Kraken coach Lane Lambert was on fire in his press conference following an uninspiring 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, in a critical “four-point” game against a team that entered the night two points ahead of Seattle in the standings.

The whole presser is worth a watch, but here were a few highlights:

“Terrible, terrible hockey game for our team. Terrible first 40 minutes. We had a push at the end, but I don’t have a logical explanation for an illogical event. That was the worst 40 minutes we played all year.”

“Well, you always hesitate to say, ’It can’t get any worse,’ but at that point in time [after the second period], there was only one way to go, and that was up for us.”

“When you leave it up to chance, and you play 20 minutes in a 60-minute hockey game, you’re not going to have success very often. So, one word can describe the game for me, it’s ‘disappointment.’ Friday night, big game, division opponent, four-point game in front of our fans, I’m actually dumbfounded.”

Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken loss to the Ducks.

Takeaway 1: Just a dreadful start

I really thought this team had figured out how to start games this season. But it has become a major problem again over the past month, a continuation of four previous years of periodic struggles in first periods. And Friday’s opening 20 minutes were especially ugly.

The issues began about a minute into the contest. Eeli Tolvanen tried to force a pass to Berkly Catton, which was easily cut off by Pavel Mintyukov at the Anaheim blue line. The Ducks transitioned quickly, with Jeffrey Viel then finding Cutter Gauthier at the Seattle blue line. Gauthier recognized that Vince Dunn was completely flat-footed, turned on the jets to burn around the defenseman with ease, and snapped a shot into the gaping opening that Philipp Grubauer—too deep in his net on the play—was giving him on the far side.

The early goals are getting ridiculous.

Cutter Gauthier burns around Vince Dunn, and Grubi gives him way too much net.

1-0 Ducks just 1:02 into the game.

That’s NINE straight games in which the #SeaKraken have allowed a goal in the first six minutes. pic.twitter.com/m1pJzsUIxW

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 24, 2026

The goal came on the first shot of the game at 1:02 of the first period, extending Seattle’s streak of surrendering a goal in the first six minutes to nine straight games.

“We didn’t start in the first two periods,” Jordan Eberle said. “In my opinion, we were getting out-battled. We were kind of all over the place early on, our systems were disconnected. In the third, we made a push, but at the end of the day, you’re down two, and it’s a tough way to come back. We can’t keep doing this to ourselves.”

Things got worse before they got better, with another strange and ugly trend rearing its head once again: short-handed goals against. In the offensive zone, Matty Beniers and Eberle both lunged for a loose puck but were beaten by Ian Moore, who chipped it out of the zone to spring Ryan Poehling on a breakaway. Poehling deposited it behind Grubauer to make it 2-0.

…And now, a fourth short-handed goal against in five games.

2-0 Ducks. Ryan Poehling gets the goal.

BTW, no shots for the #SeaKraken on the power play. pic.twitter.com/bfUsqpZHre

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 24, 2026

That was the fourth short-handed goal the Kraken have allowed in their last five games.

Those two trends—early goals against and short-handed goals—are killing this team right now and have contributed heavily to its 2-5-2 record over the last nine games. Like Lane Lambert, I too am “dumbfounded” about how these two things keep happening.

Meanwhile, Seattle managed just three shots on goal in the first period and 11 through two before finally turning things on and doubling that total in the third.

Takeaway 2: Believe it or not, they almost tied that game

For as bad as the Kraken were through the first two periods, Jared McCann did get them on the board with a classic Beniers-to-Eberle-to-McCann snipe at 1:55 of the second. They gave that goal right back, though, via a Chris Kreider power-play marker just 2:05 later, and continued to sleepwalk through the middle frame.

But in the third period, they finally woke up after the “It can’t get any worse” conversation Lambert alluded to, pulling within a goal and creating several bona fide scoring chances that made it feel like they were about to tie the game.

In fact, Chandler Stephenson appeared to have the equalizer after an insane touch pass from Berkly Catton in the neutral zone sprung his billet dad on a breakaway. Stephenson made a nice move, hitting the brakes and getting Lukas Dostal to slide the wrong way, but as he deked back to his left, the puck rolled off his stick.

WHOOP! What a pass by Berkly Catton. 😱

Chandler Stephenson had Dostal dead to rights but lost the handle on it. That would have been a goal of the year candidate. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/sXv0g25cp1

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 24, 2026

If there’s one silver lining from this otherwise miserable game, it’s that the Kraken reminded us in the third period that they are capable of playing on their toes.

Takeaway 3: The Shane Wright situation

Shane Wright did contribute in this game, setting up Jaden Schwartz for an easy tap-in goal that pulled Seattle back within 3-2.

The larger story surrounding Wright lately, though, has been his name popping up in trade rumors. Multiple national reporters have surmised that the Kraken would be willing to move the 22-year-old center.

We gave our takes on the situation on the latest Sound Of Hockey Podcast, so give that a listen. My general belief is that Wright could be traded if the right offer comes along—just like almost any player in the Kraken organization—but I don’t believe Seattle is actively “shopping” him, per se. Rather, they’re looking to upgrade offensively, and Wright is a young player who could bring back significant value, so of course they should be listening.

That said, I asked Wright how he’s been handling the “outside noise,” and he responded: “I don’t really care too much about that. It’s no offense to you guys, reporters, at the end of the day, you can’t really trust too much what they say. And at the end of day, it’s just rumors. I’m not too worried about that.”

I also asked Lambert what he thought of Wright’s game and how he prevents trade chatter from becoming a distraction for his young center.

“I thought his game was good. It was really good tonight,” Lambert said. “I think his game’s been good for a while. I think there’s areas of Shane’s game that we’re working on that he’s improved on a lot since the beginning of the year. The outside noise is outside noise. The speculation is speculation. I have no idea [about any of that], but my job is to make sure that he’s ready to play, and I think he’s playing well. And I thought he played well tonight.”