Shane Wright scores twice, Kraken win heading into Olympic break

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Feb 5, 2026

Published in Hockey

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Shane Wright scored twice to help send the Kraken into the Olympic break with a divisional victory, and more importantly, sitting in a playoff spot.

Visiting Seattle took down Los Angeles 4-2 on Wednesday night. Its four Olympians will head to Milan, Italy, while NHL games pause for three weeks.

Wright’s first was on a slick backhand, set up by Ryan Winterton. His second came as the Kings pressed for an equalizer in the third period.

Between Wright’s pair, both members of the Kraken top defensive pairing scored in the same game for the first time in nearly four years together. Adam Larsson jumped up and buried a Chandler Stephenson feed to give Seattle its first lead 58 seconds after Wright tied the game. Then his longtime partner in crime, Vince Dunn, hopped through the Kings’ defense at the blue line, corralled the puck and scored five-hole to put the Kraken up 3-1.

Andrei Kuzmenko scored both of L.A.’s goals, both of which came on the power play. Dunn and Wright’s second were on Seattle man advantages.

While his team trailed 4-2 in the third period, Los Angeles’ Adrian Kempe took a high-sticking double minor and kneecapped the Kings’ comeback hopes. They spent the rest of regulation trying to kill it off, unable to pull goaltender Darcy Kuemper for the extra attacker.

Joey Daccord made 25 stops for the Kraken. Stephenson and Freddy Gaudreau each finished with two assists.

Seattle moved back into a points tie with the idle Anaheim Ducks, who beat the Kraken on Tuesday night. Both teams have 63 points through 56 games, but the Kraken have the next tiebreaker, which is regulation wins. They have 21 to Anaheim’s 18.

So, Seattle (27-20-9) heads into the break not in a wild-card spot, but third in the Pacific Division with 26 games to play.

In their last game until Feb. 25, the Kraken snuck another player onto the list of Olympians they can claim. Seattle recalled prospect Oscar Fisker Molgaard, a Team Denmark member, from the Coachella Valley Firebirds to sub in for alternate captain Jaden Schwartz, who missed the game with a lower-body injury.

For context, Molgaard is one of only 18 Danish players who have appeared in at least one NHL game, according to QuantHockey. Only seven are active. Several of those active players — Nikolaj Ehlers, Lars Eller and Frederik Andersen — are well-known veterans, and the Kraken have hosted two other Danes in their short history. Oliver Bjorkstrand was an All-Star in Seattle, while Alexander True — who is now playing in Europe — appeared in eight Kraken games during their inaugural season.

Frans Nielsen, the first Danish-trained player to make it to the NHL, is a team consultant.

Denmark had good options, but not many. Even though he’s only 20 years old with three NHL games under his belt, Molgaard was pretty much a shoo-in. In his first Kraken action since Nov. 22, Molgaard got on the scoresheet with a shot block. Kuzmenko’s blast from the point clearly stung, and Molgaard limped back to a grateful Kraken bench.

There was big and relevant league news earlier Wednesday as the retooling New York Rangers traded star forward Artemi Panarin to the Kings and got back prospect Liam Greentree, a conditional third-round pick in 2026 and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2028. Panarin did not suit up against the Kraken.

Several teams reportedly had a go at Panarin, and one outlet claimed the Kraken made a generous offer. Carolina, Tampa Bay and Washington were widely considered the finalists. But Panarin’s preference factored in, as he had a full no-trade clause to waive. He immediately signed a two-year extension with Los Angeles.

A trade seemed imminent while Panarin, who was New York’s leading scorer every season since joining the team in 2019-20, was held out of three straight Rangers games for roster management purposes.

Kraken players won’t have the threat of additional deals hanging over their heads the next few weeks. An NHL Olympic roster freeze runs through Feb. 22.

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