By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Well, that is one ugly way to head into this stretch, as the Seattle Kraken will head to Finland for the NHL’s Global Series against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Kraken fell into a three-goal deficit in just the first period against the New York Rangers this afternoon, looking more like the Seattle team that hit the ice for their inaugural season as opposed to one that’s off to its best start in franchise history this year. The Kraken used a furious third-period comeback effort to bring them within a goal of the Rangers with a few minutes to go, but a tough penalty against Berkly Catton gave New York the upper hand to essentially kill the game off.
Here are some basic takeaways from Seattle’s loss on Saturday, November 7th, 2026.
Lack of consistency showing
At times during their existence in the NHL, the Kraken have had issues with maintaining consistent stretches of play, and that’s taken place over the last few weeks. After taking the first two games of a four-game homestand, 4-3 and 5-3 wins over Detroit and Utah respectively, the Kraken haven’t strung wins together since and have traded results back and forth. This also happened in the first four games of the year for Seattle, before the Kraken won the first three games of their road trip.
It’s still early, and Seattle has been able to put some strong stretches together, but stretches like this, where the Kraken will put together gutty wins but drop ugly games, aren’t exactly promising as the team looks to make the postseason for just the second time ever. The lack of urgency early on and not being ready to go from the jump have hurt Seattle before, and especially so in previous years when they haven’t made the playoffs (every season except for 2022-23). Captain Jordan Eberle emphasized the need to find consistency during his postgame media availability, when he mentioned how the team has to be better if they want to make the playoffs.
“It’s the mentality of - we can’t have a good game and then have a bad game or a good period and then a bad. Like, we have to be more consistent, and if we want to continue to have success this season, that’s going to be a mandate.”
Philipp Grubauer took over in net for the Seattle Kraken during their 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, November 7th, 2026, after a tough start at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Joey Daccord can’t stack strong starts
When goaltender Joey Daccord was seen leading the Kraken out for warmups this afternoon, it was clear that head coach Lane Lambert was looking to see if he could generate some momentum from his strong performance against the Calgary Flames back on Wednesday. It’s been a tough start to the 2026-27 season for Daccord, who’s had more starts end with poor numbers than good ones, and that was the case this afternoon against the Rangers.
Joey was pulled from the net a little over halfway into the opening frame, having allowed three goals on ten shots from New York, and there was almost a fourth goal. Former Kraken Tye Kartye appeared to have scored the second goal of the game for the Rangers on a power play at the 11:35 mark, but it was quickly taken off the board after review for a distinct kicking motion.
Now, it’s not to say that all three goals were totally on Daccord and nobody else. The opening goal came as Seattle failed to clear the puck after a Joey save, and a pass from Mika Zibanejad to a wide-open Gabe Perreault just in front of the crease beat him gloveside. The second came from Tye Kartye, who was left alone net-front to tip in an Adam Fox shot on the power play, as Daccord got part of his blocker on it but not enough to completely steer it away from the net. The third was probably the worst of the trio, as a Noah Laba shot from distance was relatively easily handled by Daccord, who couldn’t properly glove it. The puck fell in front of the crease, where a crashing Jaroslav Chmelar was on the spot to lift it past Daccord, on a play where Joey simply must have that melted down.
Two things can be true here: Seattle played poorly in front of Daccord, and Joey didn’t do much to help himself out. Once again this season, Daccord looked off, and it didn’t appear that he was tracking the puck very well. Funny enough, one way to be able to tell that Joey wasn’t tracking the puck well was the disallowed Kartye goal, as it was somewhat slow and seemingly harmless. Daccord couldn’t glove it before it went through his legs, whiffing on it, before it was taken off the board for that aforementioned kicking motion.
“I didn’t like a couple of the goals. So, it’s really hard for our hockey team to chase games, and we needed to do something to change the momentum.”
Photos of former Seattle Kraken players Tye Kartye, Eeli Tolvanen, and Oliver Bjorkstrand during the New York Rangers’ win over the Kraken on Saturday, November 7th, 2026, after a tough start at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)
Ex-Kraken make their mark
Three former Kraken returned to Climate Pledge Arena with the Rangers in this game, two of whom were making their first trip back to Seattle since joining New York. Tye Kartye, who was placed on waivers with the intention of being sent down to the AHL back in February before the Rangers claimed him, has become a key contributor for New York and tallied the first power play goal of his NHL career in this game, as mentioned earlier. It came off a nice tip out in front of the crease, where Kartye was left unmarked on the Rangers man advantage for the second goal of the game for New York, shortly after Tye had a goal erased due to that distinct kicking motion.
Former Seattle forward Oliver Bjorkstrand, who previously made his first return to Climate Pledge Arena when he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning, got the secondary assist on the power play goal. Those were the only points from former Kraken in this game, as Eeli Tolvanen recorded just a shot and a hit in 12:45 while being tagged with a -1 plus/minus.
Kartye added two shots, two hits, and two giveaways during his 19:59 of ice time in addition to his power play, while Bjorkstrand added a hit and a giveaway during his 12:39 of ice time.
Not the best way to head to Finland
It’s obvious, but this isn’t exactly how Seattle wanted to be heading off to Finland for a pretty cool experience in the NHL’s Global Series. The vibes seemed high coming off that thrilling overtime victory over a recently resurgent Calgary Flames team, and with the Finland trip looming in the near future, it will let several Finnish Kraken players experience home once again. The ugly first period marred those feelings, and while the comeback attempt made things interesting for Seattle late, it’s a disappointing result to finish off on.
The Kraken are a veteran group that should be able to flip the switch quickly to embrace this trip, and they’ll kinda have to, considering that they are literally heading for the airport right after this game, as bags were packed yesterday. Additionally, a veteran head coach like Lane Lambert won’t exactly let them dwell on this longer than they need to, so Seattle should be able to wipe this from their memory in swift order.
What’s next?
After this afternoon’s rough defeat to the New York Rangers, as the comeback attempt fell short, the Seattle Kraken are immediately heading to the airport to head to Finland. Seattle will have four days before their first of two games against the Carolina Hurricanes in this year’s NHL Global Series, spending those days to acclimate to the country, get in a few days of practice, and promote the league a bit. Several notable Kraken media folks, like Darren Brown from Sound of Hockey as well as the Kraken Audio Network crew, will be headed to Finland and will be great to follow during this time.
The first of those two games comes on Thursday, November 12th against the Hurricanes with a 9 AM PST puck drop time, taking on Carolina again on Saturday, November 14th with a 10 AM PST puck drop. Playing the Hurricanes is always going to be a tough task, but especially so twice in a span of three days. Both games will take place at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, with both games being broadcast on NHL Network and KONG.
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