The Seattle Kraken continued their torrid play on Monday, riding another ho-hum 41-save performance by Philipp Grubauer and pulling away from the Calgary Flames in the third period for a 5-1 win. The victory came with some memorable moments and extended Seattle’s point streak to eight games (7-0-1) since the end of their 1-9-1 skid that spanned nearly a month.

Ironically, the last game of that painful stretch was a 4-2 loss to these same Calgary Flames on Dec. 18. But the Kraken won their next game against the San Jose Sharks two days later, and they haven’t looked back since.

Including that previous loss at Calgary, the Kraken had scored first in their last nine games before conceding the icebreaker to Adam Klapka on Monday. Still, the fourth line once again got things on track in the second period, and it was all uphill from there with five straight goals.

“We used everybody tonight, everybody contributed, and I thought our third period was outstanding,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We limited their scoring chances, and we capitalized on ours.”

Here are Three Takeaways from a convincing 5-1 Kraken win over the Flames.

Takeaway 1: Jacob Melanson gets his first NHL goal

With the way that fourth line has been cooking, it was only a matter of time before Jacob Melanson got his first NHL goal. It came Monday in his fourth straight game with a point, following a great play by Ryan Winterton to get his own rebound off Dustin Wolf and—instead of shoveling it right back into the Calgary netminder—one-touching a cross-crease pass to Melanson at the backdoor.

MELLY CELLY! 🚨

The fourth line does it AGAIN, and this time, it’s Jacob Melanson getting his FIRST NHL GOAL!

Nice play by Winterton to get his own rebound and send it across.

1-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/DJmg7QhQFs

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 6, 2026

“Getting that first goal is unreal, and it’s cool that it came from ‘Wints,’ so it means a lot,” Melanson said. “We’re on the hunt, on the forecheck, and we reloaded well, and good things are going to come from us doing the right thing. So, I mean, we had a good reload, and ‘Winnie’ found me backdoor, which was nice to see.”

It was also a crucial goal in the game, because Seattle did not exactly dominate possession through the first two periods and allowed 31 shots on Philipp Grubauer by the time the second period horn sounded. But with Melanson scoring early in the frame at 2:17, Seattle just needed to get out of the period, and it would be a whole new game in the third.

“Second period, we were a little under the fire there, but we managed to get away and get out of that one with a tie,” Grubauer said. “And it was, I think, a phenomenal third period, different than the other night [against Nashville], for sure. We were giving them less time and space and didn’t give them time to make some plays. I thought that was incredible, and that’s how we need to play.”

Takeaway 2: A huge third period

Coming out of the second intermission, this game felt like another down-to-the-wire barnburner. Instead, Seattle turned on the jets and took over, getting rewarded with both a game-winning goal from birthday boy Shane Wright at 1:57 of the frame and an insurance goal from Vince Dunn at 5:12.

WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️

Yet another impactful play by Ben Meyers, who makes a perfect saucer pass to Shane Wright, crashing the net for his first goal in eight games.

2-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/vUnLCVMXwD

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 6, 2026

Remarkably, even when the fourth line isn’t technically “on the ice,” they still seem to make an impact lately. In this case, Ben Meyers got a rare shift with Wright and Jared McCann and showed his offensive prowess again, lofting a perfect saucer pass into a spot where only Wright could get to it. Wright had gotten behind Calgary’s defense, so all he had to do was skate into the pass and chip it over Wolf.

“[Meyers] had some open ice there, and I saw the D step up a little bit, so I thought I could find some room behind him,” Wright said. “And, I mean, he made an unbelievable pass.”

On a personal level for Wright, it was a big goal. He hadn’t scored in eight games and was without a point in five, despite playing on what could be a productive line with McCann and Berkly Catton.

Dunn’s goal three minutes later came off a beauty of a pass from Kaapo Kakko, who has also found his game since being elevated to a line with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle. After Dunn scored what should have been the game-winner in overtime against Vancouver on Friday—only to have it negated by a Catton interference penalty—you could tell he was holding his breath to see if it counted when Beniers flattened Wolf a split second after the puck went in.

HE DUNN DID IT! 🚨

Perfect pass by Kaapo Kakko, and Vince Dunn snipes it past Dustin Wolf just before Beniers runs him over.

3-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/3zQtPz7AK2

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 6, 2026

Freddy Gaudreau added an empty-netter at 17:25, Beniers cleaned up a McCann rebound just 14 seconds later, and the Kraken rode their high horse out of Calgary with two more points.

Takeaway 3: Kraken continuing to climb

While the Kraken have been on fire, their Pacific Division counterparts have (almost) all been stumbling, making it the perfect time for Seattle to go on this run. Vegas has lost five straight, Edmonton has dropped its last two, and the Anaheim Ducks—who held first place for a good stretch of the season—have nosedived into a six-game losing streak.

The upshot is that with Seattle earning 15 out of a possible 16 points during this stretch, they’ve skyrocketed up the standings from last place in the division as recently as Dec. 21 to now third place. They also boast a points percentage good enough to actually sit ahead of Edmonton, who has played two more games, and just one point back of the Golden Knights for first place in the division. They will officially hit the halfway point of the season after Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

It’s all shocking when you consider how down and out this team felt just two weeks ago, but it’s also a stark reminder of how tight and tenuous the NHL standings are this season. The Kraken can’t stop winning now, or they’ll find themselves right back on the outside even faster than they climbed their way back in.