The Kardiac Kraken™️ (that’s what I’m calling them now) did it again! After rallying back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Thursday, Seattle again faced an uphill climb Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In this one, they entered the third period tied 1-1, but going shorthanded for the fourth time in the game against the NHL’s best power play proved to be one too many rounds of playing with fire.

Evgeni Malkin made it 2-1 with the manpower advantage at 5:56 of the third, but Matty Beniers forced overtime, and Brandon Montour won it in the extra frame. The win gives the Kraken a big opportunity to take six of eight points on the road trip, as they head to Long Island to face the Islanders on Sunday.

“We defended as hard as we could,” coach Lane Lambert said. “I thought our goaltender played a great game, and there’s no question we’re going to be right back at here in not too many hours, so we just have to make sure that we focus in and be good with our structure tomorrow.”

Here are Three Takeaways from a 3-2 Kraken win over the Penguins in OT.

Takeaway #1: Mason Marchment gets the monkey off his back… then faceplants

The start of Mason Marchment’s Kraken tenure has been far from perfect. Since he scored in Seattle’s first game of the season, we’ve frequently noticed him fumbling pucks, missing passes, and deferring to teammates instead of letting it rip in obvious shooting situations.

But since Lambert elevated him onto the top line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle, Marchment has seemed to be finding his way in deep sea blue. He made a massive impact against the Penguins with a goal, a primary assist, and a hilarious fall.

His goal and high-comedy tumble opened the scoring in a tight-checking game at 1:24 of the second period. Marchment actually turned the puck over to 18-year-old Ben Kindel, but then Kindel handed the puck right back to him and took himself out of the play at the Pittsburgh blue line. Marchment, finding himself with an open lane down the slot, took a few steps north and let his big shot go, sneaking it under the left arm of Sergei Murashov. As he pumped his fist and took a huge sigh of relief, the boards jumped out at Marchment and took him down in a heavy way.

IT’S A MUSH PUSH! 🚨

Marchment gets a gift handed to him by Kindel, then rips it through Murashov for his first goal since Game 1 of the season!

He absolutely bites it on the celebration, though. 😂

1-0 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/Hvtr5elrCC

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 23, 2025

Just an all-time goal celebration from Mason Marchment. #SeaKraken broadcast doing him dirty with the reverse angle here.😂 pic.twitter.com/Zds666dQro

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 23, 2025

“Classic him, falling on his face with a big smile on his face,” Brandon Montour told Piper Shaw on the Kraken broadcast.

Marchment also factored into the critical game-tying goal in the third period. The top line had been buzzing for the better part of a minute, spending most of that stretch in Pittsburgh’s zone. After some perimeter passing, Marchment handed it to Ryker Evans, who began walking down the left half wall. The two traded places, and Evans dished it back to Marchment. Marchment wasted no time in finding Matty Beniers through the seam. Beniers dusted it off and slung a perfect shot under the bar.

MATTY MAGIC! 🚨

At the end of an outstanding shift by the top line, Mason Marchment makes a perfect seam pass to Beniers, who goes top cheddar. Beautiful goal.

2-2 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/ao06XJlLTD

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 23, 2025

We were thrilled when the Kraken traded for Marchment in the offseason, but early returns have been limited. It’s great to see him get rewarded with two points in this one, and Kraken fans have to feel encouraged that this could be a turning point for him.

“[Marchment] has played very well for at least a couple of weeks now,” Lambert said. “He’s been a force out there, he’s making plays, he’s using his body. He’s playing well for us.”

By the way, on Beniers’ goal, Lambert said: “That was a snipe.”

Takeaway #2: Grubauer shines again

The last couple of games have been the most confident Philipp Grubauer has looked in a long… long time. One could argue it’s the most confident he’s looked at any point during his tenure with the Seattle Kraken.

In a way, Grubauer is making general manager Jason Botterill look brilliant for not buying him out over the summer, because he has been razor-sharp in his last two appearances and has earned two straight wins—at a time when fellow backup Matt Murray has landed on the shelf for an extended period with a lower-body injury.

Grubauer came up with 30 saves in this one, his highest total of the season, and improved to 4-0-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in six appearances, far and away his best numbers as a Kraken (though still in a relatively limited sample size).

What I liked most was the way he bounced back after his miscue with Ryan Lindgren gave Sidney Crosby an easy goal at 16:16 to tie the game 1-1. Sometimes a misplay like that—whether it was his fault or Lindgren’s or a combination of the two—can rattle a goalie. But Grubi went right back to work after that and continued looking calm and collected in the crease.

The Kraken are managing the duo of Grubauer and Joey Daccord a little differently than how they’ve historically handled them in back-to-back scenarios, running Grubauer out in the first game and saving Daccord for the second. So far, that plan has paid off. Sunday on Long Island, let’s see if Daccord can get them to their first win in the second of back-to-backs since the 2023-24 season and their first win in both games of a back-to-back since 2022-23.

Takeaway #3: Rallying back again

The Kardiac Kraken™️ aren’t making things easy on themselves. For a team starved for offense, you’d think they’d push a little harder to generate offense earlier in the game. But as we’ve heard from Lambert throughout the season, they need to be comfortable in tight games. And what’s really impressive is that it doesn’t seem to matter whether they’re ahead or behind by a goal (or two, as was the case Thursday in Chicago); they show good patience and composure either way, and when it feels like they need a goal, they’re getting it.

In the end, it was Montour who played the overtime hero in this one. After four minutes of struggling to even get possession and Kris Letang ringing one loudly off the post, Evans finally grabbed hold of the puck and retreated behind his own net to allow for a forward change. Evans began a controlled breakout with Freddy Gaudreau and Berkly Catton, then headed to the bench himself. On came Montour.

Gaudreau made a great play to gain the offensive zone with speed and hit the brakes at the top of the left circle, drawing two of the three Penguins defenders to him. He laid it back to the blue line, where Montour skated right into it, walked down Broadway, and ripped it past Murashov.

#SEAKRAKEN WIN! BRANDON BOMBTOUR! 💣🚨

The Kraken couldn’t get sustained control for the first four minutes of OT. But they finally got a chance here, Freddy Gaudreau drew two defenders and laid it back for Brandon Montour to walk down Broadway.

3-2 final. pic.twitter.com/xaZN1lKMSW

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 23, 2025

Of course, it would be nice to see the Kraken win in easier fashion every now and then, but what they’re doing is working. With the victory, they improved to 11-5-5 on the season, good for 27 standings points and a very temporary tie with the Anaheim Ducks for first in the Pacific Division.

Are the Kraken nasty wasty?