Seattle Kraken beat Canucks for first post-Olympic break win

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Mar 1, 2026

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SEATTLE — Climate Pledge Arena hat-throwers were done dirty again.

On Jan. 27, Jared McCann’s hat trick was canceled out by a disallowed goal just as the final hats were cleaned off the ice. It was a bizarre enough occurrence that it made the social media rounds, and the organization even offered to replace the lost caps.

A month later, it happened again, albeit for a different reason. As the hats flew to the ice in celebration of captain Jordan Eberle’s second Kraken hat trick, his second of three goals was awarded to Matty Beniers. The in-arena scoring change announcement came too late.

The good news is a visit from the NHL’s worst team allowed the Kraken to shake off the cobwebs that grew over a three-week Olympic break and clung to them two additional games. Seattle downed the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Saturday.

Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord made 27 saves and was probably as close as he’s ever come to scoring his much-desired NHL empty netter. He lobbed the puck across the ice from near the Kraken net and missed the goalpost by a foot or so. He looked on stoically while McCann beamed at him.

The Kraken were swept in a sluggish back-to-back this week, by uncharacteristically lopsided scores. Seattle is good about not letting games get out of hand, but in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Dallas and Thursday’s 5-1 loss to St. Louis, that’s just what happened.

They were holding onto the second and last wild-card spot by a single point Saturday night. Nashville and L.A. were one point back and San Jose sat two points back.

Seattle was able to gain some separation with a victory over Vancouver, which isn’t striving for points. The Kraken’s closest NHL neighbor is bottoming out and looking toward the future.

There was no sluggish start to blame this time. The Shane Wright to Berkly Catton 2-on-1 bid of the front office’s dreams was deflected high. Then Chandler Stephenson’s line couldn’t get a shot off at all. The last line of defense ultimately stepped up and buried a long shot. Blueliner Vince Dunn scored in his 600th NHL game, 7:36 into the game. Vancouver had a legitimate case for goaltender interference but didn’t challenge the goal.

Stephenson got the next one. Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen spun, looking for the airborne puck, but Stephenson knew exactly where it was. Soon it was on his stick, and then it was in the back of the net.

Stephenson almost got the next one, too. He went off on a breakaway and Lankinen stopped both his shot and Eeli Tolvanen’s follow-up. Tolvanen fired the puck straight into Lankinen’s pads from along the goal line.

Vancouver halved the lead midway through the second period during a partial Kraken line change. Before Daccord could smush his skate onto the ice, a Liam Ohgren shot wiggled under it.

Eberle got loose on a breakaway and restored the two-goal cushion. He tore down the ice after a loose back, past Elias Pettersson the Younger – the Canucks have two players with the same name, this is the defenseman and lesser-known of the two – and beat Lankinen stick side.

Eberle, the Kraken goals (22) and points (41) leader, appeared to tap in the Kraken’s fourth goal late in the third period. That one was reassigned to Beniers. Eberle’s empty netter was beyond reproach.

Forward Jacob Melanson and defenseman Cale Fleury subbed in for Ryan Winterton and Josh Mahura, respectively. Ryan Lindgren missed his second straight game with an apparent injury, as he left following a hit in Dallas. The Kraken haven’t formally confirmed his injury.

Melanson delighted the crowd in the third period with one of his seven hits. He saw a Vancouver player coming for him and, with his rear end, bumped him through the unsecured door to his own Canucks bench.

There was a player missing from the healthy scratch list. Kraken waived forward Tye Kartye this week and the New York Rangers claimed him. Without practicing even once with his new team, the 24-year-old put two shots on goal in 12:39 of ice time in his Rangers debut Saturday, which was a 3-2 shootout win.