The Kraken have made a habit of putting themselves in a mess, then clawing their way out of it.
Seattle has won all three of its last five games in which it built at least a two-goal lead and then watched it slip away, and the latest example came Tuesday against Utah. The Kraken were up 3-1 in the third period, only to see the game tied at 3-3 before they finished with a 5-3 win.
That pattern has not gone unnoticed by coach Lane Lambert, even if the end result has still been two points.
“We continue to find ways to come back from these disappointments,” Lambert said Thursday. “As we move along, we’re sure hoping that we learn from it.”
After the Utah game, he praised the way his team responded when the lead disappeared. “I liked our resilience. 3-3, not going our way.
Pretty easy to fold the tent. No!
Not in this room. We battled our a** off.
Well done. Way to come back.”
Of course, the cleaner solution would be to avoid the late drama altogether. Lambert didn’t need much time to point that out when asked about the alternative.
“Let’s start with having the lead. That’s pretty good.”
He was blunt about what he didn’t like in the losses of control. Against Detroit, he said, “I though we sat back.
Didn’t like that very much.” Against Utah, his read was even sharper: “We were standing around watching the play.”
The numbers backed up the feeling. Seattle went more than nine minutes in the second period without a shot on goal, then didn’t record one for the first 14 minutes of the third. Sportlogiq also showed the Kraken generating 40 percent of the shot volume at 5-on-5, but just 27 percent of the shot quality.
When Utah tied the game on two third-period Logan Cooley goals, Lambert used a timeout to reset the group. His message was straightforward.
“We needed to be reminded that we’re pretty good, too. We’ve got to continue to play the same way that got us the lead.”
He said that kind of steadiness should improve with “experience and time.”
The Kraken did respond. Bobby McMann described the moment after one Seattle goal was taken off the board on a challenge that showed Chandler Stephenson was a few millimeters offside.
“Took a couple of seconds off there,” McMann said. Still, he said the sequence helped spark the group.
“When something like that happens, you feel like you’re playing the right way. Gives us energy.”
McMann then helped ignite the final push himself, beginning another rush with six minutes left. “I think we found our legs again.” He followed his own shot, received a pass from Brandon Montour and slid the puck to Mackie Samoskevich, who finished into an open net for the winner.
Matty Beniers, who scored Seattle’s second goal, said the bigger challenge is what happens after the other team closes the gap. “It’s tough when you let a team back in.
They have all the momentum,” he said. “After they tie it up, putting our foot down and turning the tide, getting some offense, scoring the go-ahead goal, those are huge moments.
“We’re really connected as a team right now. Guys are competing, winning battles, doing the right things. We’re playing with confidence.”
That confidence has the Kraken sitting at 7-3-1, the best 11-game start in franchise history, heading into Saturday’s home game against Minnesota.
Captain Jordan Eberle, who scored the opener against Utah and has nine points with four goals and five assists, said the group believes it can handle any opponent if it keeps building the right way.
“We can play with anybody. We just got to believe it in ourselves.
Just keep building. That’s what this season’s all about, just building growth and just everyone one step at a time here.
You’re not going to win every hockey game. The biggest thing is you want to leave games with an impression on other teams that these guys are good. it’s a matter of doing that every single night.
It’s consistency. It’s hard to do, but we’re up for it.”
Ryan Winterton also hit a milestone Thursday, appearing in his 100th NHL game. The winger played 11:58, finished with two shots and one hit, and called the moment “Pretty crazy.
I never though I’d get one game, let alone 100. Hopefully, many more to come.”
The 2021 third-round pick from Markham, Ontario summed up the fourth line’s early-season work in four words: “Simple, fast and direct.”
In Other News...
Kraken Suddenly Face A Bigger Jared McCann Concern Than One Injury
Jared McCanns lower-body injury has pushed the Kraken into a familiar spot, forcing them to look down the organization for help at forward. Seattle recalled Jani Nyman from the Coachella Valley Firebirds, a move that fits the way the club has handled this kind of lineup shakeup before. Nyman has already seen NHL action over the past two seasons, and he had been turning in a strong stretch in the AHL this year, giving the Kraken a ready-made option while they sort through the latest injury issue.
The bigger concern now is not just who fills McCanns spot, but how long Seattle might be without one of its most important offensive pieces. The team is still evaluating the injury, and there has been no timeline announced for his return. Until that changes, the Kraken are left balancing immediate roster needs with the uncertainty that comes with losing a player as central to their attack as McCann. [Read more 🡒]