Seattle started the night on the right foot, controlling puck possession and outshooting Columbus for much of the first period. Even when Sean Kuraly gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead on a deflected shot at the 11:58 mark, the Kraken responded immediately. Eeli Tolvanen proved to be the brightest spot for Seattle, ripping a shot past the Columbus goaltender just 10 seconds after Kuraly’s goal. The swift answer knotted the score at 1-1 and showcased the kind of confidence fans have been hoping to see more consistently from the Kraken forwards.
Second-Period meltdown
With momentum on their side, Seattle opened the second period on the power play, but that advantage yielded no results and signaled an oncoming collapse. Instead of building on the good puck movement from the first, the Kraken looked disorganized, and the Blue Jackets took full advantage. By the midpoint of the frame, two Columbus rookies—Luca Del Bel Belluz and Denton Mateychuk—had each registered their first career NHL goals, both coming at the expense of Philipp Grubauer. Add in a tally from defenseman Zach Werenski and another from Kent Johnson (a former Michigan teammate of Seattle’s Matty Beniers), and the result was a whopping four-goal second period for Columbus.
After Johnson’s goal made it 5-1 with just under four minutes left in the second, head coach Dan Bylsma decided to pull Grubauer in favor of Joey Daccord, who recently returned from injury. Daccord steadied the net for the remainder of the game, allowing only an empty-netter late in the third. Tolvanen notched his second goal of the night at 8:44 in the final period, briefly sparking hope with the score now 5-2, but the comeback never materialized.
With the loss, Seattle’s record drops to 17-22-3, a mark that places them near the bottom of the league standings. While Eeli Tolvanen’s two-goal effort offered a silver lining, the overall breakdown in the second period highlighted the team’s ongoing struggles. As the playoffs continue to slip away, the Kraken must decide whether to trust their veterans to salvage what’s left of the season or to lean on younger talent to build a stronger foundation for the future. The coming weeks will reveal which path Seattle chooses—and how quickly they can rebound from a painful four-game skid.