
Kraken’s Homestand Concludes
The Kraken will host the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, Dec. 10, to close out their six-game homestand.
