Maybe the Seattle Kraken are still in a tryptophan-induced coma from all the turkey they had on Thanksgiving.
The Kraken have lost six games in a row — the past five in regulation — after a 4-1 loss Monday to visiting Minnesota.
They will look to finally snap that streak when they play host to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
“Rock bottom is a tough spot to be in,” said Kraken forward Chandler Stephenson, a two-time Stanley Cup winner. “And you can say all you want and whatever, but I mean, you just got to do it. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing right now.”
The Kraken were in Monday’s game until the final 75 seconds, when the Wild scored a pair of empty-net goals in quick succession.
“You’ve got to find ways to win,” said Kraken captain Jordan Eberle, who scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season. “You can say we’re working hard, competing, but we need to find a little bit more from every single guy.
“I’ve said this before — I think the line between winning and losing is so thin. I mean, obviously, we’ve lost six in a row. … You have to realize a little bit here puts you over that edge and you start winning again.”
Backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Kraken but suffered his first regulation defeat of the season (4-1-1).
At least the Kraken’s league-worst penalty kill (66.2%) didn’t allow a goal and Eberle scored with the man advantage to tie the game in the second period.
“We won the so-called special teams battle, which we haven’t done for a little bit here,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “So, it’s a step in the right direction and definitely a positive from that standpoint.”
Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game, something he had never endured since being selected in the 2021 expansion draft.
The Kings are coming off a 4-2 victory Monday over the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City.
Joel Armia tallied twice, Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and captain Anze Kopitar also scored for the Kings, who had snapped a two-game losing streak Saturday with a 6-0 victory against visiting Chicago.
“I think after that game on Saturday, you come in here (to Utah) and feel good about your game,” said Kempe, who leads the Kings with 26 points and shares the team lead of 10 goals with Kevin Fiala.
“Obviously, you don’t expect to go out and score six every game, but we kind of kept it going in the first period, had two goals, and then it was a tough game from there on.”
Los Angeles is playing its characteristic brand of stingy defense under coach Jim Hiller.
Only the Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals allow fewer goals on a per-game basis, putting the Kings on pace to place in the top three in the category for a third straight season.
The outbursts against Chicago and Utah propelled the Kings to 27th in scoring. Before those wins, they buried a total of 20 goals across their previous 10 games.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper has made four straight starts for the Kings. He denied 19 of 21 shots against the Mammoth to improve to 10-6-5 with a .914 save percentage.
–Field Level Media
