It wasn’t the best road trip for the Seattle Kraken, but when you consider how it started—a 3-1 loss in a critical matchup with the Nashville Predators, followed by a 5-2 drubbing by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Seattle’s fourth straight regulation loss at the time—closing it out 1-2-2 is downright palatable.
One could even make the argument that Seattle deserved better in this 3-2 shootout loss to Buffalo, but after the Kraken jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Sabres chipped away and took advantage of a cheesy penalty call and an ill-timed turnover to tie the game.
“I thought we battled hard,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done. I thought our goaltender was outstanding, gave us the game he needed. I thought we had a lot of really good chances. We have to score.”
Once the game got through overtime and into a shootout, you knew it was going to be a Buffalo win. Indeed, the Kraken went 0-for-2, Buffalo went 2-for-2, and that was it. The Kraken are now just 1-for-7 on the season in games that have gone to a shootout. Hopefully, that miserable stat doesn’t come back to bite them when this season is said and done, but every standings point means so much right now.
Speaking of which, Seattle’s single point on the evening was more than the Los Angeles Kings (6-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth) or Nashville Predators (4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens) earned. The Kraken still have to jump both of those teams to get back into the playoff picture, but they’re now just one point behind the Kings and two behind the Predators, with a game in hand on both.
Here are Three Takeaways from a 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
Takeaway 1: Solid performance
The Kraken didn’t get the second point in the standings, but they played a strong game from top to bottom. Remember, these aren’t the Buffalo Sabres of yesteryear. Although they hadn’t been at their absolute best in recent games, they’ve been one of the better teams in the NHL throughout the second half of the season.
What has been encouraging about the Kraken’s last two performances—against Buffalo on Saturday and at Tampa Bay on Thursday—is that they’ve played on their toes for much of the games. In this case, they did let a 2-0 lead slip away, but they also had plenty of opportunities to add a third goal on the night.
The first period was a nice blend of weathering the storm and creating offensive opportunities, even taking advantage of a blue-line turnover forced by Chandler Stephenson to take a 1-0 lead. Stephenson read Bowen Byram’s breakout pass and got enough of it to deflect it to Bobby McMann. Seattle then transitioned quickly back to offense, with Buffalo suddenly in disarray. McMann passed to Kakko and drove to the net, then Kakko faked a shot and instead made an exceptional seam pass to Stephenson, who snapped it under the bar.
STEVIE DOES IT! 🚨
After Chandler Stephenson forced a turnover at the blue line, the #SeaKraken transitioned quickly.
Kakko – who scored after a great pass by Stephenson last game – returns the favor to Stephenson, who scores under the bar.
1-0 pic.twitter.com/keO20PfGwy
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
The goal felt almost like a mirror image of the one Kakko scored against the Lightning on Thursday, but this time, he returned the favor with an elite pass to Stephenson after being set up beautifully by his linemate in Tampa Bay.
McMann also scored his seventh goal in eight games as a Kraken on an outstanding individual effort. He fought through a Rasmus Dahlin check along the wall, then went skate-to-stick at full speed and snapped it past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to put Seattle up by two goals at 13:18 of the second.
MCMANN CAN! 🚨
SEVEN goals in eight games since being acquired by the #SeaKraken, and what a play here by Bobby McMann.
2-0 pic.twitter.com/Uo7zrF5YsB
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
Behind the strong team performance, Philipp Grubauer also dazzled for the vast majority of the game (not so much in the shootout) and gave his teammates every chance to win. You could tell he was dialed in from the jump, and in the end, he came away with 34 saves on 36 shots and improved to a .911 save percentage on the season, inching ever closer to the types of numbers he used to put up with the Capitals and Avalanche.
GRUUUUUUUUU! 🛑 What a sequence of saves! #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/ksja9TIAqj
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
The only two Buffalo goals came off a bogus power play on a phantom slash by Adam Larsson and one costly mistake when Jordan Eberle lost a puck at the defensive blue line to Zach Benson. Both he and Vince Dunn then went after Benson, creating a 2-on-1 that was finished on the short side by Peyton Krebs. That goal came at 11:39 of the third and cost Seattle the win.
“[This game] was a little bit more open, I guess, so to speak,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Give our guys credit, we made some good plays offensively. We just have to put the puck in the net. We have point-blank shots, and we had opportunities to win the hockey game.”
Still, this was a solid performance from the Kraken, who have looked very good in their last two games (and the final six minutes at Florida).
Takeaway 2: Special teams a deciding factor
We haven’t talked much about special teams lately, but they were a big-time factor in this game. Say what you want about the bad call on Larsson that led to Dahlin’s goal—teams will get their chances on the power play, and that’s just how it is. You have to come up with big penalty kills at key moments, and although Seattle had an impressive one late in the game after Oscar Fisker Mølgaard inadvertently swatted a puck out of the air and into the seats, the Dahlin goal came too easily and gave the Sabres the foot in the door that they needed.
On that goal, the four killers saw Tage Thompson passing to Jason Zucker in the slot and all converged on him. But the puck actually skittered out to Dahlin at the top of the slot, which gave him ample time to walk in, pick his spot, and rip it past Grubauer.
Sabres finally get one past Grubauer. Rasmus Dahlin on the power play.
2-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/qDXrpbEmc4
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
Meanwhile, on the other side of the puck, Seattle had four chances on the power play and came up empty.
Takeaway 3: Good on the Big Rig
Lambert has talked a few times recently about the importance of players standing up for each other, and we saw that in spades against the Lightning, and again against the Sabres.
Shane Wright got clobbered for the second game in a row, this time by Logan Stanley, who came all the way across the ice and buried Wright with a high hit that ultimately knocked him out of the game. Immediately after the hit, Jared McCann and Vince Dunn went after Stanley and made it clear that what he had done was not acceptable.
Sabres finally get one past Grubauer. Rasmus Dahlin on the power play.
2-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/qDXrpbEmc4
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
Stanley’s hit on Wright came with 1:38 left in the first. At 2:29 of the second, Jamie Oleksiak—the only player on the team who can match up with the 6-foot-7, 231-pound Stanley—made him answer the bell.
HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT! 🥊
After Logan Stanley crushed Shane Wright in the 1st period and sent him to the dressing room, Jamie Oleksiak makes him answer.
Good on the Big Rig. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/RWGhYQaziH
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) March 28, 2026
It was a solid heavyweight bout, and although Oleksiak didn’t drub Stanley, it was exactly the kind of response you want to see when an opposing player takes a run at one of yours and injures him.
The way the Kraken have stuck up for each other over the last couple of games has been another encouraging sign that this team really does care and wants to make it into the playoffs.
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The Kraken will sleep in their own beds at home on Saturday, then take a day off Sunday. They will practice Monday before flying to Edmonton for their oddly timed one-game trip to face the Oilers.
