Takeaways: Kraken Wrap Up Preseason With Win vs. Oilers
SEATTLE, Wash. - The Seattle Kraken wrapped up their preseason slate with a 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday, meaning it’s full steam ahead to regular season action.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Seattle’s final exhibition tune-up:
Extra Reps on Special Teams
If the Kraken didn’t get enough special teams work done during Tuesday’s practice —where they worked on power-play zone entries among other things — they got more than their fair share of practice on both the man-advantage and penalty kill in the first period alone.
Each side committed four minor penalties for 16 total PIM. Each side had at least 30 seconds with a 5-on-3 power play, and only 8:58 of the first 20 minutes was played at 5-on-5.
Edmonton capitalized on one of their power plays at 17:35, but not before the Kraken potted two power-play goals and one short-handed goal.
Josh Mahura struck first with a one-timer at 6:47 of the first period, working on the second power-play unit with Shane Wright, Eeli Tolvanen, Mason Marchment and Jaden Schwartz. Earlier this week, coach Lane Lambert labeled Mahura as more of a penalty kill contributor, but he made the most of his opportunity on the man-advantage.
With Ryker Evans out for six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury, as the team announced Wednesday morning, and the undetermined yet improving status of Vince Dunn (upper body) and Brandon Montour (ankle), Mahura is likely due for way more playing time out of the gate than was expected.
Another significant injury for the #Kraken https://t.co/MfSmGUI8zZ— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) October 1, 2025
Ryan Winterton showed out on the other side of special teams, pushing up ice as Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard regrouped with the puck behind his net. The 22-year-old forward noticed the defensemen were not backchecking, which left an opening for him to take advantage of.
“I kind of cheated a little bit and went to his forehand, and I think he (Pickard) just fanned on [his pass],” Winterton said. “It was a pretty easy one for me, but yeah, it was just reading the goalie.”
Winterton secured the puck right as Pickard dumped it out, and had a completely open net to wrap the puck into and give Seattle a 2-0 lead at 12:03. Winterton had three shots on goal, matching his output from Monday’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames. Only this time, he found a couple ways to cash in.
“He's done a lot of things well in camp,” Lambert said of Winterton. “He's in position. He skates well. He looks to me like he fits in potential situations. … He made an impression."
Seattle benefitted from Oilers forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andrew Mangiapane committing penalties just 1:03 apart, getting 57 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play at 14:27. They only needed 31 seconds, as Matty Beniers teed up Tolvanen for a one-timer in the high slot to make it 3-0 at 14:58.
It was a strange first period, and while the team made the most of their chances on the man-advantage, Lambert made it clear that he wants his group to cut down on their time in the penalty box.
That applies to everyone, but Berkly Catton found himself sitting in the penalty box three times in the first 25:26 of the game with two hooks and a trip. While not ideal, it certainly isn’t make-or-break for the Kraken’s top prospect in terms of his chances to make the roster.
His coach even went to bat for him after the game, focusing on the team at-large.
“He’s finding his way in the league,” Lambert said. “It’s completely different than he’s ever played before, for the most part anyways. So we just keep working with him, and he’s not the only one who took stick penalties and hooking and this and that, so we just have to clean it up overall as a group.”
Joey Daccord in Midseason Form
Fresh off his five-year extension, Daccord showed he’s ready to lead the Kraken crease once again. Edmonton doubled Seattle’s shots on goal (34-17), but the Kraken doubled them up where it counted.
With 32 saves, Daccord looked sharp with a handful of point-blank saves throughout. Lambert may be eager to clean things up in front of him, but the 29-year-old netminder liked seeing plenty of shots and penalty kill looks in his final tune-up before the regular season.
“I enjoyed it,” Daccord said. “Preseason, just a chance to get reps in. First couple games I didn’t get a ton of reps, so I got plenty tonight, and happy to play well and have the team get a good result, too.”
Daccord declined to get into specifics, but he mentioned how the new penalty kill system Lambert’s staff is implementing is changing the way they defend the net, which means Daccord will be seeing shots from different angles than before.
The Oilers had 6:24 of 5-on-4 time and 37 seconds at 5-on-3, which gave Daccord a good chunk of time to truly experience the new system before opening night.
“I’m glad I got to see a lot of different things,” Daccord said. “6-on-5, 4-on-4, 5-on-3, 5-on-4; see a lot of different things that you’re going to see throughout the year, so it’s definitely an adjustment. I think we’re really confident in our penalty kill this year.”
Lambert credited his goalie’s ability to work amongst the traffic Edmonton threw in front of the net, and any Kraken fan watching Wednesday’s game has to feel good about Daccord’s form heading into the season.
Last-Gasp Combinations
In the last game before things start to count, Lambert threw several different line combinations at the wall, shuffling the right wingers in particular.
At the start of training camp, Lambert said he likes to keep certain forward “pairs” together and rotate the third forward to mix things up, and he put that into action on Wednesday.
Below are the starting forward lines:
Catton-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Wright-Winterton
Marchment-Gaudreau-Tolvanen
Kartye-Molgaard-Nyman
Towards the end of the second period, he rotated each of the right wingers, with the exception of the top line of Catton-Beniers-Eberle:
Schwartz-Wright-Nyman
Kartye-Gaudreau-Tolvanen
Marchment-Molgaard-Winterton
Then to open the third period, he rolled out one last iteration in the ‘bottom nine’:
Schwartz-Wright-Tolvanen
Kartye-Gaudreau-Winterton
Marchment-Molgaard-Nyman
“Anytime you shuffle the lines, you’re looking for some kind of a spark,” Lambert said. “I didn’t think we were sharp, and so you move people around a little bit to create a spark.
“I thought Gaudreau, Winterton and Kartye played well.”
Those three connected on Seattle’s fourth goal, which came just 2:26 in the third period. With the Oilers defensemen pinching up, Kartye sprung Gaudreau from the right boards in Seattle’s defensive zone to create a 2-on-1 with Winterton.
With the backcheckers gaining, Gaudreau dished it across the slot to Winterton on the left, and he went backhand-to-forehand to beat Pickard up high.
“It was a good wall play by ‘Karts’ (Kartye),” Winterton said. “I kind of knew we had numbers since their D-man kind of pinched on ‘Karts.’ [Gaudreau] had all the guys all over him and somehow found a way to get it to me.”
While injuries will force Lambert’s hand when it comes to what to do with the opening night lineup, the younger players like Winterton, Catton and Nyman, among others, have shown what they can provide all preseason.
Now Lambert, general manager Jason Botterill and Co. have a week to sort everything out.
