The (29-2-9) Seattle Kraken close out their six‑game homestand with a familiar matchup against the (43-11-9) Colorado Avalanche, meeting for the second time this season before the series shifts to Denver for its April 16 finale. The Kraken enter the night looking to improve on a 1‑5‑1 home record and 4‑8‑1 overall mark against Colorado, backed by several players riding momentum. Kaapo Kakko sits one goal shy of matching last year’s total, Matty Beniers carries goals in back‑to‑back games, and Vince Dunn extends a three‑game point streak. The Kraken’s penalty kill has also surged, going a perfect 8‑for‑8 over the last five games — the best mark in the league during that span.
The opening frame tilted sharply toward Colorado, as the Avalanche dictated pace, possession, and precision from the jump, striking first at 13:19 when Martin Nečas buried his 30th of the season off a clean setup from Devon Toews and Nathan MacKinnon. The Kraken struggled to generate sustained pressure—outshot 15–8 and chasing the puck through long stretches despite a commanding 14–9 edge in faceoff wins—but the real damage came late. MacKinnon’s blistering wrist shot pushed the lead to two, and a double‑minor high‑sticking call on Jordan Eberle opened the door for Nicolas Roy to make it 3–0 before the horn. With giveaways piling up and no penalties to slow the Avalanche’s rhythm, the Kraken left the first period searching for answers against an Avalanche attack firing on all cylinders.
In the second period, the teams settled into a grind, trading penalties but neither generating much separation until Seattle finally cracked through. The Kraken tightened up defensively—holding Colorado to the same 15 shots they carried out of the first—and slowly tilted the ice with stronger puck battles, a 21–16 faceoff edge, and a growing advantage in takeaways. After killing off a tripping call to Adam Larsson, the Kraken capitalized on its best sustained pressure of the night when Ryker Evans jumped into the play and ripped home his seventh of the season off a clean feed from Chandler Stephenson. The goal capped a stretch where the Kraken outshot Colorado 19–15 and matched the Avalanche physically, trimming the deficit and injecting life back into a game that had been slipping away early.
In the final minutes, the Avalanche briefly seized momentum when Joel Kiviranta redirected home his third of the season off a Josh Manson setup, but Seattle steadied itself and controlled much of the late-period flow. The Kraken outshot the Avalanche down the stretch, held the edge in faceoff wins, and matched Colorado physically as both teams stayed disciplined with just two penalties apiece. Seattle’s pressure forced turnovers and kept the puck in the offensive zone, but despite generating the better looks in the closing minutes, they couldn’t find the equalizer as the period closed with both sides trading chances and tightening defensively.
The confidence and swag the Kraken developed before the Olympic break have gone missing. Both Kraken center Chandler Stephenson and head coach Lane Lambert spoke about this needed ingredient for success.
“You have to go in with the mindset you can win every game,” Stephenson said and when asked if he felt the confidence and swag has been missing in recent weeks, he responded by saying. “Yeah. But I think also shown before the break we had that. That’s kind of the mental aspect of the game that is tough. Win or lose you have got that even keel mindset and move on to the next one.”
“Low,” coach Lambert said emphatically when asked about the team’s level of confidence and SWAG. He did elaborate on what it would take to charge the team back up and said, “Well, you’ve got to do the right things. You’ve got to play the game the right way, and you’ve got to stop making avoidable mistakes, and certainly you have to correct them.”
“The only way to get out of a funk like this is to do the right things,” the Krakens veteran head coach Lambert added. “As it stands right now, we are making too many mistakes; so, we have an opportunity here on Saturday night, in another big game. I sound like a broken record, but we have to move forward, and we have to be better!”
These two teams will meet up for the final time this season on April 16th in Colorado. The Kraken will travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks on Saturday night and return home for a two-game home stand, before going out on their longest road trip remaining in the season. The Avalanche will travel to Winnipeg to play the Jets on Saturday night, March 14th.
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