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# Mistakes Continue to Plague Kraken in Return Home in 6-3 Loss to Penguins
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-kraken-pittsburgh-penguins-mistakes-plague-homecoming/
- Published: 2026-01-20T01:38:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:16:17.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: News, Kraken, Pittsburgh Penguins, Eeli Tolvanen, Lane Lambert, Vince Dunn, Brandon Montour, Joey Daccord, Ryan Lindgren, Chandler Stephenson, Jaden Schwartz, Ryan Winterton, Ryker Evans, Ben Meyers

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="6596"\]

![  The Seattle Kraken celebrate after a goal scored against the Pittsburgh Penguins by Seattle Kraken right wing Eeli Tolvanen (20) during the third period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/usatsi_28041428-format-original-1.jpg)

The Seattle Kraken celebrate after a goal scored against the Pittsburgh Penguins by Seattle Kraken right wing Eeli Tolvanen (20) during the third period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images \[/caption\]

SEATTLE, Wash. - One shot from Eeli Tolvanen, and the Seattle Kraken had life.

The Finnish forward’s power-play one-timer cut the Kraken’s deficit to 4-3 at 7:47 of the third period against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday at Climate Pledge Arena, but the home side couldn’t find the equalizer before Rickard Rakell slipped an ugly goal past goalie Joey Daccord en route to a 6-3 Penguins win.

Seattle kicked off its six-game homestand with its third straight regulation loss, and sixth total in seven games (1-4-2). While the Kraken put themselves in position to level it late, coach Lane Lambert felt they never put the pieces together to make that a serious threat.

“I just didn’t think we forechecked well,” Lambert said. “I thought we were not connected enough, whether it was a lack of energy from coming off a road trip, I don’t know, but I just didn't think there was a lot of connectivity to our game, and as a result, we allowed them to break out of their zone too quickly.”

Seattle did not put a single shot on net between Tolvanen’s power-play goal and Rackell’s goal to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-3 at 16:48\. Rackell pushed the puck down below Daccord’s net around Vince Dunn and Brandon Montour, where Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took the puck off a back-tracking Dunn before setting up Rackell along the right post.

The 32-year-old forward banked it off Daccord from a tight angle, and the Kraken netminder could only manage a small swipe at it with his glove before it fell into the net, effectively putting the game out of reach.

Lambert admitted Daccord allowed “maybe a couple (goals) we’d like to have back,” but the Penguins also effectively utilized screens and shots through traffic to build up their lead, scoring three times from long range with Daccord’s vision limited.

“We knew they were going to do that. They’re a team that goes hard to the net,” defenseman Ryan Lindgren said. “As a defenseman, you got to do a better job of boxing those guys out, not letting them get to the net. Let (Daccord) and (fellow goalie Philipp Grubauer) see the pucks. But yeah, they did a good job of that. They found their defensemen, they were getting pucks to the net.”

The Kraken had to work themselves back into the game from the beginning after going down 2-0 through 7:50\. The second goal came on a Seattle power-play, with Pittsburgh forward Connor Dewar stepping up to pick the puck off Chandler Stephenson, who was attempting to enter the Penguins zone, and executing a clean breakaway with the entire ice left open.

Monday marked the third straight game in which the Kraken allowed a short-handed goal. As much of a disconnect as there is overall, as Lambert mentioned, there appears to be an even bigger disconnect on the power play at times.

 “We knew that they were locking the bench side with their forward, and their forward was going to step,” Lambert said. “And that was pre-scouted for our players. That was indicated to them. They saw video on it, and (Dewar) stepped, got a breakaway. So we got to be better.”

Seattle did manage to tie things up with a couple goals generated by the fourth line. Ben Meyers cut it to 2-1 at 16:12 of the first period, with new fourth-line installation Jaden Schwartz and Ryan Winterton retrieving the puck back along the end boards with a strong forecheck before setting Meyers up for a one-timer in front.

The Kraken tied it at 13:55 of the second period. After Ryker Evans fed Meyers along the right post for an attempted tap-in, Winterton retrieved the rebound and slid it to Lindgren in front. The defenseman flipped it into the net past Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner for the equalizer.

“Meyers was back post, I think he tried to jam it in,” Winterton said. “Kind of popped it out to me, and (Skinner’s) a big goalie, I didn’t see much. Thankfully ‘Lindy’ was right there, I just kind of slid it over to him, and (he) buried it.”

The tie game was short-lived, as Pittsburgh defenseman Brett Kulak scooped the puck up off the wall after a Crosby faceoff win and drifted to the point before unleashing a shot past Daccord through traffic at 14:45, just 50 seconds after Lindgren tied it.

Justin Brazeau extended the Penguins lead to 4-2 at 2:21 of the third period, taking a drop pass from Anthony Mantha and beating Daccord on yet another obstructed-view shot.

“It’s tough,” Lindgren said. “Like I said, we did a good job of getting back into it, but yeah, then they get the one quickly after, and we do our best to try to move on and forget about it, but yeah, we just got to be better than that. When you do tie it up, we got to lock it down defensively a little better and just keep playing our game.”

It was a rough homecoming for a skidding Kraken team, which has five more games at home before three quick road games entering the Olympic break in February. There’s plenty of runway to make up ground in a murky Pacific Division, but Lambert boiled it down simply after the game.

“What’s happening right now is we’re making mistakes that, you know, are going into the back of our net,” Lambert said. “And we’ve got to correct those mistakes.”