The Kraken lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Sunday after defeating the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 2-1 on Saturday. The two games were the first for Seattle coming out of the tw0-week NHL break for the Four Nations Face-off.
The match against the Bolts was very much in question until the second half of the 3rd period when Nikita Kucherov and Luke Glendening scored 1:43 apart to stretch the Tampa lead to 3-0 and put the game away.
Kraken center Shane Wright tipped home a shot with 4:36 remaining in regulation to make things interesting, but Nick Paul tallied an empty netter to reach the final margin for the Bolts.
The result spoiled the NHL debut of Kraken goaltender Ales Stezka, a Seattle free agent acquisition in the spring of 2023. The Czechia native earned his chance due to the re-assignment of former Kraken number-one netminder Philipp Grubauer to Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League. Stezka has 52 games of AHL experience over the last two seasons since playing professional hockey in his native country.
It was new number-one Joey Daccord in goal for Seattle for the 2-1 victory on Saturday, a game that featured the return of Kraken captain Jordan Eberle to the line-up for the first time in 40 games. The veteran was out for the extended period following a pelvic injury and surgery.
Daccord reached a career high in wins with his 20th of the season. Kappo Kaako scored a power play goal for Seattle in the 1st period, with Jared McCann notching the game winner in the 3rd. Wright had an assist on both goals.
Seattle, not a threat to make the playoffs this season, continue the road trip with a game in St. Louis against the Blues on Tuesday night.
