The Kraken Are Four Points Out and Lane Lambert Knows Exactly What They Need to Fix

The Seattle Kraken are still alive in the playoff race. Technically. They're four points back with eight games to go, which means mathematically they can still get there. But after Thursday's 6-2 loss to Utah, where they blew a 2-0 lead for the third time since the Olympic break, it's hard to feel like "technically alive" is going to cut it.

Coach Lane Lambert isn't giving up though. He's leaning hard on mindset right now, because honestly, what else can you do when your team has played this poorly for this long?

The Math Still Works. The Play Does Not.

Here's the thing: 75 points after 74 games would normally be a death sentence in April. But the Western Conference is a mess this year. San Jose sits on the last playoff spot with 79 points. Nashville and Los Angeles are also at 79. Winnipeg has 76. St. Louis is at 74. The Kraken are somehow still in the conversation, even though everything about their play says they shouldn't be.

Since returning from the Olympic break in early February, Seattle is 5-11-2. That's 12 points in 18 games. Those five wins? Tied for second-fewest in the entire league. The 11 losses are the most. Only Vancouver has earned fewer points than Seattle's 12. When you look at it that way, it's not surprising the Kraken are where they are. It's surprising they're still breathing at all.

Attitude Is Everything Right Now

"It's exactly how you perceive the situation and if you perceive it as a negative, it's a negative. If you perceive it as a positive and an opportunity, we can have that opportunity," Lambert said after Friday's practice. "Things change fast in this game. It's never as good as you think it is. It's never as bad as you think it is. So we have to have the right mindset going forward."

The players feel it too. Defenseman Vince Dunn pointed out that the team gets flat when things don't go their way. A fluke goal against. A bad bounce. On Thursday, a disallowed goal would have made it 3-1, but instead it became a turning point. Utah scored six straight and buried any hope Seattle had.

"We're making it even harder on ourselves by getting deflated when things don't go our way," Dunn said.

After that loss, the Kraken held a players-only meeting. Eight games left. Chicago comes to town Saturday. This is where Seattle finds out if they can actually fight back or if these last eight games are just playing out the string.

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