Well, they can’t all be preseason winners, can they?
But first, the Highlights:
And for some reason Mitchell Stephens’ goal was expunged, so here’s that, too!
#SeaKraken answer! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) September 24, 2025
Nice pass by Mason Marchment in his first preseason game to set up Mitchell Stephens.
1-1 pic.twitter.com/2zX55fqLiv
(Highlight credit: Our good friends at Sound of Hockey!)
Game Notes:
- The Kraken’s leader in TOI tonight was Ville Ottavainen, who logged 22:05 tonight.
- The Flames definitely had a more Prospects-heavy blueline, but they made up for it by dressing a bunch of their NHL Regulars on their forward lines, and boy did that bear out tonight. The Flames were all over Seattle from minute one, and what few chances the Kraken got were good when they could get them, but they were few and far between. It’s hardly surprising necessarily, the Flames after getting stomped out by Edmonton in their first game needed to prove to fans that they weren’t totally cooked, and a good number of their NHL regulars needed some form of live practice. It’s just a shame they decided to do this now instead of near the end of training camp like the rest of the league.
- Of course, if both sides are racking up penalty minutes like they’re candy, it can be a bit of a slog to try and control the game at evens. Prior to the Ottavainen-Klapka Kerfuffle, the Kraken were leading in PIM thanks to some ugly penalties, especially in the early 2nd period. That’s gotta get cleaned up before Game 1.
- Speaking of which, Adam Klapka and Ville Ottavainen got into it late in the game, which ended up with both of them being given misconducts. Klapka’s expected to be an NHL regular, so if Ottavainen manages to get his way onto the roster, there will be hell to pay, I’m sure.
- Maybe not the best night for the young guns, as they were pretty overmatched by the Flames putting almost their entire full NHL roster out there, but there were some positives on that front; Kaden Hammell and Caden Price ultimately came out of this game in the black in terms of on-ice possession, which I’d like to think is a moral victory!
- I’m trying to be very nice about this: it is still preseason. The Kraken have plenty of time to decide who gets to be Joey’s backup. Grubauer sure seems to be in midseason form, and Matt Murray let up a truly wild goal, but that was about all he did. We need more data, and that means we may have to ask for these two to play together more often throughout this short preseason.
- For whatever reason Mitchell Stephens, the sole Kraken goalscorer, had his goal completely stripped from all highlight packages? What the hell, guys? It was even a sick backhander out in front too, he made Dustin Wolf look silly. Erasing Mitchell Stephens will not make him go away, NHL!
Was there anything good about this preseason game?
Sure!
- Mechanically, one thing that’s already been a massive improvement from years’ past is that the Kraken are just attacking the net with near exclusivity. It was true back against Vancouver and it’s still true tonight. That’s going to be huge if they can get more of the main roster guys to buy in on it.
- Mitchell Stephens, in spite of what the NHL and apparently the broadcast missing his goal, had a pretty solid goal.
- Matt Murray only gave up one truly wacky goal, but otherwise finished his night with a .929 SV%. That’s a pretty solid improvement on where a lot of people expected him to be, especially with the Kraken struggling to keep up with the Flames.
- It’s only preseason. This too shall pass.
The Chartz, via NaturalStatTrick.com
The Kraken will be back at it tomorrow, as the other group of Kraken Campers takes on Edmonton! That game will be at 6pm.
We’ll see you there, and even though it’s still preseason…
Keep Calm, and Post Zoidberg When We Win.