Top Kraken takeaways from Seattle’s home loss to the Washington Capitals on January 23rd, 2025
By Jayd Serdy and Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Playing against the NHL’s leader in standings points at this point in the campaign, our Seattle Kraken played a tight contest for the large majority of their Thursday night showdown against the Washington Capitals that resulted in a 3-0 victory for the visiting squad. The Kraken couldn’t beat Capitals netminder Charlie Lindgren, getting shutout by the Washington backup as star goaltender Logan Thompson had the night off amidst the current tear that he’s on, while some costly mistakes defensively resulted in the first two goals against before Alex Ovechkin scored an empty netter. All things considered, such as how well Washington has played, the size of the Capitals as a team, how strong Joey Daccord played, and the fact that the Kraken did at least generate some quality chances doesn’t make this the worst defeat in the world but it’s obviously still frustrating. Here are some takeaways from last night’s Seattle Kraken home loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025.
Pregame sights during player introductions and the video shown ahead of them at Climate Pledge Arena as our Seattle Kraken fell to the Washington Capitals by a score of 3-0 on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025. (Photos by Reid Alexander for Circling Seattle Sports)
Failure to generate consistent pressure
The Kraken had the most energy through the first period, in the following two periods it appeared that they’d lost some of their energy and intensity in regards to their player in the offensive zone. Seattle ended the first with nine shots on goal, compared to Washington’s 15 including their offside goal that was taken back after the Kraken challenged it thanks to the likes of Tim Ohashi (Previously worked with the Capitals) and Brady Morgan in the video room. The second period was a much worse period for Seattle in terms of their generation of chances with just four shots on goal, and Washington able to take advantage of the breakaways/odd man rushes that the Kraken were handing to them on a silver platter. The moral of this is emphasizing the Kraken’s need to simplify their approach by shooting the puck, as throughout the first and the second there were quite a few scoring chances that they just couldn’t capitalize (Get it? Capitalize? Since they played the Capitals? Sorry) on because they weren’t occupying the front of the net to clean up any chance of a rebound or takeaway the eyes of Lindgren as he tracked everything well. The Schwartz-Beniers-Kakko line has been incredibly productive over the past few games, but tonight it just didn’t seem to gel the way it was previously or created the sorts of looks that they have since being put together. This offensive performance wasn’t Seattle’s worst of the season, as we’ve seen a lot of bad ones throughout the course of this 2024-25 campaign, but it was another example of them not doing enough to truly earn a goal or two.
Seattle Kraken centerman Chandler Stephenson went down the tunnel with an injury after blocking a shot with his hand and played a bit more before leaving the game and not playing the third period as the team fell to the Washington Capitals by a score of 3-0 at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025. (Photos by Reid Alexander for Circling Seattle Sports)
Injuries play a factor
Of course, nothing that happened throughout the second half of the game was helped by centerman Chandler Stephenson’s early exit. After blocking a shot with his hand during the second, and briefly going down the tunnel to not returning to the bench during the third, this jumbled the lines a bit. Head coach Dan Bylsma has a habit of keeping lines together as long as possible before breaking them up, especially when the team is having success as a whole or offensively, and a mid-game injury throws a wrench in those plans. Stephenson has been a solid component in creating scoring chances or assisting in a goal throughout the season but particularly since the holiday break, showing as a top five contributor in goals, assists, and points for the team since returning from that holiday break in late December. John Hayden, recent Coachella Valley call up who has found a spot in the lineup as Tye Kartye has been a healthy scratch, has also been generating scoring chances and showed that ability a few times, but the play never made it to the back of the net. With Bylsma not providing an update on Stephenson postgame, saying that he’ll need further evaluation tomorrow, we very well could see Tye Kartye return to the lineup and play up the middle as it’s something he’s done in the past despite largely playing on the wing during his time with the Kraken. Two other forwards, Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann, got a bit banged up in this one and showed obvious discomfort on the bench after plays on the ice.
Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord did all he could in net for the team, recording 30 saves and posting a .968 SV%, but some crucial mistakes in front of him led to two goals against before an empty netter sealed the road win for the Washington Capitals at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday, January 23rd, 2025. (Photos by Reid Alexander for Circling Seattle Sports)
Joey Daccord continues to stand tall
Joey Daccord, who played in his 100th NHL career game tonight and essentially stood on his head, had an insane save during the first period, stopping the puck between the net and his skate blades. Daccord has a save percentage of .916 with 2.47 goals against average on the season so far, showing that the contract extension the Kraken gave him over five years was well earned as he plays just his second real full season in the NHL. Daccord is safe from an Alex Ovechkin goal, as that came on an empty net, but he did talk about Ovechkin post-game. Daccord faced 31 shots against, and saved two of them off the stick of “The great eight” throughout the course of the game on Thursday night. Charlie Lindgren, goaltender for the Washington Capitals, faced just 22 shots on goal across the full 60 minutes and saved all of them, shutting out the Kraken as Seattle put up a zero on the scoreboard for the sixth time this season, a league leader in that category. Lindgren only faced 12 shots on goal through the first two periods of the game, as a measly four attempts from the Kraken came in that middle frame. Daccord had a much different workload in this one, as he had to be the ultimate last line of defense for Seattle on multiple occasions as Seattle gave up numerous breakaways and odd man rushes that are as golden of opportunities as there can be. Despite playing in eight straight games for the Kraken, Daccord hasn’t shown any sign of fatigue quite yet and he’s been a primary reason for winning three of their last five and coming just 30 seconds from sending their road game against the Winnipeg Jets to overtime and securing at least the loser point.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s tough loss to the league leading Washington Capitals, our Seattle Kraken will have a day of practice tomorrow at the Kraken Community Iceplex prior to continuing their stretch of nine contests at home over ten games. That next matchup comes on Saturday, January 25th when our Kraken host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Climate Pledge Arena with a 1PM PST puck drop as it’s Seattle’s “Kids day” game. The first 5,000 kids inside of the Climate Pledge Arena doors will receive a pair of “Buoy” themed kids slippers, as presented by WaFd Bank as there will be kids who will take over multiple gameday positions such as in-arena hosts, radio announcer, broadcast analysts, DJ, anthem performer, mini buoy, and more. It’s another game that will feature some all-time greats of the game of hockey as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin come to town following Alex Ovechkin and Washington’s stop here. Seattle will look to get back on the winning track and try to build off their success in an early game from Monday when they handled the Buffalo Sabres with a final score of 6-4. The Kraken may be without some key forwards in this game against the Penguins as Chandler Stephenson did not play the third period and coach Dan Bylsma said he’d need further evaluation tomorrow, while Jared McCann and Eeli Tolvanen both spent time on the bench in pain during this contest.
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