The Seattle Kraken were officially bounced from playoff contention on Saturday when the LA Kings shut out the Edmonton Oilers 1-0.
Even with their 4-1 win over the visiting Calgary Flames later on Saturday afternoon, the Kraken stayed eight points back of the 2nd wild card spot, a position impossible to reach with only three games to play.
Just in time for Seattle to have a two game winning streak that snapped a six game skid.
By the way, the Kings have played with desperation as of late, going 5-0-and-1 in their last six games with a four-game win streak. They haven’t locked up a playoff spot yet, but they will, with by far the most favorable schedule for the teams in contention. They control their own destiny. It appears to be a collective effort to get their two-time Stanley Cup winning captain Anze Kopitar one more kick at the can before he retires this off-season.
The Kraken scored four unanswered goals to wrap up what amounts to an exhibition game against their fellow also rans, the Flames.
All four of the game’s meaningful goals came in the second period. The Flames opened the scoring when defenseman Hunter Brzustewicz notched his second career NHL goal at the 1:11 mark.
Seattle took over with goals from Freddie Gaudreau just less than a minute later, Chandler Stephenson at the 13:16 mark, and then Matty Beniers with just five seconds remaining in the period. Beniers reached the 20-goal plateau for the third time in his career.
Captain Jordan Eberle scored his 26th goal of the season, an empty-netter, with less than two minutes to play in regulation.
More Sunday on 22-year-old goalie Nikke Kokko, who picked up the win in his first ever NHL start. That is likely the biggest news of the day. He was a 2nd-round draft pick of Seattle in 2022.
Seattle has missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons after making it to within one win of the Western Conference Finals in the spring of 2023.
Earlier Kraken:
— Will Seattle Make Lane Lambert Latest ‘One and Done’
