Kraken 4-2 loss to Red Wings takeaways: Seattle’s special teams collapse and what it means for the playoff push

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: special teams were the difference on the scoreboard

Detroit entered the night with the 21st-ranked power play, but you would never have known it from the way they moved the puck. Lucas Raymond’s one-timer from the left circle beat Joey Daccord glove-side on the first half of the double-minor; J.T. Compher cleaned up a rebound on the second half. In both cases Seattle’s diamond collapsed too low, leaving the weak-side wing unchecked. The Kraken had killed 19 of 20 penalties across the previous eight games, so the timing felt especially cruel.

The numbers are stark:

• 2-for-3 on the Detroit power play
• 0-for-3 on the Seattle power play, including a 44-second five-on-three that generated only one shot

Coach Dave Hakstol called the special-teams swing “a three-goal turn” in his post-game presser. “We had the momentum, we had the extra attacker twice, and we come out down two. That’s the game.”

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: Joey Daccord’s rebound control under siege

Daccord finished with 29 saves on 33 shots and was hardly at fault on any individual goal, yet the eye test told a different story. Detroit’s second marker—a Dylan Larkin wrap-around that squeaked through the goalie’s pad and the post—was the third rebound in a five-second sequence that started with a routine point shot. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Wings collected six second-chance attempts in the first 40 minutes, twice Seattle’s season average.

The Kraken’s defensive scheme usually funnels everything to the corners, but Detroit activated its blue line aggressively; both goals in the third period came with pinching defensemen keeping the puck alive. Daccord admitted he “probably could have froze a couple more pucks,” yet the bigger issue was the lack of clearing help. Seattle lost 10 of 15 defensive-zone faceoffs after those rebounds, extending the pressure.

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: top line kept cycling but couldn’t finish

Jared McCann, Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle combined for 11 shots and 68 percent expected goals share at five-on-five, but the only tally came when Beniers banked one in off a Detroit skate. Alex Lyon, making his third straight start for the injured Ville Husso, looked beatable—especially on a second-period breakaway by Eberle that rang iron—but the Kraken passed up at least three open looks from the slot.

Beniers said the line “over-handled” the puck in an attempt to make the perfect play. “When you’re pressing for points you want the cute goal, but sometimes it’s got to be a greasy one.” The trio has now gone four games without an even-strength goal, a drought that directly correlates to Seattle’s 1-3-0 slide.

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: what the standings math now looks like

The defeat leaves Seattle two points behind St. Louis for the final wild-card spot, but the Blues have two games in hand. Dallas, idle on Tuesday, also sits at 84 points with an extra game to play. Hockey-reference’s playoff odds model dropped the Kraken from 38 % to 27 % with the single loss; that swing is magnified because the Wings are an Eastern conference opponent, meaning Seattle squandered a rare chance to gain ground on its own conference rivals.

Remaining schedule quirks:

• Seven of the last 11 are on the road, where Seattle is 12-15-3
• Three sets of back-to-backs, including one against Colorado and Minnesota later this week
• Only four games against teams currently outside the playoff picture

In short, the margin for error is gone. As captain Jordan Eberle put it, “We’re in lap 65 of 70; you can’t keep saying we’ve got time.”

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: lineup decisions that backfired

Hakstol elected to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen, a alignment he has used only twice before this season. The move was designed to get rookie defenseman Ryker Evans more ice after his two-point game in Buffalo, but it also cut into fourth-line minutes and left Pierre-Edouard Bellemare double-shifted between the third and fourth lines. Bellemare ended up with 9:04 of ice, lowest among forwards, and the Kraken lost all three draws he took in the defensive zone.

Meanwhile, prospect Ryan Winterton—recalled from Coachella Valley on Monday—watched from the press box. The Kraken’s forward depth, once an organizational strength, has produced just three even-strength goals since the trade deadline. Internal options are dwindling, and general manager Ron Francis has already stated the club is up against the salary-cap ceiling, making an external recall unlikely.

Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways: silver linings and next steps

Not everything was grim. Seattle’s forecheck generated three breakaways and held Detroit to 0.83 expected goals in the opening frame, the lowest first-period output by a Kraken opponent this season. Vince Dunn blocked five shots and added the primary helper on McCann’s power-play tally, continuing a stretch that should keep his name on a few Norris Trophy ballots. And the club stayed healthy; no new injuries were reported after a game that featured 68 total hits.

The immediate response will come Thursday in Denver, where the Kraken have already beaten the Avalanche twice this year. Hakstol hinted he will return to the standard 12-6 lineup, with Winterton drawing in for Kartye and Evans sliding back to the third pair. The coach also vowed to spend Wednesday’s practice solely on penalty-kill rotations, a session that could determine whether Seattle’s season lasts beyond mid-April.

For a franchise that shocked the league with a first-round sweep of Colorado last spring, the standard has shifted from plucky underdog to legitimate contender. The Kraken 4-2 loss to red wings takeaways underscore how thin that contender status now hangs—one stick foul, one unclean rebound, one empty-netter away from the offseason. If Seattle cannot fix its special-teams leak and rediscover the greasy goals that fueled last year’s run, the clock will strike midnight before the calendar even flips to April.