By Miracle Lucketti, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - The Kraken shook off some leftover post-spooky season cobwebs Saturday in a game full of fluky bounces and odd chances, securing another overtime point despite recording a franchise-low 13 shots on goal against the New York Rangers.

Three takeaways (plus a bonus) from Saturday’s overtime loss follow.

Frames of Seattle Kraken forwards in the teams overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, November 2nd, 2025 at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)

Not Enough Offense

The Kraken’s offense managed a franchise-low 13 shots on goal - 12 in regulation, 1 in overtime. With just eight shots late in the third period and minimal net-front presence, offensive pressure was lacking. Still, the team rallied and pushed the game into overtime.

To Kraken fans yelling “shoot the puck!” at their televisions, coach Lane Lambert had this to say, “It’s fair to say [that we didn’t have a shoot-first mentality]. I think we passed up too many shots when we did have good opportunities… At the same time, they defend well, they’re in lanes, so– it’s easy to say, ‘shoot the puck,’ but if people are in the lanes, it’s a little bit harder to do. It’s not gonna get through. But at the same time, I thought we passed up shots, and we had opportunities to shoot pucks from even bad angles and create a second opportunity, and we didn’t… We have to do better.”

Lambert has driven offensive improvement, but a shoot-first mentality is still lacking. Excessive passing, including one sequence with seven straight passes in front of the net (we counted), hampers scoring.

Frames of Seattle Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko, making his 2025-26 regular season debut, during the Seattle Kraken overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, November 2nd, 2025 at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)

Kaapo Kakko returns to the lineup, but with new linemates

After breaking his hand in the preseason via a slash by Edmonton’s defensive prospect Beau Akey, Kakko returned to the lineup Saturday. He faced the Rangers for the first time since being traded to Seattle last December. Amid the team’s injury struggles, Kakko’s return was a welcome relief for fans.

Though now back in the lineup, Kakko has yet to be reunited with former linemates Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz. Instead, Kakko was placed on a line with Mason Marchment and Shane Wright, continuing the build the chemistry we’ve seen them working on during recent practice sessions. Last season, Kakko and Beniers found an easy chemistry, but it seems that the coaching staff is opting to try different combinations. Naturally, new line formations take time to gel, and it's unrealistic to expect immediate results. Reflecting on the change, Kakko said, “That was my first time playing with both [Marchment and Wright]. I usually played with Matty last year, so I think it takes, always, some time when you start to play with new guys. But there’s a couple of good things. I think we got one pretty good chance. But yeah, that can be better, also.”

As players begin to return from injury and lines continue to shift, this one will be an interesting one to see finalized.

Special Teams Special Mention

The Kraken's special teams have historically struggled, but under Lambert, both the power play and penalty kill have shown improvement this season.

Against the Rangers, the Kraken's penalty kill excelled, stopping all three Rangers power plays and disrupting scoring chances. Lindgren, with a total of 19:54 time on ice, shone in his penalty-killing role. When he was absent on a PK, the team had to scramble more to cover the blocks he handled.

The power play stood out, too: Stephenson, Tolvanen, and Dunn capitalized on one of two chances, demonstrating the potential for the unit to be a difference-maker when given opportunities.

Bonus takeaway: a point is a point is a point

Of the 11 games the Kraken have played this season, only two have been lost in regulation, and Seattle remains undefeated in regulation on home ice. Their early schedule included some of the league's most formidable teams, and a 12-game road trip to help jumpstart the season did them no favors, and yet!

At the time of this article, MoneyPuck has the Kraken’s playoff odds at 40%. Every point always matters every season, but this season it has been particularly nice to see them racking up points early on.

While things aren’t perfect in Seattle, Kraken fans have plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The team’s strong early performance and ability to collect points—even in tough games—signal that this could be a promising season. Momentum is building, and there’s every reason to expect more excitement ahead.

What’s next?

After Saturday’s overtime loss, the Kraken held an optional practice on Sunday at Kraken Community Iceplex. They now prepare for game four of their five-game homestand on Monday, November 3rd, against the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago features familiar faces in Ryan Donato and Andre Burakovsky, who returns to the deep for the first time since his trade this summer. The Blackhawks have lost three of their last four, including an overtime loss to Edmonton on Saturday. The Kraken will aim to exploit this form, as they have also fallen short in four of their last six, but have managed to get points from their last two games with overtime efforts.

Seattle returns to their standard home jerseys against the Blackhawks. The next game in the menacing all-black third jerseys is scheduled for Wednesday, November 5th, against San Jose to close out the homestead. With a more condensed schedule ahead, all eyes will be on how the coaching staff plans to handle the team’s goaltending trio after giving Joey Daccord the start in nine of their first eleven games of the 2025-26 season.

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Check out our previous Seattle Kraken articles here.
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