Kraken's Late Charge Falls Short in 4-3 Loss to Rangers

The Kraken spent two periods looking like a team that had already packed for Helsinki. They trailed the New York Rangers 4-0 after 40 minutes, with three former Seattle players, Eeli Tolvanen, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Tye Kartye, having a hand in the scoring. Then they came within one goal of a comeback that would have been remarkable. Seattle is now bound for two games against the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the NHL Global Series, and the way this one ended will sit with them on the flight over.

Captain Jordan Eberle didn't find much comfort in the push. "No, it doesn't. I mean, if anything, it makes you more frustrated," he said. "We can't have a good game and then have a bad game, or a good period and then a bad. We have to be more consistent, and if we want to continue to have success this season, that's going to be a mandate." That's the right frame. A late rally is nice to watch, but the Kraken's problem tonight was the first 40 minutes.

The first period dug the hole

Seattle looked flat early, and goaltender Joey Daccord didn't bail anyone out. One game after a 25-save performance in a 2-1 win over Calgary, he looked off from the start. Kartye, who the Kraken lost to New York on a waiver claim in February, has become a real contributor for the Rangers, and he scored the first power-play goal of his NHL career off a mid-air tip of Matt Fox's shot. Bjorkstrand picked up the second assist.

The goal that really told the story came at 13:53, when Noah Laba's shot bounced out of Daccord's glove and onto the stick of Jaroslav Chmelar for an easy tap-in and a 3-0 lead. Head coach Lane Lambert pulled Daccord and sent in Philipp Grubauer. Kartye also had a goal waved off after video review, when he directed a puck through Daccord's five-hole. Daccord tried to smother it as it skittered across the ice, whiffed, and watched it roll through. The Kraken got a reprieve there, but the way that puck got past him said plenty about his sightlines that night.

Lambert was blunt about it. "I didn't like a couple of the goals," he said. "So it's really hard for our hockey team to chase games, and we needed to do something to change the momentum."

Daccord wasn't the only issue. Seattle's skaters looked stuck in quicksand for much of the opening frame and for a good chunk of the second, when they managed only five shots against Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo was mostly solid in his Rangers debut. He came over in a trade from Boston over the summer and spent the first month of the season on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. You don't dig a 3-0 hole in 13 minutes and then expect a pinch-hitter to cover for it, and Seattle asked a lot of the back half of the game for that reason.

Pushback, and a plan that finally showed up

Trailing by four entering the third is a strange spot. Teams down that far have little left to lose and can play with their heads up, while the team in front often starts sitting back to protect the lead. The Kraken took advantage of the shift in tone, and it was clear Lambert felt the plan they'd had all along was finally being followed.

"The Rangers played well. They were on top of us pretty good, and unfortunately for us, we had a plan in place that I'll take responsibility for the players not following," Lambert said. "Once we started to follow it in the third period, lo and behold, we had some chances and some time in their zone. It's a good learning experience for our players and for our group."

The spark came 1:50 into the third. Kaapo Kakko collected a Brandon Montour rebound at the side of the net and had the presence of mind not to shovel it straight into Korpisalo, who was still sliding across. He wrapped it around to the far side and tucked it inside the post to make it 4-1. Kakko explained the read after the game. "I saw he was kind of still sliding, and I was on the goal line already, so that would be hard to put it in if I shot right away," he said. "It happens fast, so I was just thinking he's still going that way, and maybe I have time to go around."

That's a small detail, but it's the kind that separates a team that's trying to climb back from one that's just hoping. Seattle's next goal came at 6:38 of the period on the power play. Eberle finished off a cross-crease pass from Matty Beniers, and the building woke up. Shortly after, Berkly Catton slid a pass across the blue line to Vince Dunn, who one-timed a shot off the right post and in to make it 4-3. Suddenly the Kraken had a game to play with a full period left in front of a loud Climate Pledge Arena crowd.

A penalty at the wrong time

Catton has been one of Seattle's best young players this season. He had two assists in this game and extended his point streak to eight games, the longest by a player 20 or under in the NHL so far this season. That's the reason the penalty stung. It was his second holding infraction of the night, following a first that led to Kartye's power-play goal. At 17:34 of the third, Catton put a hand on Mika Zibanejad, and as he pulled it away he grabbed a little clump of jersey. The referee's arm went up, and the Kraken went to the penalty kill with about 34 seconds left in regulation.

"We can't put ourselves in that position to make the referee have to decide whether or not it's a penalty," Lambert said. "Again, another learning experience for a young player."

Seattle killed the penalty, and that's where the night got interesting. Beniers spun back into the defensive zone to find some room on the way out of the box, and that sparked a rush. Eberle got a look at the short side on Korpisalo and fired it just wide. "It was close. I don't know where it ended, but I thought I had a look," Eberle said. "It's a tough situation, not one you're used to where you need a goal with two minutes and 30 seconds or whatever it may be to kill. I thought we did a good job killing. Matty did a hell of a job bringing the puck back and creating space and giving me an opportunity. But yeah, we had our chances."

That's the frustrating bit. The Kraken showed they could generate in the third when they committed to the plan, but they gave the Rangers a clean power play at the worst possible moment. Going forward, Seattle's margin for error is thin, and the back-to-back issues of a slow start and an avoidable penalty are the kind that get exposed against good teams. If they can marry the third-period urgency with a first 20 minutes that matches it, this group has the talent to look a lot better on the road in Helsinki and beyond.