One: Kraken’s First Quarter: Solid Marks from Lambert

DETROIT – Hockey might feature three periods, but the NHL regular season is routinely evaluated by quarters. The Kraken will reach the quarter-mark of the 2025-26 regular season this road trip, either Thursday in Chicago (20th game) or Saturday (21st game), depending on how you choose to do the math. For head coach Lane Lambert, his assessment of both effort and results to date is positive.

He sees the team meeting the “hard to play against” standard set on Day 1 of training camp, whether at home at high-decibel Climate Pledge Arena (6-1-3, 75 percent of possible standings points) or on the road (3-3-2, 50 percent). That pace projects to 104 standings points, which is playoff-bid worthy.

“We’re doing a good job,” said Lambert at an hour team workout in the practice rink at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. “Our guys are committed. They’ve done a good job of [being hard to face] and I feel like they’re starting to take ownership of the way we play.”

Lambert said his team has improved across the zones of play, clearly happiest with the defensive commitment, anchored in systems that emphasize protecting the Seattle net and getting pucks out of the Kraken end. That tentpole strategy leads to opportunistic offense.

“Defensively, we’ve done a pretty decent job with how we want to play,” said Lambert. “There have been improvements from Day 1 … Through the neutral zone, I think we are doing a decent job. We try to play fast. There are some nights when we can play faster. [Playing fast] helps piggyback our offense and will help us score more. It’s always a work in progress. I think the guys have done a good job to this point, but what happens from here is what matters.”

Two: Players to Watch, Injury Updates

In recent media scrums, Lambert has identified Shane Wright as “a shooter” as one reason why the 21-year-old is playing wing with 19-year-old Berkly Catton at center on the third line.

“I think it’s his shot,” said Lambert Monday when asked how and why he characterized Wright as a shooter. “He does have a knack for knowing when to shoot, although we’re still working with him. We can help him out in that manner. As he gets used to the wing here a little bit, I think he’ll find different areas or different ways to get his shot off.”

Forward Eeli Tolvanen has long been tabbed as a shooter; his one-timers on power plays provide Exhibit A. The Finnish forward didn’t score his first goal of the season until Game 14 – pause here to remind that ‘Tolvy” was racking up assists and hits while gaining consistent thumbs up from the coaching staff. He now has three goals in his last five games. He has scored in bunches before, but he did give credit to elite passing by frequent linemate Chandler Stephenson in two of those goals.

“I feel like it’s a confidence thing too,” said Tolvanen. “You start shooting more, and you get lucky. You get one. Then you feel like the shorts you’re taking are more dangerous.”

As for injury updates, both goaltender Joey Daccord and winger Jared McCann are on the road trip. Both original Kraken expansion draft picks, both still on the injured list, were on the practice ice Monday, and they are “progressing nicely,” said Lambert.

“We’ll see where we are here [Tuesday],” said the Kraken coach. “Certainly, having them here and having them practice is a positive sign.”

Goalie Matt Murray is back in Seattle, still being evaluated for an injury that forced him to leave Saturday’s win late first period, right after the Sharks scored their only goal. Forward Kaapo Kakko remains “week to week.”

Three: Know the Foe: Red Wings on the Rise

After starting the season on a tear, winning 8 of its first 11 games, Detroit hit a recent rough spot of 3-4-1, but two of the wins (over Anaheim and the New York Rangers) and an overtime loss to Buffalo earned five of six possible points in its last three games. The Buffalo home loss was not pretty: the Red Wings were up three goals in the second period, only to blow the lead and lose in OT. Sunday night on the road at Madison Square Garden was a 2-1 win on a late goal from Lucas Raymond (his fifth), but NYR 39-year-old goalie Jonathan Quick stopped 40 of 42 shots with a multitude of brilliant saves by a goaltender about to turn 40 in his 19th NHL season.

Lesson here: Don’t repeat the six penalty kills given to San Jose Saturday. Philip Grubauer and the PK crew snuffed five of the half dozen but not advisable to test the same with the likes of Alex DeBrincat (six power play goals, including one Sunday), Dylan Larkin (3 PPG), young D-man and Grubauer compatriot Mo Seider (seven power play assists), the aforementioned Raymond (6 PPA) and, oh yeah, Patrick Kane is healthy and has accumulated nine points in just 10 (he missed time from mid-October until Nov. 7), including a goal and five assists during man-advantage. No Kraken fan wants to be reminded of how Kane is so able, even at age 36, to hold onto the puck so adeptly as he looks for the ideal scoring chance.

Project Lineup (not official):

Marchment-Beniers-Eberle
Schwartz-Stephenson-Winterton
Tolvanen-Catton-Wright
Kartye-Gaudreau-Nyman

Dunn-Larsson
Lindgren-Montour
Evans-Olekiak

Grubauer