The six-game trip the Seattle Kraken just completed was supposed to make or break their playoff chances.
It did neither.
Despite going just 1-3-2, the Kraken (32-30-11, 75 points) remain only three points out of the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card spot entering a Thursday home game against the Utah Mammoth (38-30-6, 82 points), who lead the West’s wild-card chase.
However, the Kraken did drop into sixth place in the tightly bunched race.
“We know where we are,” Seattle center Matty Beniers said of the standings after a 3-0 loss at Edmonton on Tuesday. “Obviously, tonight was very important, and we didn’t get it done. But there’s just no reason to dwell on it now. It’s learn from it and win the next one. And then, it’s win the next one. And that’s the mentality that we have in here.”
The Kraken scored just 13 goals on the six-game trip.
After Seattle fell behind 2-0 in the first period on Tuesday, coach Lane Lambert reunited the top line of Beniers, Jared McCann and captain Jordan Eberle to no avail.
“It’s easy to say that we’re just not scoring and that’s why we’re losing,” McCann said. “I feel like we’re doing a lot of good other things. We’re creating good offense and playing good defensively. But we’re just not finding the back of the net.”
McCann believes there is still time for a playoff push.
“We’ve got to worry about our game,” he said. “Obviously, the division right now is a little crazy with how things are going with all the teams and that they all have a chance still to make the playoffs. It’s obviously a blessing. And we’ve got to take advantage of it.”
The Mammoth have taken control of the West’s wild-card race despite going just 8-7-2 since the Olympic break. They own a four-point edge on the Los Angeles Kings, who occupy the second wild-card spot, and a five-point advantage over the next teams in line, the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators.
Utah has been idle since a 6-2 victory Saturday at Los Angeles. Alexander Kerfoot and Logan Cooley each scored twice while Mikhail Sergachev had four assists.
“We’ve almost got, like, a youthful excitement to our team, where we haven’t had any scars,” said Kerfoot, referring to the franchise’s last playoff appearance in 2020 as the Arizona Coyotes. “For the most part, we’re not scared of much, not scared of failing, and so we just got to kind of enjoy the moment, keep that as long as we can, realize that these are hard games to win and the job is far from done, but we’re in a good spot.”
This will be the third and final regular-season meeting between Utah and Seattle. The Mammoth won the first two, both played in Salt Lake City. Utah came out on top 5-3 on Dec. 12 as Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists, then triumphed 6-3 on Jan. 17 as Nate Schmidt produced two goals and two assists, including the go-ahead goal with 5:30 remaining in the third period.
Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said the four-day break between games gave his team a chance to recover and refocus.
“That’s important at this time of the year,” he said. “It’s a different break than others in the sense that we need to take it really seriously and manage it right.”
