SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 02: Nick Schmaltz #8 of the Utah Mammoth celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the second period of a game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on April 02, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Christopher Mast / NHLI / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken don't deserve to be a playoff team, and Thursday night's loss to the Utah Mammoth could very well be the finishing blow to their ever-decreasing chances of reaching the postseason.
The Kraken turned a 2-0 lead into a 6-2 loss as their playoff hopes continue to crater. With just eight games left in the regular season, the Kraken are now four points out of the final playoff spot in the West and have the sixth-worst record in the entire NHL.
Mathematical chances remain for the team to make the playoffs, but all of those scenarios require the team to win hockey games, which at the moment is an immense challenge.
"We do things that led other teams back into the game," head coach Lane Lambert said. "Ill-advised pass into the middle, we take a penalty and now all of a sudden they score on the power play and they're back in the game. We end up scoring a goal and it gets disallowed. They tie it. … We had a good push when the score was 2-2, we just, for whatever reason, couldn't find the back of the net.
"We certainly do find ways to, I guess, beat ourselves at times. The special teams were poor tonight. The power play was not good. The penalty kill gave up three goals for the first time in I don't know how long. Two four-minute minor penalties for high-sticking. You can't come through those types of careless plays with your stick. It's very, very difficult. You can't give a team like that the amount of power plays that they had and expect to hold them off the board. Right now, we're hurting oursevles and the runway is running out."
The Kraken took a 2-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Jordan Eberle and Bobby McMann only to see the lead and the win slip away. Logan Cooley scored twice for Utah – once on the power play – and Nick Schmaltz added a power play goal as well as the Mammoth took the lead with five minutes left in the second period.
JJ Peterka and former Seattle Thunderbird Dylan Guenther added on in the third period, and Michael Carcone scored the third power play goal of the night for Utah as they raced away from Seattle.
"Third period, you know, we're still in the game, and we give up two and we're out of it," Eberle said. "It's disappointing. This point in the season, where we're at, it's frustrating. You're trying to fight for your lives, and you're getting beat and you're getting run out of your own rink. It's just disappointing."
The Kraken had a players-only meeting after the game as they try to muster one final push for the second playoff berth in franchise history.
"We're running out of time," Eberle said. "… At the end of the day, this is just unacceptable right now. We have to figure this out."
But nothing the team is doing right now suggests they have the ability to do so.
Seattle has the worst power play unit in the NHL since the Winter Olympics break at just 10.4 percent. While the penalty kill hasn't been nearly as bad overall, the group allowed three goals on the power play to Utah, with Eberle and Berkly Catton each called for four-minute double-minors on high-sticking calls.
"It's just not good enough," Eberle said. "I mean, we've had chances. We can say that the end of the day, we have to find a way to be a catalyst in the game and score goals so that we can have a chance to win hockey games. It's that simple. We're not doing that."
If the Kraken were in the East, their playoff chances would already be cooked. Seattle would be 13 points out of the final playoff spot in the conference in full preparation for the NHL offseason. But due to the putrid nature of the Pacific Division, the Kraken are still within reach of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.
And even that is starting to feel remarkably out of reach.
Seattle went into the Winter Olympics break in third place in the division and just five points behind first-place Vegas. In points percentage, they were actually second in the Pacific. It was a terrific spot to enter the final stretch of the year in.
But since returning to action, the Kraken are just 5-11-2 with two of their victories coming against the league-worst Vancouver Canucks. If the NHL's "loser point" for overtime/shootout losses wasn't a thing, the Kraken would just simply be a 30-42 team, 12 games under .500. The fact that the playoffs haven't been dead for weeks is frankly absurd.
Seattle (75 points) is only ahead of the St. Louis Blues (74), New York Rangers (71), Calgary Flames (70), Chicago Blackhawks (68) and Canucks (52). It's not impossible for the Kraken to still end up with a top three position entering the draft lottery, and yet the playoffs are still possible.
But getting there will require a team with just five wins in the last two months to win at least that many over the final eight games of the season to have a chance. And even then, the reward for making the playoffs will be a first-round matchup with the Colorado Avalanche, who have the best record in the NHL.
With two games against the Golden Knights, one against the Avalanche, and another against the Minnesota Wild still on the schedule, the chances of finding that form appear slim.
It's not officially over yet. But it sure feels like it's all but finished.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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