Well, how about that? The Seattle Kraken can win on Opening Night! And they did so for the first time in their relatively short history Thursday, beating the Anaheim Ducks 3-1.

Seattle overcame a painfully sluggish first period, one in which Vince Dunn opened the scoring at just 2:21 before the team went heavily on its heels for the rest of the frame.

“Besides yell at each other a little bit?” Jared McCann joked when asked what the group did to change the momentum after the first. “Honestly, I think we just kind of dumbed it down a bit. Obviously, getting used to the ice again, and all that stuff. We just tried to keep it simple.”

Eventually, the Kraken found something resembling the type of game they want to play this season—tight structure, relentless forechecking, and a commitment to details. It took a while, but they started to show it in the later stages.

Lane Lambert earned his first win as Kraken head coach, Joey Daccord saved Seattle’s bacon 31 times, and Dunn, McCann, and Mason Marchment each potted goals.

Here are Three Takeaways from a slow-starting but ultimately solid 3-1 Kraken win over the Ducks.

Takeaway #1: Ugly first period

If not for Daccord being razor-sharp early, the Kraken would have been staring at a steep uphill climb heading into the second period. Instead, while they fumbled practically every puck they touched in their end—where they spent almost the entire period—Daccord kept bailing them out and got them to the break tied 1-1.

“I think we played well, even though, I mean, the shot counter was a little lopsided at first,” Daccord said. “But I thought we played well. I thought we just found a way to battle through it as a group, and then eventually, as we started to get our legs there in the second period and then eventually dominate the third was great to see from my end.”

I may respectfully disagree with Daccord’s assessment that the team played “well” in the first 20, but things were noticeably different in the second—especially after Brandon Montour’s hustle play that we’ll get to in Takeaway No. 2.

Credit the Ducks, too, who came out… flying… under new head coach Joel Quenneville. Their jump and structure made me wonder if Anaheim might be significantly improved this season, while Seattle initially looked like it was carrying over many of the same issues from the past two years.

But give Lambert’s bunch credit as well. They stuck with it, got out of the muck, and slowly tilted the ice back in their favor as the night went on.

Takeaway #2: Montour willed the Kraken into the lead

Marchment’s goal in his first game as a Kraken was nice, but the play Montour made to set it up was even better. He chased Troy Terry from the defensive goal line to the blue line, stripped him of the puck, then blew past him and gained control again deep in the offensive zone.

Meanwhile, Marchment quietly slid into the slot, which Jacob Trouba had vacated chasing Montour. Montour put the pass right on the money, and Marchment buried it.

THE MUSH PUSH! 🚨

Mason Marchment is the beneficiary of an outstanding 200-foot play by Brandon Montour, and he pots his first as a #SeaKraken.

Somehow, it’s 2-1 Seattle. pic.twitter.com/OJ0BltOEob

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 10, 2025

“That was great,” Marchment said. “Great play [by Montour]. He broke up a play, made a great play to me in the slot. I just tried to find a hole for him, and he put it right on my tape.”

Lambert has often talked about turning strong defensive plays into offense, and this was as good an example as you’ll find.

“He did exactly what, I guess, we wanted him to do,” Lambert said of Montour. “Of course, he made an elite play, so it certainly was well done from that standpoint. But the whole sequence was pretty well defended, and then you’ve got an elite player making an elite play, and that’s always nice to see.”

After Montour’s determined sequence four minutes into the second, the Kraken suddenly looked like a different team—and never really looked back.

Takeaway #3: Is Jared McCann back?

McCann’s goal may have been even prettier than Marchment’s. What looked like an innocuous play turned into a perfect sequence of execution by the top line of McCann, Jordan Eberle, and Matty Beniers, who set McCann up at the top of the crease. The puck was on and off McCann’s stick and under the bar in an instant.

The play started in the neutral zone, with Jamie Oleksiak and Josh Mahura forcing a turnover and quickly transitioning back to offense. Eberle sent a perfectly weighted cross-ice dump-in to the far corner, where Beniers had a step on Drew Helleson. He got one touch on the puck—a chop to the slot—where McCann one-timed it into the top shelf.

MCCANN CAN! 🚨

What a beautiful goal! Perfectly weighted dump-in by Eberle, Beniers one-touches it to McCann, and he roofs it.

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

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 10, 2025

“Beautiful,” McCann said. “I’m a very lucky guy to play with two players like that who have skill and are obviously great leaders.”

I still don’t know exactly what injury led to McCann’s procedure after last season, which caused him to barely skate during the summer and even training camp. But based on Thursday’s evidence, his shot looks as wicked as ever.

His goal totals have dipped from 40 in 2022-23 to 29 and 22 in the two seasons since. But if this performance is any indication, maybe McCann’s back on track for the higher end of his production capabilities.

It was far from a perfect night for the Kraken, who still have a lot to work on. But getting the season off on the right foot with a win felt important.