Seattle Kraken score 3 goals early, cruise to win over Predators

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Jan 2, 2026

Published in Hockey

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Kraken 4, Predators 1 at Climate Pledge Arena

Notable: The Kraken kicked off 2026 with a rarity, of late — an easy victory.

The Kraken handled nearly all of their scoring in the first period to beat the Predators. A six-game point streak (5-0-1) has the Kraken back in a tie for the second wild-card spot immediately after they dropped nine of 10 games in regulation, skidding to last in the league standings.

Ten minutes into Thursday’s game, the Kraken were up 3-0. In between a pair of Matty Beniers goals, Seattle’s fourth line did the work and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak cleaned up. A Ryan Winterton retrieval spat out from behind the net and under Ben Meyers’ stick, out to Oleksiak, who sank a long-range shot.

Beniers tipped a Ryker Evans shot into the net on his first goal and jabbed at a juicy rebound on his second. The 2-0 and 3-0 Seattle goals were 10 seconds apart.

They tied the second-fastest pair of goals in Kraken franchise history. Jordan Eberle and Shane Wright scored eight seconds apart on Oct. 17, 2024, in a 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Curiously, the top five entries on the list of fastest goals in franchise history all happened during the second period, until Thursday night’s addition.

While Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson was serving a high-sticking penalty, Nashville’s Roman Josi made it a two-goal game.

Oleksiak left the game early in the third period after blocking a shot. He went down to the ice, clearly in pain, until teammate Cale Fleury offered to tow him off the ice. Favoring one leg, the veteran went down the tunnel to the locker room and was gone for about seven minutes. He returned to finish out the final 10, then threw a stuffed fish into the crowd as the third star of the game.

Oleksiak’s departure kicked off a rough 10 minutes for the Kraken defense. Ryan Lindgren absorbed a puck to the face area while falling to the ice in front of Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer, but stayed in the game.

Wearing his new jersey number for the first time, 19-year-old forward Berkly Catton came very close yet again to his first NHL goal. Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros muffed a clearing attempt. Catton caught the puck and dived forward to try and get it past him. Saaros was quicker, though, and recovered.

Kraken teammate Kaapo Kakko had been snakebit the past few games, as well. Jordan Eberle fed Kakko a wide-open chance at the back door and Kakko bounced it off the base of the goalpost. Roughly a minute later at the other end, the Predators put a puck off post as well.

Still, it never felt like Nashville threatened to come back. The Predators pulled Saaros for an extra attacker and the Kraken took aim at the empty net. Jared McCann scored his third goal in four games and seventh in 14 games this season.

Grubauer made 24 stops.

Goal of the game: Beniers’ tip 3:48 into the game.

Player of the game: Beniers (two goals), who missed out on his first career hat trick.

On tap: The Kraken will duck out of town this weekend for road games against the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.

First up, they finish up their third straight back-to-back against Vancouver on Friday night. The Canucks beat them in extra time on Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena, sending them to an 0-4 record in shootouts this season.

They play the Flames in Calgary on Monday.

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