For the first two-and-a-half periods on Tuesday night, it felt like the Seattle Kraken were still shaking off the holiday turkey—and it showed on the scoreboard. On the road in Vancouver, the Kraken stumbled through another one of their trademark slow starts, trailing 4–1 well into the third period. But just when all hope seemed lost, the boys in Deep Sea Blue mounted an improbable comeback, scoring three goals in the final five minutes to force overtime. And they didn’t stop there—Vince Dunn sealed the deal in OT to steal a 5–4 victory from the jaws of defeat.
A sluggish start
If you’re a Kraken fan, you know the story by heart: the opening stanza was listless and messy, filled with extra passes and squandered shooting lanes. Anytime the puck made its way into the attacking zone, the Kraken seemed reluctant to fire on net. Instead, Vancouver’s opportunistic forwards—and especially Brock Boeser—were quick to jump on turnovers. Boeser capitalized on a power play about halfway through the period, giving the home crowd plenty to cheer about as the Canucks took a 1–0 lead into intermission.
Matty Beniers injected some much-needed energy into the Kraken attack early in the second, finally snapping his 19-game goal-less drought less than two minutes into the frame. For a moment, it felt like a page was turning. Yet any momentum was short-lived. Conor Garland scored on a breakaway to snatch the lead right back for Vancouver, and Boeser struck again with a sneaky backside tap-in. Suddenly, the Kraken were down 3–1, looking shaky, and facing a two-goal deficit heading into the final intermission.
When Jake DeBrusk added another goal for Vancouver early in the third, the building at Rogers Arena was rocking—and Seattle’s chances of ending their five-game skid looked slim. The score was 4–1, and most Kraken fans could be forgiven for thinking, “Here we go again.”
The comeback
But sometimes, desperation births the best kind of hockey. Seattle started skating harder, hitting more, and—crucially—shooting the puck instead of overthinking. With just under five minutes to go, Jaden Schwartz tossed the puck toward the net, and it ricocheted off a Canucks defender for a crucial goal. Hope was alive.
Down 4–2, the Kraken pulled Philipp Grubauer for the extra attacker, and Vince Dunn hammered a loose puck home to make it 4–3 with barely over a minute to play. Then, mere seconds later, Schwartz struck again, muscling through defenders and jabbing the puck into the net to tie the game at 4–4. If you were in the building (or glued to your TV back in Seattle), you know that the energy shifted from desperation to utter delirium as the game moved to overtime.
Overtime heroics
The tension in OT was off the charts. Vancouver lost control of the puck on a bad pass, and Vince Dunn pounced on it. Wasting no time, Dunn took it coast-to-coast and buried the game-winner himself. It was a statement finish to cap off an astonishing comeback—one that saw the Kraken erase a three-goal deficit in the third period and finally snap their five-game losing streak.
For a team that’s been desperate for a spark, this was it. Beniers ended his drought, Schwartz showcased his leadership by finding the net at critical moments, and Vince Dunn truly became the hero in overtime. Everyone in the building felt the weight of the losing streak lift as the Kraken mobbed Dunn and celebrated an enormous victory.
For the Kraken faithful, this is the kind of win that can spark a new chapter in the season. Sure, the slow start and some sloppy play remain concerns, but if the final ten minutes of regulation (plus overtime) proved anything, it’s that this team has the heart and talent to turn things around. And after a comeback like that, you’d better believe Seattle’s ready to keep this momentum rolling.