Although the Kraken are just a Brandon Montour (and a Matt Murray) away from having their full lineup available for the first time all season, they did not have their best performance in a 3-2 overtime loss to the reeling New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
In a tough-sledding affair, Seattle didn’t get much going offensively in regulation—though the Kraken were buoyed by an opportunistic Adam Larsson goal and a power-play goal from Jared McCann—and then bungled the 3-on-3 OT period, as they did against the Minnesota Wild last week (the last time they went to OT).
The point is valuable and puts the Kraken two points clear of the idle San Jose Sharks for third place in the Pacific Division. But as coach Lane Lambert said after the game, Seattle left “something on the table” in this one.
Here are Three Takeaways from a low-energy, low-event 3-2 Kraken loss to the Devils.
Takeaway 1: Another early goal against
The Kraken have seen an uncomfortable trend emerge recently, giving up the first goal early in games. In fact, it has happened in each of the last four contests—three times with Philipp Grubauer in net and once with Joey Daccord.
Against Minnesota on Thursday, Ryan Hartman scored first at the 5:00 mark. At Carolina on Saturday, Logan Stankoven scored at 3:23. Against the New York Rangers on Monday, Mika Zibanejad scored at 3:08, followed by Sam Carrick at 5:31.
And on Wednesday in New Jersey, a Dougie Hamilton shot from the point was tipped on the way in, leaving an easy tap-in for Cody Glass on the rebound. That goal came immediately following a defensive-zone face-off and put the Kraken back to chasing just 54 seconds into the game.
#SeaKraken trailing early, yet again. Dougie Hamilton’s shot got deflected, which led to an easy Cody Glass rebound goal.
1-0. Goal came just 54 seconds in. pic.twitter.com/KKmMg72p5N
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 15, 2026
While the Kraken have consistently rallied back in each of these games, they’re still just 1-1-2 over that stretch. Zooming out, they’ve done a pretty good job of scoring first this season, but they need to nip this recent early-goal trend in the bud before it turns into a larger—and more damaging—issue.
Takeaway 2: Another bad OT period
After what was easily Seattle’s worst overtime performance of the season against the Wild on Thursday, the Kraken looked only marginally better in the extra frame this time and came away with the same result.
New Jersey controlled the puck for almost the entire 3:42 of overtime, leading up to Nico Hischier’s second goal of the game and the game-winner. Jordan Eberle did have two looks after a fortunate bounce deep in the Devils’ end but couldn’t convert, and Vince Dunn also had a chance just before the deciding goal against.
Unfortunately for Dunn—who also assisted on both Kraken goals in this game—he picked exactly the wrong time to go for a line change.
#SeaKraken lose 3-2 after another very sloppy overtime period.
Vince Dunn picked a bad time to change here, which sent Nico Hischier on a partial breakaway. Second goal of the game for Hischier.
Kraken back to work tomorrow in Boston. pic.twitter.com/6kfvhDLikS
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 15, 2026
You can see how he made the decision. Eberle appeared to have Hischier covered, and Matty Beniers was also back, so from Dunn’s perspective there was sufficient coverage for a quick change. But the timing was off, with New Jersey having just gotten possession. Making matters worse, just as Dunn headed for the bench, Eberle switched sides to chase Jack Hughes, leaving a clear lane for Hischier up the ice. Hughes hit Hischier with a cross-ice pass, and he was off to the races, deking and beating Grubauer for the 3-2 final.
Takeaway 3: McCann/Wright/Catton line is cooking
The only line that produced anything on this night was the third line of Jared McCann, Shane Wright, and Berkly Catton. That trio has really been humming lately, and on Catton’s 20th birthday, they connected once again.
Eight minutes after Glass gave the Devils an early lead, McCann took a perfect stretch pass from Dunn that put New Jersey’s defenders on their heels. Wright drove to the net and pushed New Jersey back, and McCann tried a quick feed to Catton racing down the opposite wing but fanned on the puck. Instead of panicking or forcing the issue, McCann reset and laid it back for a trailing Adam Larsson, who skated into it and ripped a shot over Jacob Markstrom to tie the game 1-1 at 8:55 of the first period.
THE BIG CAT! 🦁
Jared McCann whiffed on his initial pass to Berkly Catton, so Catton went to the net, and McCann passed to a trailing Adam Larsson instead. Larsson rips it home with Catton at the goalmouth.
1-1 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/p3DhTXcLIT
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 15, 2026
McCann also scored a power-play goal, cleaning up a Dunn rebound just five seconds into a man-advantage opportunity to tie the game 2-2 at 5:06 of the second. With his goal and assist Wednesday, McCann now has 10 points (5-5—10) in 10 games since returning from injury on Dec. 28.
He’s been a nice, steadying presence for the young players he’s skating with, and they seem to be working off each other well. Catton, in particular, was especially good in this game and seems to be gaining more and more confidence with every outing alongside McCann.
With Chandler Stephenson returning to the lineup Wednesday after the birth of his third child, I was surprised that Jacob Melanson was the player Lambert chose to scratch. After all, he had seemed to be a catalyst in getting this team moving back in the right direction when he was inserted onto the fourth line a few weeks ago.
Given that they played what Lambert called a “slow” game against the Devils, one has to imagine Melanson will be back in the lineup Thursday in Boston, on a night when the Bruins will be highly motivated and Seattle will have to wait around for Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 to be lifted to the rafters in a pregame ceremony.
