Seattle Kraken drop in standings after costly loss to Anaheim Ducks

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Feb 4, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Kraken had just inched up into the top three in the Pacific Division. For a few days, life was good.

But then, for the second time in a week and a half, the Kraken turned in a costly 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. The Ducks launched themselves over their divisional foes into third place while Seattle sank back into the second wild-card spot.

Coach Lane Lambert had harsh words for his team after that home loss to the Ducks on Jan. 23.

“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’ve played all year,” Lambert said afterward.

The 40 minutes at Climate Pledge Arena he was referring to were worse, but his team showed up late to both 4-2 losses. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer kept it close as long as he could Tuesday, but his team turned up the intensity far too late.

Grubauer was busy through two periods and finished with 27 saves.

The January loss to Anaheim served as a wake-up call. The Kraken won their next four, a streak that ended Tuesday night at Honda Center.

Vegas’ Mitch Marner scored with 12 seconds to go in the second period in the Kraken’s most recent game, a 3-2 win over the Golden Knights on Saturday. The Kraken showed no ill effects and came into the third period fired up.

Jacob Trouba then scored in the final minute of Tuesday’s second period to put the Ducks up 2-0. With Matty Beniers draped over him, Ducks forward Jansen Harkins — whom Grubauer stopped on a second-period penalty shot Jan. 23 — waited and guarded the puck, picking the perfect moment to tee up Trouba.

This time, the Kraken didn’t respond. Just 23 seconds into the third period, Alex Killorn picked his shot while Grubauer twitched, trying to anticipate where the puck was coming from. Killorn saw daylight and scored five-hole.

There was extra ice for Killorn to work with because the teams were skating four-on-four. There was just one minor penalty against Beniers in the first 40 minutes of play, but as the horn sounded, Seattle’s Jacob Melanson dumped Anaheim’s Troy Terry to the ice. Terry just returned after missing 11 games with an injury so his teammates were incensed.

While racking up 108 hits through his first 20 games this season — setting multiple single-game records in the process — Melanson mostly managed to keep it above board. But he and Trouba were slapped with a roughing minors and Melanson picked up a 10-minute misconduct. The Kraken had three big players shoulder-to-shoulder in the penalty box after Jamie Oleksiak and Brandon Montour joined him.

On the Ducks’ fourth goal, Grubauer got caught behind the net and turned the puck over. Ross Johnston scored an easy goal.

It looked like the Kraken were about to be shut out for the third time this season, but with 4:29 to go in regulation, Seattle captain Jordan Eberle ruined Lukas Dostal’s clean sheet.

Then it was time for Dostal’s own snafu. Down 4-1, the Kraken still pulled Grubauer for the extra attacker and it actually paid off. Dostal tried to lob a pass toward the empty Seattle cage and Tye Kartye picked it off. The puck bounced around and went in off Shane Wright for Wright’s 10th goal of the season. Chandler Stephenson hit the post while trying to make it a 4-3 game.

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