Six Straight Losses and Two Disallowed Goals: The Kraken's Collapse is Officially Complete

The Seattle Kraken are in full freefall, and Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul just hammered another nail in the coffin. Joey Daccord made 24 saves in a back-to-back nightmare while Philipp Grubauer left Monday's game in Winnipeg and didn't return. There's no timeline on his injury, which is a problem when you've got five games left and zero margin for error. Grubauer is looking at a full summer of rehab at this point.

The Goals That Got Away

Two disallowed goals didn't help matters. Matt Boldy scored for the Wild early, but it was waved off initially. A review showed the puck was good, not over the crossbar, and Boldy tied it at 1. Later in the second, Jaden Schwartz ripped a top-shelf absolute snipe to give Seattle a one-goal lead, but Freddy Gaudreau was in the crease. The Wild challenged, argued Gaudreau bumped Jesper Wallstedt (who finished with 25 saves), and the goal got called back.

Lane Lambert wasn't wrong to be frustrated. "The disallowed goals take momentum away from us, especially when we're fragile," he said. But he also made a fair point: "We want our guys going to the net. Freddie does a good job going to the net."

A Team Playing Well That Just Keeps Losing

Here's the brutal part: the Kraken actually weren't terrible. Brandon Montour scored first with a point shot that deflected in off a Wild defender. Adam Larsson made it 2-1 to give Seattle a lead heading into the first intermission. But then everything fell apart. At 38 seconds into the second period, Marcus Foligno scored on a 3-on-2 after Berkly Catton coughed up the puck. Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson added goals, and Joel Eriksson Ek salted it away into an empty net.

Lambert basically roasted himself in the postgame. "It's a 5-2 loss and another empty-net goal against, and I sit here and say, 'I thought we played a pretty good hockey game.' And it's like, 'Really? You do? In another loss?'" He paused. "But I do actually think we played pretty good tonight. We out-chanced them. We just can't get out of our own way."

Six straight losses. Ten wins in their last 11 games. The Pacific Division was there for the taking after the Olympic break, and instead Seattle tanked completely out of playoff contention.

The Kraken get back home Thursday to face the Vegas Golden Knights, who are also hunting for a playoff spot under new coach John Tortorella. Three home games left. That's all that's on the line now.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.