Kraken solid effort comes up short

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The Seattle Kraken brought a four game winning streak into last night’s contest against the Vancouver Canucks, and the Kraken would turn in one of their best performances of the season.

Unfortunately, the Kraken could only muster one standings point as the Canucks won the shootout and earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory in Seattle’s final game of the 2025 calendar year.

The teams were deadlocked 2-2 after two periods and the Kraken would have one of their best (third) periods of the season. Seattle outshot their Pacific Division rivals, 16-3, in the final stanza but Vancouver goaltender Kevin Lankinen thwarted every Seattle scoring bid, turning aside 16 shots.

The Kraken had the only three shots of the overtime period and Lankinen also came up with a couple of big stops in the shootout, making stops on Freddy Gaudreau and Jordan Eberle.

“You’ve got to give him (Lankinen) credit, he played well and made some big saves for them,” said Seattle’s Jared mcCann “We peppered him and we played well. We had some good opportunities offensively, hemmed them in their zone quite a bit. We should be proud of ourselves tonight.”

``We played a good game tonight,’’ added Kraken coach Lane Lambert. ``We had some good chances and some good looks in regulation. And if we keep playing like that, we’ll have success more often.’’

Besides outshooting the visitors by a wide margin in the third period, the Kraken led most of the first two periods adding to the frustration. Seattle scored two first period goals thanks to some crisp passing from their forward lines.

On a first-period power play, McCann sent a one-timer, off a pass from Vince Dunn past Lankinen. After Linus Karlsson tied the game for Vancouver, Jacob Melansson picked up his first NHL assist when he came speeding down the wing and hit Ryan Winterton with a pass that he tapped home from the right side. For Winterton, who was a healthy scratch in the previous game, it marked his third goal of the season.

Also noteworthy, McCann earned a decision in a fight with Vancouver’s Conor Garland. The Canuck forward had given McCann an elbow to head earlier in the period. While it could be argued that McCann should maybe avoid fighting after missing 16 games this season with injuries, incidents like that can spark a club.

“I think it just shows a lot about the character of Jared McCann,” said Lambert. “And Garland accepted. I thought it was hockey.”

Elias Petterson tied the game at 5:23 of the second period, which was probably the Canucks best period. Yes, Vancouver has two Elias Petterson’s on the team. This is the one who scores a lot of goals (we think).

Kraken captain Jordan Eberle has racked up four goals over his last five games and has five goals and four assists in his last 11 contests. Eberle did have a rough overtime. Seattle controlled the puck for the first minute and a half of overtime but then the Canucks intercepted an errant pass of Eberle’s stick. Vancouver controlled the puck for the remainder of the extra frame but Seattle still outshot the Canucks in the five-minute stanza, 3-0.

In the shootout, Vancouver’s Liam Ohgren wristed home the game winner. Eeli Tolvanen, who was selected the NHL’s second star of the week after compiling six points in three games, shot high over the net in his attempt.

The previous night, the Kraken defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1. After goals from Jordan Eberle and Chandler Stephenson, Eeli Tolvanen, who was selected the NHL’s number two star of the week, added two empty netters.

Philipp Grubauer had another big night between the pipes for the home team, stopping 32 shots. Unfortunately, Grubauer lost his shutout when the Flyers’ Carl Grundstrom scored in the final two minutes.

In other Kraken news, Jani Nyman was optioned to Coachella Valley. With McCann and Kaapo Kakko returning from injuries, Nyman was the odd man out. For now, Melanson has earned a regular spot in the lineup due to his speed and physicality.

Seattle, 16-4-7, and two points out of the playoffs, host the Nashville Predators on New Years’ night.

 

Kraken-Canucks

Scoring Summary

1st Period

S- Jared McCann 19 (Vince Dunn 15, Jordan Eberle 11) PPG. 18:50.

V- Linus Karlsson (Liam Ohgren) 15:24.

S- Ryan Winterton 3 (Jacob Melanson 1, Joey Daccord 3) 19:40.

2nd Period

V- Elias Petterson (Evander Kane, Tom Willander) 5:20.

3rd Period

No scoring.

Overtime

No scoring.

Shootout

S1 – Freddy Gaudreau, Save

V1- Conor Garland, save

S2- Eeli Tolvanen, shot high

V2- Elias Petterson, save

S3- Jordan Eberle, save

V3- Liam Ohgren, score

Saves- V: Kevin Lankenin 37. S: Joey Daccord 22.

Three Stars- 1. Liam Ohgren, V. 2. Jared McCann, S. 3. Jacob Melanson, S.


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