Injury-plagued Seattle Kraken can’t overcome early deficit in loss to Capitals

A Kraken team badly depleted by injuries trailed by a single goal after Tuesday’s first period at the Washington Capitals, which offered a sliver of hope. But just 1:33 into the second period, the Capitals had extended the lead to three goals.

Seattle winger Jaden Schwartz ended Washington goaltender Logan Thompson’s shutout bid during the third period, but a Capitals empty-netter sealed a 4-1 victory for the home team.

First-year Kraken coach Lane Lambert won the 2018 Stanley Cup as an assistant coach for the Capitals, a team that included Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer and forward Chandler Stephenson. Their return to Capital One Arena fizzled, though Lambert thought Seattle made better plays in the third period.

“We inflicted pain on ourselves by turning pucks over and not making plays quick enough, certainly, early on in the game,” Lambert said. “You can’t do that. We have to be better than that.”

The Kraken (3-2-2) lost games on consecutive nights in regulation after a franchise-best five-game point streak to start the season. There’s one game left on a six-game road trip, Thursday at the Winnipeg Jets.

The Kraken were remarkably bad in back-to-back games last season. They left 24 standings points on the table in games where they had played the night before, one of many reasons the season went south.

Seattle hasn’t won the second game of a back-to-back in 15 tries, which includes the entirety of last season. The last time the Kraken won the second game was March 5, 2024, two head coaches ago, in the last throes of their most recent playoff push.

They’ll have many more chances to reverse that trend this season, which is condensed due to the 2026 Winter Olympics. The next opportunity is Nov. 8-9, when they play the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars in back-to-back road contests.

The third member of Seattle’s goaltending trio, free agent signing Matt Murray, got his first Kraken start Tuesday. Grubauer, who took over for Joey Daccord in the third period of Monday’s 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, backed up but didn’t enter the game.

“They made it difficult on me that first period,” Murray said. “They were throwing everything at the net. Just causing chaos, getting bodies there. That makes it even more difficult to find your timing.

“I just felt a little bit off and really, if I make a save early in the second period, there’s a different flow to the game.”

His coach had kinder words for the 30-save effort.

“I thought he battled extremely well through traffic,” Lambert said. “He made a number of good saves tonight.”

It seems that every other day during this road trip, the Kraken have had to replace another player. Mason Marchment (lower body) became the latest to join the injury list Tuesday. He joined fellow forwards Jared McCann (lower body), Freddy Gaudreau (upper body) and Kaapo Kakko (broken hand), along with defensemen Brandon Montour (personal leave) and Ryker Evans (upper body).

Kakko, Evans, Gaudreau and Montour are all on injured reserve, per PuckPedia.

“We can lament on the last couple of games here,” Lambert said.

“We have an opportunity here in Winnipeg to go .500 on this road trip through the adversity that we’re going through. That’s our focus.”

The Kraken recalled Ben Meyers from the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Tuesday to replace Marchment, who was described as day-to-day. Meyers had the lone assist on Schwartz’s goal 3:50 into the third period, and Lambert said he “played well tonight after traveling all day.”

“For a team going through a lot of adversity right now, I loved our compete level,” Murray said.

Charlie Lindgren, older brother of Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren, was sadly Washington’s (5-2) backup goaltender on Tuesday. Thompson made 18 stops for the Capitals.

Nic Dowd and Ryan Leonard scored Washington’s first two goals. Jakob Chychrun made it 3-0 on the power play and Tom Wilson added the empty-netter. In what is potentially his last season, all-time leading NHL goal scorer Alex Ovechkin chipped in one power-play assist on Tuesday.