The Kraken left Vancouver with a preseason record that looks clean on paper and a penalty-killing problem that looks anything but.
Seattle fell 4-3 to the Canucks in Saturday’s preseason finale, undone by a late Jake DeBrusk goal that came 1:38 before the end of regulation - and one second after a power play expired. Vancouver also cashed in twice on the man advantage, a reminder that the Kraken’s special teams still have work to do before the games count.
That sting softened only a little by Seattle’s overall preseason line: 3-1-0. The wins came against a Vancouver and Calgary group that wasn’t exactly at full strength, and the Kraken had their own caveat too, with veterans dressing mostly in the last two games.
Seattle jumped out fast. Brandon Montour opened the scoring before the game was three minutes old, hammering a 55-footer through the slot on the power play. Not long after, Bobby McMann made it 2-0 by cleaning up a Cale Fleury rebound, and the Kraken were rolling with an 8-1 shot edge at that point.
Vancouver answered on the power play through Brock Boeser, then tightened the gap in the second period when Elias Pettersson found open space in front and Jonathan Lekkerimäki spotted him. The Canucks had started to tilt the ice by then, outshooting Seattle 8-2 over a stretch and eventually pulling level at 2-2.
The Kraken pushed back in the third. Ryan Winterton slipped a pass through Zeev Buium’s legs, and Berkly Catton did the rest with a forehand-backhand finish to restore Seattle’s lead. But Buium answered for Vancouver, shaking off getting beaten on the play to tie it at 3-3.
Seattle’s penalty kill then got stretched to the breaking point. The Canucks didn’t technically score on the final sequence, but they wore the Kraken down before DeBrusk tipped in Boeser’s shot just after the power play ended.
Joey Daccord took the loss after stopping 26 shots.
There was plenty of edge beyond the scoreboard. Seattle saw Jamie Oleksiak for the first time since he signed with Vancouver as a free agent this summer.
Jacob Melanson brought the physicality too, piling up six hits in 9:21 of ice time in the first period alone and finishing with nine. When Linus Karlsson wouldn’t let go of Matty Beniers near the benches, Melanson stepped in and dumped Karlsson to the ice.
Luke Schenn then put a glove on Melanson’s throat after a whistle.
The chippiness kept building. Winterton and defenseman Elias Pettersson fought with 3:38 left after Pettersson delivered a heavy neutral-zone hit on Shane Wright, and Winterton’s extra minor left Seattle shorthanded at a bad time.
By the end, the numbers told the story: Vancouver scored four times on 30 shots, Seattle had three goals on 28 shots, and the Canucks went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Kraken finished 1-for-2.
Seattle now turns to the regular season opener in Calgary on Thu., Oct. 1, a 6 pm Pacific start.
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