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  In Tuesday night’s game between the Seattle Kraken and the Anaheim Ducks, Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma stood stoically behind the bench, his head facing downward. One could only wonder what was going through the first-year head coach’s mind. Bylsma had just seen his goaltender, Philipp Grubauer surrender five goals on 12 shots to one of the weaker teams in the NHL. Was Bylsma contemplating pulling Grubauer as he had done in his previous two starts? Joey Daccord had started the previous eight games and certainly deserved a night off. In fact, he had played in every game since returning from an injury, twice replacing Grubauer in the two games he started. The Kraken wound up losing the game 6-4. Yesterday, the team placed Grubauer on waivers for the purpose of optioning him to the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s AHL affiliate. Grubauer, the highest paid Kraken (5.8 mil. a season) and the first free agent signed in the team’s history. Grubauer’s hefty salary scared ...

  The Seattle Kraken played a good game against a good team then a bad game against a (relatively) bad team, but both nights the result was the same – a Seattle loss. The Kraken dropped a 6-4 decision to the Anaheim Ducks last night at Climate Pledge Arena, and it’s starting to look like the local team will need a periscope to see a Western Conference playoff berth. The previous night, the Kraken dropped a 4-2 decision to the division-leading Edmonton Oilers, but continued to show that they’ve played much better in recent contests. Against the Ducks, old, bad habits resurfaced as Seattle blew a 3-2 lead, eventually falling behind 5-3. To make matters worse, Anaheim (21-23-6) moves one point ahead of the Kraken (22-27-3). Seattle, now in seventh-place in the Pacific Division, trails Calgary by eight points for the final playoff berth. Despite the Kraken’s early lead, Coach Dan Bylsma noted, ``I don’t think the first was a comfortable period for us. There were too many opport...

  On Thursday night, future Hall-of-Famer Alex Ovechkin scored a goal against the Seattle Kraken Yesterday afternoon, future Hall-of-Famer Sidney Crosby came to Climate Pledge Arena and lit the lamp. But that’s where any similarity between the two games ended. While Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals looked like the team that has the best record in the NHL posting a 3-0 win, the Kraken had their way with Crosby’s slumping Penguins en route to a 4-1 victory. The Kraken have now won four of their last five, improving their record to 22-25-3 on the season. Joey Daccord, solidifying himself as the Kraken‘s Most Valuable Player this season, was the game’s number-one star with 28 saves on 29 shots. Offensively, four different players scored for the Kraken and nine players had at least one point. When pressed, Kraken coach Dan Bylsma (4-0 against Pittsburgh and Buffalo this season, the two NHL teams he previously coached) admitted it could have been the Kraken’s best passing game of the...

  With just under five minutes remaining in last night’s game between the Seattle Kraken and the Washington Capitals, the Kraken, trailing 2-0, pulled goalie Joey Daccord for an extra attacker. Suddenly, the chant of `Ovie, Ovie’ started up as there were numerous Capital fans in the stands clad in their red jerseys and sweaters. The fans wanted to see Alex Ovechkin score what would be his 875 th career goal, only 20 behind Wayne Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time goal scoring leader. The Capital fans (and maybe a few Kraken fans, the ones not already heading to the exits) got their wish as Ovechkin fired a shot from the right-wing boards into the empty cage. That gave the visiting Capitals a 3-0 victory, although the game wasn’t that close. Washington, which recently passed Winnipeg as the leading point getter in the league, won its sixth consecutive game, improving to 33-10-5 on the season. The Kraken fall to 21-25-2 on the year in a contest that saw the home team have only ten ...

  Afternoon hockey seemed to agree with the Seattle Kraken yesterday as they exploded for six goals en route to a 6-4 victory before an enthusiastic Martin Luther King Day crowd. A total of 12 Kraken players got into the scoring column including four defensemen – Ryker Evans, Vince Dunn, Jamie Oleksiak and Adam Larsson. With their second consecutive victory, Seattle’s record goes to 21-24-3 on the season. The Kraken built a 3-1 lead in the second period against beleaguered rookie goalkeeper Devon Levi. However, the Sabres tied the game before Jamie Oleksiak, known as `The Big Rig,’-stepped into the play and fired home a 20-footer. “There was a portion of the second period where things got a little sideways,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma “The response goal by the Wrighter line (Wright and Jared McCann drew assists on Oleksiak’s goal) and Rig supporting that with a goal was huge for us.” Adam Larsson, also known for his defense, notched his third goal of the season in the thi...

  After a solid game against the Winnipeg Jets (the top point-getter in the Western Conference), that ended with a heartbreaking loss in the final seconds who knew how the Seattle Kraken would respond when they returned to Climate Pledge Arena for the start of a five-game homestand last night? The answer was provided by the three best Kraken players since the beginning of the year. Jaden Schwartz scored three goals- the fourth hat trick in Kraken history- Kaapo Kakko assisted on all three goals, and Joey Daccord stopped 30 of 32 shots (a .933 percentage) as the Kraken defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2. Actually, Chandler Stephensen, a big free-agent signee for the Kraken, scored the game winner at 1:37 of the second period. Stephenson scored his seventh goal of the season off when he tipped home a shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Kraken improve their record to 20-24-3, still eight points out of a playoff berth. The Kings reside in third place in the Pacific Division of the W...

The Seattle Kraken came within 27 seconds of earning at least a tie against the best team in the NHL last night, but wound up on the short end of a 2-1 decision to the Winnipeg Jets last night at Canada Life Centre. Making things worse, the Jets game winning score had fluke written all over it. Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson attempted to clear the puck out of the Seattle D-zone but the puck took an odd bounce off the glass and came to Jets’ forward Nicolaj Ehlers. Ehlers head manned the puck to defenseman Dylan DeMelo who fired the game winner past Kraken goalkeeper Joey Daccord who outplayed Conner Hellebuyck, statistically the best goalie in the NHL (.129 goals against and a .924 save percentage). Daccord stopped 33 shots and was awarded the game’s number one star- a rarity for a player on the visiting team in a losing effort. DeMelo’s shot went through a screen of players from both teams and Daccord never saw it. For DeMelo, playing in his 600 th NHL game, that was only his second ...

  The Seattle Kraken are below .500 this season (19-23-3) But when they do win a game, especially lately, it seems to be a come-from-behind effort. That was the case last night in Pittsburgh, where the Kraken scored three third-period goals to ice the Penguins, 4-2. ``Games look different all over the map and you have to be able to play the game you’re in and stick with it for 60” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma ``We played our best hockey after they scored the second goal to make it 2-1 [in the second period].” The Kraken opened the scoring with their first shorthanded goal of the season. The play started with Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord. After a save, Daccord sent the puck ahead to Jared McCann along the left wing boards. McCann hit Chandler Stephenson in the center of the ice, who beat Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry for his sixth goal of the season. Daccord, who like many goalies, dreams of scoring a goal someday, picked up his first career assist on the play (Philipp Gr...

While many sporting eyes were on the NFL playoffs this weekend, the Seattle Kraken split two road games with the Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings. The Kraken toppled the Sabres, 6-2, in one of the more entertaining contests of the season. If a hockey game can have an evil twin it was the following afternoon when Seattle recorded a real clunker finishing on the short end of a 6-2 decision to the Red Wings. Seattle drops to 18-23-3 on the season with chances of a playoff berth slipping away almost daily. The Kraken are now nine points behind the final post-season slot as NHL teams begin the second half of the season. ``With the back-to-back, we knew we’d have to pay attention to the little things and we didn’t,” said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma, after yesterday’s loss. “We weren’t ready,” said Jaden Schwartz. “It's unacceptable, and there's no one to blame but ourselves. No one's feeling sorry for us. We have to figure this out collectively and figure it out fast....

  The Seattle Kraken began their most hectic road trip of the season five games in eight days-with an early 6-0 shot advantage over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. In fact, the Kraken had 14 of te first 15 shot attempts in the contest. However, the Blue Jackets would score the first goal of the contest when Sean Kuraly tipped in Ivan Provorov’s shot at 11:58 of the first period. Kuraly had kept the puck in the Blue Jackets O-zone with a hit on Jamie Oleksiak behind the net. After that it was all downhill for the Kraken. The Blue Jackets scored four unanswered goals in the second period to post a 6-2 victory. The Kraken, who passed the midway point of the season with their 42 nd game, dropped their fourth consecutive game after a five-game skein in December. Seattle’s now 17-22-3 on the season, seventh in the eight team Pacific Division. While the Blue Jackets are a good home team (14-5-3) their offense wasn’t exactly led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl....

  The Seattle Kraken were unable to post a winning home stand last night at Climate Pledge Arena thanks in large part to the play of New Jersey Devil netminder Jacob Markstrom, as the Devils posted a 3-2 victory. The Kraken finish the homestand at 1-2-1. Markstrom, who was last seen repeatedly slamming his stick against the boards after allowing the game winning goal to the San Jose Sharks in the closing seconds of a Devils loss Saturday night, made two game saving stops in the third period One of his saves ranks as one of the best of the year, while the second may have been somewhat lucky, but it IS better to be lucky than good, especially for an NHL netminder. After Ondrej Palat scored the eventual game-winner for the Devils in the third period, the Kraken almost tied the game a minute later. Off a pass from Shane Wright, Eeli Tolvanen, parked to the right of the Devils’ cage, appeared to have the open net. But Markstrom dove across the net to get a glove on the shot. In ...

  For the third time in four games, the Seattle Kraken attempted to make a third period comeback trailing by multiple goals. But to mix some metaphors, that’s a well you can only go to once too often. The Kraken came to life in the third period after a lethargic 40 minutes of hockey, and attempted to score the tying goal after pulling the goaltender as they successfully did in recent games with Vancouver. Instead, it was Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, scoring his second goal of the game (and league-leading 29 th of the season) an empty netter on a breakaway, giving the Oilers (24-12-3) a 4-2 victory The loss drops the Kraken to 17-20-2 on the season. ``We’ve got to get better starts,” said Jaden Schwartz, whose third-period goal cut the Oilers’ margin to 3-2.``It’s tough coming back all the time in this league. It’s good to be able to do it and put ourselves in a position to tie it up again. But especially with (Edmonton) playing last night, we’ve just got to be sharper at the s...

  Playing in their first game of 2025, lightning didn’t strike twice for the Seattle Kraken last night at Climate Pledge Arena. Last week, the Kraken rebounded from a 4-1 deficit against the Vancouver Canucks with six minutes left in the game, posting a 5-4 victory on Vince Dunn’s breakaway goal. Last night, Seattle trailed its neighbors from the north, 3-1, with 11 minutes remaining in the game. For the Kraken, it was déjà vu all over again, when Dunn fired a shot from the point through a screen of players to send the game to overtime. However, the Kraken couldn’t complete the Cinderella story as Canucks’ captain J.T. Miller scored the only goal in a shootout, giving Vancouver the 4-3 win. Seattle did rack up one point in the standings moving its record to 17-19-3 on the season. ``We had a few non-intelligent puck plays in the second period, turning the puck over,’’ said Kraken coach Dan Bylsma. ``That took the momentum away from us, and it took awhile to get it back.” V...