Seattle Kraken's playoff hopes nearly over after loss to Utah Mammoth

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Apr 3, 2026

Published in Hockey

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SEATTLE — Midway through the second period on Thursday night after seeing a two-goal lead disappear and a third goal disallowed by goalie interference, Lane Lambert went up and down the Seattle Kraken bench clapping his hands and shouting encouragement.

This wasn’t a coach upset. This was a coach trying to encourage and spark a group that was seeing its playoff hopes slip away one mistake and one Utah goal at a time.

The boost Lambert was desperately trying to extract from his team never arrived. A night that started with a celebration in honor of defenseman Adam Larsson ended with one of Seattle’s most frustrating losses of the season.

The final: Utah 6, Seattle 2. And with it, a result that might finally end the realistic playoff hopes the Kraken held when the day started.

Seattle began the day three points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and seven points behind third-place Vegas in the Pacific Division with two games in hand and two games remaining against the Vegas Golden Knights.

But for the third time since March 1, the Kraken coughed up a 2-0 lead after doing so previously against Nashville and Buffalo. And those the Kraken are fighting with in the playoff chase — like San Jose — managed to pick up points on Thursday night. Others gained ground while the Kraken were in the midst of faltering yet again and seeing that playoff berth skate further away.

The night couldn’t have started much better for Seattle. The team honored Larsson with a pregame ceremony for playing his 1,000 th game last week in Florida, where he became the 419 th skater in league history to reach the milestone. And on his first shift of the game, Larsson nearly scored, only to have Jordan Eberle collect the rebound and score his 24th of the season just 41 seconds into the game.

Just more than halfway through the first, Bobby McMann continued his scoring surge since arriving in Seattle, collecting a puck in a crowd and backhanded a shot past Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka for a 2-0 lead.

But in short order, that two-goal lead disappeared. Logan Cooley scored on the power play late in the first period, and his goal midway through the second tied the game at 2-2. By the time the second period ended, Lambert was clapping and encouraging his bench after Nick Schmaltz’s power play goal gave Utah a 3-2 lead following Berkly Catton’s double minor for high-sticking left Seattle short-handed.

Utah taking the lead does need an asterisk, as the Kraken twice appeared to be bitten by bad luck in the second period. Jacob Melanson scored to give the Kraken a 3-1 lead, but Utah challenged for goalie interference and the goal was disallowed. By definition of the rule, Melanson’s skate was in the goal crease when he made slight contact with Vejmelka, but the interference was at most minimal.

Jared McCann later beat Vejmelka only to see his shot hit the inside of the far post and somehow ricochet directly back out instead of curling inside the net. If Melanson’s goal stood or McCann’s finds the net, the final half of the game has a different cadence.

But they didn’t. And even if either of those goals finds the net it doesn’t excuse Seattle getting clearly outplayed over the final two periods with all at stake.

When JJ Peterka scored with 15:21 left to make it 4-2 Utah, the lead felt insurmountable. And for good measure, Dylan Guenther added a fifth goal for the Mammoth that was initially disallowed for goalie interference before a challenge and review determined it was a good goal.

Joey Daccord made 25 saves, but was far from his best.

The Kraken host Chicago on Saturday night in what is undoubtedly a must-win if they even want to stay on the fringes of the playoff conversation at this point with only eight games remaining.