Seattle Kraken's playoff hopes fade even further with loss to lowly Blackhawks

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Apr 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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SEATTLE — They said all the right things in the hours after their last uninspiring loss. That every game from here forward was a playoff game. That their play on the ice needed to carry a level of desperation the time of the season called for.

The Kraken as a collective said they still had a run left in them and with it would be a chance to hang on the fringes of the playoff race in the Western Conference a little while longer.

And then they went out and were thoroughly and decisively outplayed for the first 40 minutes on Saturday night by a Chicago team already making plans for the offseason after being eliminated from the playoff race.

The Blackhawks ended up winning 4-2 and added a new bottom to the tailspin journey the Kraken have been on ever since returning from the Olympic break — from being solidly in the playoff race to now hanging on by a thread.

Seattle’s two home games this week were both must-win situations and the collective response of the players on the ice looked more like a team ready to join Chicago in making plans once the regular season ends in two weeks.

The Kraken blew a 2-0 lead on Thursday night against Utah and watched the playoff-bound Mammoth score six consecutive goals to close out that gutting loss. That was followed up by another lifeless first two periods against Chicago where only the goaltending of Philipp Grubauer kept Seattle in it for the first half of the game.

The loss left Seattle six points out of a playoff spot with seven games remaining. The math says it’s possible. The evidence on the ice says this looks like a team playing out the string.

The Kraken held a players-only meeting after Thursday’s debacle with captain Jordan Eberle calling the performance unacceptable. They practiced on Friday trying to bring a little fun back into the locker room. They changed up line pairings and power play units during morning skate on Saturday. All those moves and events were in the hope of discovering a spark.

It didn’t arrive until it was too late. To be fair, the Kraken played the final 15 minutes like a desperate team, but it should have been there 45 minutes early when the puck first dropped.

There was an injection of life into Climate Pledge Arena with 9:12 left when Jaden Schwartz redirected Eeli Tolvanen’s pass over the blocker of Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom to cut the deficit to 2-1. It was just the third goal for Schwartz since he returned from a lower-body injury in early January.

The chances of a comeback took a hit a couple minutes later when 20-year-old Sacha Boisvert scored the first goal of his career with 6:52 remaining. But Seattle quickly answered with Kaapo Kakko’s goal barely a minute later, following up after Berkly Catton’s initial shot was saved by Soderblom.

That was the end of the comeback. Ilya Mikheyev scored into an empty-net with 1:12 left and delivered what felt like the final blow to any postseason hopes for the Kraken.

Chicago played like the team with playoff aspirations.

That Seattle even had a chance to rally late was a testament to Grubauer’s performance with 27 saves, including key stops on Nick Lardis and Landon Slaggert in the first 30 minutes of the contest. Chicago finally broke through on Teuvo Teravainen’s goal midway through the second period and Seattle coach Lane Lambert looked exceedingly irritated when Tyler Bertuzzi made it 2-0 late in the second period. Chicago’s rush chance ended with the puck sitting in front of net and Bertuzzi was able to poke it over Grubauer’s glove.

The Kraken will be on the road for their next two games Monday night in Winnipeg and Tuesday in Minnesota. And both are must-win games if there’s any chance of making the final week of the regular season meaningful at this point.