There was a lot to feel good about for Kraken fans after a 4-3 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues that turned from uneventful to thrilling at the drop of a hat.

In the end, the Kraken skated away with a resilient and exciting win after Chandler Stephenson beat Jordan Binnington in the seventh round of the skills competition, and then Philipp Grubauer rejected Jimmy Snuggerud to earn a victory in what could be his final game as a Kraken.

It may have hurt Seattle’s chances at winning the draft lottery, but it was a fun late-season victory to witness nonetheless.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-3 Kraken win over the Blues.

Takeaway #1: Hey, it was exciting

Since the Kraken played themselves out of playoff contention and into the draft lottery, we’ve maintained that we’re perfectly happy with wins because of the good feelings and potentially even added momentum heading into the offseason and eventually training camp. But we’ve been on the “absolutely no loser points” train, and yet the Kraken flirted with that outcome on Saturday after Shane Wright got a good bounce off his skate to tie the game 3-3, and then both teams instinctively went into “play for OT” mode.

WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️ 🚨

Shane gets his 19th of the season by driving hard to the blue paint and getting a bounce off his skate. Goal was reviewed, but refs determined no kicking motion.

3-3 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/2d5Ls9No0w

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) April 13, 2025

The first two periods were dull as could be, with almost nothing happening at either end of the ice other than Jaden Schwartz getting a fortunate carom off a sprawling Nick Leddy to give him an open net off a 2-on-1 rush. Schwartz deposited his 25th of the season to make it 1-0 at 3:44 of the second period.

Once the game turned to the third stanza, it was like somebody popped the top on a shaken-up soda, and all of a sudden, it went from 1-0 to 3-3.

“I was kind of thinking [it was a low-event game], and then all of a sudden, it was 3-3,” Stephenson said.

In fact, after a fast and furious maelstrom of goals, Seattle found itself chasing the game, down 3-2 after Mikey Eyssimont, Colton Parayko, and Leddy all scored within 50 seconds of one another.

But that chase was also short-lived, because Wright tied the game again just 2:19 after Leddy had given St. Louis the lead. Wright, by the way, said after the game that he was sure the goal would withstand a video review—until he actually saw the footage himself.

“I was confident [it was a good goal] until I saw the replay,” Wright said. “It looked like I kind of moved my foot a little bit, but I know I didn’t try to kick it. I was just able to get the bounce there.”

The excitement of the third period carried all the way through to the seventh round of the shootout, when Stephenson scored and Grubauer got the deciding save.

Takeaway #2: “For Grubi”

Both Wright and Stephenson mentioned that the team wanted to win this game for Philipp Grubauer, who has undoubtedly had a tough go this season—even getting waived and sent to the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League for a stretch.

With his ongoing struggles, we’ve surmised for a while that Grubauer could be a buyout candidate after this season. And with Joey Daccord surely set to play the final game of the season on Tuesday, it’s possible that Saturday was Grubi’s last game as a Kraken.

If that ends up being the case, he would be ending his run in Seattle on a high note. His shot volume Saturday wasn’t huge, but a couple of his 20 saves were of the critical variety, and he stood tall in the shootout to help his team snag a victory from the desperate Blues. He also seemed to find himself again in the later stages of the season, though he only got a handful of chances to play after his recall.

“The starts that he’s had since he’s come back [from Coachella Valley] have been the goaltender he can be,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “Tonight, he was really solid. He gave us a chance early on, made a big save on the PK, the save on [Brayden] Schenn in the third was massive, and good for him getting the shootout win.”

For his efforts, Grubauer was awarded the team’s player of the game championship belt.

WRIGHT AS RAIN! ☔️ 🚨

Shane gets his 19th of the season by driving hard to the blue paint and getting a bounce off his skate. Goal was reviewed, but refs determined no kicking motion.

3-3 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/2d5Ls9No0w

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) April 13, 2025

Takeaway #3: No tanking here

While the Kraken didn’t necessarily hurt the playoff chances of the Blues by giving them a loser point, they did add some tension for the St. Louis fanbase, who will have to watch their team go all the way down to the wire before finding out whether they’ll officially qualify for the playoffs.

With the single point earned, the Blues moved to four clear of the Calgary Flames and one behind the Minnesota Wild (who rallied back from a two-goal deficit to win in overtime in Vancouver on Saturday), remaining solidly in the last wild card spot. But the Flames have three games left, whereas St. Louis has just one—against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. So, nothing is decided on that front, though it is looking pretty good for the Blues.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the standings, the Kraken didn’t help themselves in terms of draft position either. We know this isn’t something players think about, but the Kraken actually ended the night two spots higher in the standings than where they started. If that were to hold through the end of the season, they would have the sixth-best odds of winning the draft lottery, instead of the fourth-best odds, where they sat earlier in the day on Saturday.

There’s a lot to work out as far as games in hand, tiebreakers, etc., so where Seattle finishes is still very much up in the air. I hate to say this, but the Kraken really need to lose Tuesday against Los Angeles.