Seattle’s homestand has opened with another third-period escape act. Mackie Samoskevich snapped a 3-3 tie with 5:25 remaining, and the Kraken held off the Utah Mammoth for a 5-3 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.
Freddy Gaudreau sealed it into an empty net at 19:00 of the third, but the pivotal finish came after Utah had erased Seattle’s two-goal cushion and both clubs had watched a potential go-ahead goal disappear on an offside review.
“It was pretty chaotic,” Samoskevich said. “The puck was bouncing around, then it got to Bobby McMann and he made a perfect play. I didn’t have much to do after that.”
McMann beat Utah to a loose puck near the crease and spotted Samoskevich arriving low in the left circle. The Seattle forward one-timed the feed into a vacant net for the 4-3 lead at 14:35.
“I caught him in the corner of my eye,” McMann said. “I wasn’t sure whether I could turn and get a shot away, but he was there. You want it on his stick.”
Kraken survive another late rally
Seattle improved to 7-3-1 and has won the first two dates of its four-game run at home. Philipp Grubauer turned aside 33 shots, while Jordan Eberle and Brandon Montour each finished with a goal and an assist. Matty Beniers also scored.
It marked the second consecutive game in which the Kraken let a multi-goal third-period lead slip before finding a way to win. Seattle surrendered a 3-0 advantage against Detroit on Tuesday, then prevailed 4-3 in a shootout.
“The positive is that we’re putting ourselves in a place where we can have a multi-goal lead,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “But we have to keep playing the way that earned us that lead. That takes some experience and time. The resilience our team has shown in those spots says plenty.”
Utah, now 7-4-0, had entered the game having taken four of its previous five. Vincent Trocheck scored, Logan Cooley struck twice, and Mikhail Sergachev supplied two assists. Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves.
Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said his club created enough in the attacking zone but became too eager with the puck against Seattle’s defensive structure.
“It’s obviously frustrating,” Tourigny said. “We did a lot of good things offensively, but we forced plays too often. The Kraken take pride in defending and making the middle difficult.”
Special teams set the early pace
Eberle opened the scoring 3:38 into the first period on a strange bounce. His attempt from the top of the right circle was stopped by Vejmelka, but the puck caromed off the end boards, hit the goaltender’s back and rolled across the goal line.
Utah answered on the power play at 17:57. Kailer Yamamoto won a puck race below the goal line and sent a backhand pass into the slot for Trocheck, who snapped the puck past Grubauer’s blocker.
Seattle reclaimed the lead just 26 seconds later, also with the man advantage. Berkly Catton shook Lawson Crouse at the right hash marks before moving the puck to Kaapo Kakko beside the net. Kakko threaded a pass across the crease, and Beniers finished at the back post.
“The deception from Berkly was really good,” Beniers said. “He has so much skill, and Kaapo made a great back-door play. They were both excellent plays.”
Montour extended the margin to 3-1 at 2:23 of the second during a 5-on-3. Taking Eberle’s pass at the high right side, Montour drifted toward the slot and hammered a slap shot over Vejmelka’s glove.
Cooley brings Utah back, reviews shape the third
Cooley started Utah’s comeback only 27 seconds into the third, redirecting Sergachev’s point shot out of the air and beneath Grubauer’s glove on the power play.
Yamamoto appeared to make it a one-goal game at 1:37 with another deflection, but video review wiped out the goal for offside.
Cooley did get the equalizer at 7:42. He worked a give-and-go with Sergachev, then drove a one-timer from the high slot past Grubauer’s left pad to make it 3-3.
McMann briefly appeared to restore Seattle’s lead at 8:43, only for Utah to challenge successfully on offside. He said the overturned goal did not change his approach.
“I wasn’t thinking about whether it might be offside,” McMann said. “When I got back to the bench, I saw it. Then it was about moving on and working for the next one.”
Samoskevich provided that next one, and Gaudreau made sure Utah would not get another chance with Vejmelka pulled.
Utah’s power play remained a major piece of its night, producing two goals and giving the Mammoth an NHL-leading 15 power-play goals this season.
“Our power play has been good,” Cooley said. “The second unit did a great job. Yam made an unbelievable play to find Trocheck.”
Tourigny also praised the timing of Utah’s special-teams work, saying the group had delivered at important moments rather than merely piling up production.
Notebook
- Montour has two goals and six assists in 10 games this season. He has reached at least eight points through 10 games in each of the past three seasons, with nine points at that point in both 2025-26 and 2024-25.
- Catton became the second Kraken player age 20 or younger to register an assist in three straight games. Beniers did it four times, with his longest streak reaching four games in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.
