Kraken defeat Devils, 4-2

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Jan 25, 2026

Published in Hockey

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SEATTLE — It wasn’t the victory the city of Seattle really wanted on Sunday, but not a bad start.

It was a double-feature Sunday for many of the fans in attendance at Climate Pledge Arena who planned on watching or attending the NFC Championship Game later, and dressed for the occasion. The Kraken game time moved up an hour last week so no one had to choose.

“It was an odd start time, for good reason,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We’re all cheering for the Seahawks here, once they get underway.”

After being criticized by their coach following their latest defeat on Friday, the Kraken took down an opponent they had never defeated in regulation. Seattle beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2.

A Kraken team with a troubling tradition of showing up late started right on time. Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring for New Jersey 8:11 into the game, a perfectly respectable time by recent Seattle standards. In fact it’s the latest first goal allowed since Jan. 6.

In eight of the Kraken’s past nine games, they’ve allowed at least one opponent goal by the five-minute mark. In the ninth game, it took 5:44.

Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren put a big, clean hit on Ondrej Palat and Palat’s teammate, Dawson Mercer, wanted an answer for it. He took on Lindgren, gloves flew and Mercer picked up an instigator penalty in addition to the five for fighting both players received.

The Kraken had allowed a short-handed goal in four of their past five games, but avoided that on Sunday. They did almost allow a goal out of the penalty box. Goaltender Joey Daccord slapped his stick on the ice to let his teammates at the other end know New Jersey’s Paul Cotter was exiting the sin bin and rejoining the play, but still found himself one-on-one with the Devils forward. Daccord made the stop.

Defenseman Ryker Evans’ long shot deflected off a Devil’s stick and tied the score 7:37 into the second period. New Jersey netminder Jacob Markstrom (15 saves) felt the puck dribbling through him and dove backward but got there too late.

Evans is wearing a face shield after he was clipped with a high stick from his own teammate. His cut lip required stitches.

“There wasn’t really much” to Sunday’s game, Evans said. “We didn’t really give up too much, and they didn’t really give us too much. We just capitalized on the opportunities we got.”

Two days after he set a franchise record with 10 hits in a game, Kraken winger Jacob Melanson picked up his first NHL penalty for holding. The penalty kill was a slog for Seattle. Daccord did his job, Chandler Stephenson blocked a pair of shots and Jaden Schwartz threw himself in front of a booming Timo Meier bid to finish off the short-handed stretch.

“Overall, we did a better job from a commitment standpoint of getting in shot lanes,” Lambert said.

A scoring stalemate lasted almost 20 minutes, then Matty Beniers took matters into his own hands. He dragged the puck around a cluster of Devils and roofed a shot. He clearly liked it, twirling his stick back into its invisible scabbard with a celebratory yell.

Eighteen seconds later, the Kraken had a two-goal lead. Stephenson won a faceoff, then drifted across the ice and set up 20-year-old Berkly Catton. Catton is living with the Stephenson family during his rookie season.

Catton looked shocked, then pleased when he saw Stephenson’s arms go up. Catton was facing the boards when the puck slid across the line and he stumbled into a celebration of his fifth NHL goal.

“I have no clue how it went in,” Catton said. “It hit the side of the net, and I don’t know what happened after that. Lucky bounce, which feels good.”

Jordan Eberle’s team-leading 18th goal of the season was an empty-netter.

New Jersey got one back with its second power-play goal of the afternoon. The Kraken penalty kill finished 2 for 4, while the power play was 0 for 4.

Daccord made 27 saves, and the Kraken (23-19-9) picked up their first win with him in net since that Jan. 6 game against the Boston Bruins. Daccord’s first attempt at the empty-net goal he wants badly was thwarted by a quick whistle. The official seemingly thought Daccord had smothered the puck, when he had greater ambitions for it.

Daccord later got the puck back, and through his badly split lip, Evans yelled for the goalie to fire at the open Devils cage. Daccord came close to a goalie goal — a rare and celebrated event in the sport — multiple times while playing in the American Hockey League, and Evans wants to see him finally get one.

“Teams (have) got to be pre-scouting me, because every time I shoot, someone’s standing right there,” Daccord said. “Like, come on.”

The Devils entered the game 7-0-2 against the Kraken all-time and had won the past six games, including a 3-2 overtime victory on Jan. 14. The more recent overtime loss was 2 1/2 seasons ago, on Jan. 19, 2023.

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