Kraken Hold Off Mammoth 5-3 as Seattle Rallies Again

Are the Kraken good? It's getting harder to dismiss the question. Thursday's 5-3 win over the Utah Mammoth, who are first in the standings and have the NHL's best power play, moved Seattle to 7-3-1 through 11 games. That's the best start in franchise history, and it came against a team that looks like a contender.

National observers aren't sold yet, and you can understand why. Seattle fell apart late last season. But anyone watching this group every night can see the difference. The Kraken are quicker, more creative, and they can finish. Scoring has come from all four lines, and the goaltending has been steady. The schedule deserves a footnote: four of the wins have come against Calgary and Detroit, and one against Philadelphia. The win over Washington on Oct. 11 helped the case, and beating the first-place Mammoth helps more.

Third-period leads are still the problem

Here's the thing: Seattle has played its best hockey through 40 minutes on this homestand, and it has been slipping in the third. Against Detroit on Tuesday, the Kraken took a 3-0 lead into the final frame. Against Utah, they carried a 3-1 lead into the third. In both games, they gave up a goal early in the period, the opponent grabbed momentum, and Seattle had to dig in to get the win. The Philadelphia game, about ten days earlier, followed the same pattern.

The Mammoth got their push quickly. Jared McCann was called for a high stick on Logan Cooley with 30 seconds left in the second, which sent Seattle into the third on the penalty kill. Cooley scored 27 seconds into the period, tipping a Mikhail Sergachev shot from the point. Utah's power play had already tied the game 1-1 on a Vincent Trocheck goal at 17:57 of the first. Cooley scored again at 7:42 of the third, finishing a give-and-go with Sergachev after Utah had kept Seattle pinned in its own zone for a long stretch.

Lambert called a timeout at that point. "We were standing there watching them play, and we needed to be reminded that we're actually pretty good too," he said.

The reset worked. Bobby McMann appeared to score at 8:39, but Utah challenged, and the goal was disallowed because Chandler Stephenson was offside entering the zone. Seattle didn't let that deflate it. McMann set up Mackie Samoskevich for the winner with 5:25 left.

Lambert was more blunt about how the third period started. He had been patient after the Detroit collapse, but he wasn't happy with what he saw against Utah. "I thought we sat back," he said. "I didn't like that very much. So, obviously we had a chat at the timeout, and I thought we played better hockey from there." The fix is simple to describe and harder to execute: keep attacking when you're ahead, and don't invite the other team back into the game.

Skill is showing up in the big moments

Seattle deserves credit for winning all three of its one-goal or multi-goal comeback-style games this season. Two of those wins were settled in a shootout, with Grubauer and McMann coming through. This one was decided by a late push that showed resilience.

Samoskevich's goal was a good example of the team's unselfishness. McMann could have tried to spin and shoot, but he saw Samoskevich driving to the net and slid him the puck. "I just saw him out of the corner of my eye because I wasn't sure if I could spin and shoot that one," McMann said. "I would have tried to, but then he was there, so I'd rather it be on his stick."

The real highlight was Matty Beniers' power-play goal at 18:23 of the first. Beniers won the faceoff back to Brandon Montour, who gave the puck right back. Beniers then fed Berkly Catton, who drew Lawson Crouse up the half wall and made him commit before turning on a dime. Catton slipped a no-look pass to Kaapo Kakko at the side of the net, and Kakko returned a no-look backhander across the crease to a wide-open Beniers.

"Really good deception [by Catton]," Beniers said. "He's got a lot of skill, and then Kaapo made a great play to the backdoor. So two really good plays." That sequence is the kind of execution that separates a team that wins a few games from one that controls them.

Grubauer keeps the hot hand

Lambert started Philipp Grubauer over Joey Daccord, despite morning skate hints that Daccord might get the call. The decision looked right. Grubauer faced only eight shots in the first period, but Utah leaned on Seattle hard in the second, and Grubauer made several difficult saves to keep it a two-goal game heading into the third.

"Well, he's playing great," Lambert said of the choice. "I saw his game as fantastic. I think that he was— full marks for winning the hockey game. He gave us a chance to win all night long."

Grubauer finished with 33 saves, and he improved to 4-1-1. Lambert has kept him in the net as the hot hand, and the results back that up.

What to watch next

My read is that Seattle has earned the benefit of the doubt on talent and structure. The next test is to finish games with a lead, especially in the third period, where the Kraken have given up momentum twice in the last few weeks. If they can keep scoring like this and tighten up the late minutes, the question of whether they're good will start answering itself.