Kraken Buried in ‘Unacceptable’ Loss to Blackhawks
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Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer (31) traps the puck during the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - The Seattle Kraken’s odds to make the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs were slim entering Saturday night’s matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks at Climate Pledge Arena.
However, facing the team with the second-worst record in the league provided Seattle an opportunity to at least extend its hopes. The Kraken can’t control the other bubble team’s results, but they can control the effort and urgency required to put themselves in the best position possible.
Even then, there wasn’t enough on Saturday night. With a 4-2 loss to a bottom-feeding Blackhawks, the Kraken all but solidified their place among them.
“I would just use one word,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “I’m disappointed.”
After sleep-walking through the first period, generating just four shots on goal, the Kraken fell behind on a power-play goal from Teuvo Teravainen, whose shot managed to slip under the otherwise-solid Philipp Grubauer at 9:15 of the second period.
The Blackhawks doubled their lead with just 22.2 seconds left in the second period when Tyler Bertuzzi swooped in amid a scramble in front to finish off a last-ditch rush.
Chicago, to its credit, blocked 20 shots and brought the energy of a team full of young NHLers looking to show their worth for next season. At the same time, the Kraken did not show nearly enough desperation for a team fighting for its playoff lives, no matter how unlikely.
“I’m lost, kind of, for words,” said defenseman Brandon Montour, who was on the ice for Bertuzzi’s goal. “We lose another one, an important one, obviously against a team that is behind us in the standings. Unacceptable. But yeah, it’s mental mistakes, little mistakes that need to be cleaned up.
“Again, we keep saying the same stuff. We get a little push late in the game, but we dug ourselves in a hole, and that’s on us.”
Lambert agreed it was on the players, but also insisted that the messages being repeated are the correct ones.
“Just got to keep harping on the right message,” Lambert said. “There’s a message there. It’s not the wrong message. We’ve tried a few different things to get our team going here, and at some point, the message has to resonate completely. We’re making mistakes that we shouldn’t make.”
In addition to mistakes, Lambert feels the team isn’t winning enough puck battles, and that group is lacking confidence overall after losing eight of the past nine games.
Seattle ultimately found some life midway through the third period, when Eeli Tolvanen connected a centering pass to Jaden Schwartz, who cut around Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser to square up for a tap-in at 10:48.
Before they could build on that, Chicago jumped back ahead by two with Sacha Boisvert’s first NHL goal at 13:08. The Kraken managed to cut it back within one 70 seconds later, with Schwartz setting up Berkly Catton for a shot that Kaapo Kakko rebounded in, but that’s as close as it would get.
Seattle did not put another shot on goal before Chicago sealed the 4-2 win with an empty-netter from Ilya Mikheyev at 18:48.
Schwartz felt that the Kraken had their opportunities throughout the game, but that it was the Blackhawks’ play-style while trying to protect the lead late that allowed Seattle to make a push at the end, rather than any big changes on the team’s part.
“They’re up, so they were probably chipping a little more pucks in, and that was allowing us to play with a bit more speed, and drive pucks in and be aggressive,” Schwartz said. “Our (defensemen) were pinching, so when you’re down, the mindset is, especially at this stage, it’s all-out and be aggressive.”
Yet in the first 50-plus minutes, Seattle brought none of that. Montour used the word “flat” to describe the team in the first two periods, which Lambert could not wrap his head around when asked about it by a reporter.
“I can’t,” Lambert said. “A game of that magnitude, to come out flat. Clearly, there’s something that has to change.”
Change may come, but at this point it will likely have a bigger impact on next season than whatever is left of this one.
