Kraken Stumble Early, Fall Short Late in 5-3 Home Finale Loss vs. Kings
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="6000"]
Seattle Kraken forward Ryan Winterton (26) takes a shot against l forward Quinton Byfield (55) during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - Trailing 2-0 to the Los Angeles Kings at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday, the Seattle Kraken fought to cut the deficit during the second period.
Both Kings goals came from forward Quinton Byfield beating Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren to the puck around the Los Angeles blue line and scoring on a breakaway, but Seattle hoped it would benefit from a similar bounce.
A Vince Dunn shot from the point was obstructed by a teammate and swept away at 5:16, and Berkly Catton went wide from the netfront off a centering pass nearly a minute later. Ryan Winterton also had a look from a tight angle at 6:51, but it would be the Kings that struck next at 7:13.
Alex Laferriere sent a shot wide off the end boards that barely slipped under Matty Beniers’ stick and straight to Trevor Moore in the left circle. Moore’s shot off the rebound beat Kraken goalie Nikke Kokko to make it 3-0.
The Kraken brought the game back within one goal twice during the third period, but ultimately fell 5-3 to close out their 2025-26 home slate. Eliminated from playoff contention, Seattle has two more road games this season.
“Just not setting ourselves up for success,” Beniers said. “It’s tough to come back from those two-, three-goal deficits, especially in the third period. A couple tough bounces out there over our sticks, and ended up in the back of our net, so yeah, frustrating.”
Beniers had two assists in the comeback effort, including a backhand setup to Bobby McMann with Kokko pulled for the extra skater to cut it to 4-3 at 17:33 of the third period.
However, Dunn committed a tripping penalty trying to prevent Los Angeles from scoring on the empty net 50 seconds later, and Laferriere managed to push past three Kraker skaters to rebound his own missed shot to ice the game with less than two seconds left.
“I didn’t like the goal at all,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “I don’t care how much time is left in the game. I thought there was a lack of effort at some point, so unacceptable.”
In a way, it was emblematic of how Seattle’s season played out. Sitting way outside the playoff bubble in December, the Kraken pulled themselves back into a wild card spot as recently as mid-March before stumbling down the stretch.
That said, the Kraken did not play quite as poorly as the early score line suggested. The biggest difference really came down to both Byfield goals. The 23-year-old first won the puck with a bounce off the boards to spring himself on a 2-on-1 rush past Lindgren, and he called his own number to give the Kings a 1-0 lead at 2:43 of the first period.
Byfield struck again less than 10 minutes later, this time taking advantage of a routine pass back to the point slipping under Lindgren’s stick and into the neutral zone and scoring on a breakaway at 13:19. Lindgren slammed his stick against the post in frustration, breaking it in the process.
“He gives it everything he’s got,” Lambert said. “I think that over the last little while, he’s definitely had some– I guess you could call it bad puck luck. You know, those power-play goals a couple games ago that go off his stick and whatnot, but he’ll continue to battle.”
The Kraken pushed back with some of those aforementioned opportunities in the second period, but Lambert said he felt the team did not manage the puck well enough, which ultimately led to Moore’s goal to make it 3-0.
Seattle finally benefitted from a positive bounce early in the third period, as Kings forward Adrian Kempe’s stick snapped in front of the Los Angeles bench, which allowed Jaden Schwartz to bring the puck into the offensive zone. Adam Larsson scored from the point moments later to cut it to 3-1 at 1:53.
The Kraken cut it to 3-2 at 8:08 of the third period. As Winterton fought for the puck behind the Kings’ net, it popped out to Kaapo Kakko to the right, where he found Freddy Gaudreau open up across the crease for a backdoor tap-in.
“I feel we kind of think about the same, on the ice,” Kakko said of Gaudreau. “I kind of already know where (he is), and he knows where I am.”
Before Seattle could fully erase its deficit, Los Angeles pushed it to 4-2 at 12:29, with Anze Kopitar setting up Kempe on a 2-on-1.
Beniers’ feed to McMann gave the building some life again as the Kraken looked to force overtime, but a low-effort defensive play at the end punctuated a season at Climate Pledge Arena to forget.
“I don’t think we got to where we wanted to,” Beniers said. “Obviously, we’re not in the playoffs, so a little bit disappointing. I think we definitely had the ability to do it. We had put ourselves in a spot to do it after (the Olympic) break, and just didn’t get it done.”
