The Kraken’s streaky winter continues.
They erased a two-goal deficit but couldn’t finish the job in Utah, falling, 6-3, to the Mammoth on Saturday. That capped a 1-3-1 road trip.
The Kraken (21-17-9) are sitting on one victory in their past six games. Thanks to an overtime loss in their most recent home game Jan. 8, that skid barely intersects with a 10-game point streak — the second-longest in franchise history — which immediately followed a run of 10 losses in 11 games. This up-and-down stretch started the week of Thanksgiving.
Coach Lane Lambert warned against calling it a slow start, but it certainly wasn’t an ideal start to their last outing Thursday in Boston. The Bruins took a 2-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
In Salt Lake City, Seattle got on the board first for the first time in six games. Just 1:09 in, Kraken captain Jordan Eberle backhanded in his own rebound from close range.
The Bruins won Thursday’s game on a short-handed goal, and the Kraken made it back-to-back games with a shorty allowed. As old friend Brandon Tanev — now with Utah — watched from the penalty box, Mammoth forward Kevin Stenlund made it 1-1 in the second period.
Utah took another penalty and gave the Kraken about a minute and a half of 5-on-3 time, which they did not capitalize on.
Say what you want about the 2025-26 Seattle Kraken, but they rarely let a game get away from them. Nate Schmidt and Nick Schmaltz combined to open up a 3-1 lead and that stood for about 10 minutes. Then Kraken center Matty Beniers scored a greasy goal, muscling the puck in while being tipped over in front of the net.
Games between the two newest NHL teams are always high-scoring affairs. Each of their first four contests have featured at least six combined goals.
That streak hit five games when Chandler Stephenson tied this one with a slick goal and made it 3-3. Freddy Gaudreau stickhandled his way across the Utah logo at center ice, a Mammoth draped over him, and chipped the puck to Stephenson. Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev was spinning, looking for his man, but Stephenson was already gone. He went around Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka and it was a new hockey game.
The team that led the league in multi-goal comeback wins last season (9) was looking for their fourth of the current campaign. For the 18th time this season, the Kraken were tied after two periods, which is another NHL high.
They took their foot off the gas in the third period, though, and cruising toward overtime wasn’t enough. Schmidt’s second goal of the night with 5:30 left in regulation broke the tie the Kraken scrapped for, and less than a minute later, Lawson Crouse put the win out of reach at 5-3.
A stretch of extra-attacker hockey was more about the Mammoth securing Schmidt a hat trick than the Kraken tying the game again. Neither happened, as Barrett Hayton scored the empty-net goal.
While it was all for naught, the Kraken comeback wouldn’t have happened without stellar first-period play from Philipp Grubauer. He made 11 first-period stops and 24 through 60 minutes.
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