March 18, 2025

SO GOOD: As the Mariners defeat the Reds, a key promised and prepared for the regular season.

SO GOOD: As the Mariners defeat the Reds, a key promised and prepared for the regular season.

Seattle Kraken fall in OT to Jets, former teammate Brandon Tanev

Jets winger Kyle Connor took it upon himself to tie the game at two after Winnipeg pulled one back 17 seconds before the first half. Expecting a Kraken shot to be blocked on the way through and spit out to him, he sped up along the boards. Before the sequence even started, he appeared to have already defeated Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans and goalie Joey Daccord (23 saves). At Climate Pledge Arena, Jets 3, Kraken 2, and overtime

Notable: On Sunday night, the Kraken lost to the visiting Winnipeg Jets and their old friend Brandon Tanev despite forcing overtime.

Jani Nyman, 20, scored his second goal on a power play in three NHL games. Nyman, a 2022 second-round pick, is having a fantastic North American debut season and is relishing his first Kraken recall.

His second goal strongly resembled the first. Both times, Jordan Eberle waited behind the net to tee up Nyman. Nyman again dipped to one knee to send a blistering shot past the glove of Connor Hellebuyck.

The plan was to give Jets workhorse Hellebuyck the night off. Hellebuyck is a favorite for a second straight Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league’s best goaltender. He sports an NHL-best 1.97 goals-against average and .927 save percentage and is tied for most appearances (52) with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. Eric Comrie got the start in net but was slow to rise after a teammate crashed into him. Comrie skated off less than five minutes into the game but returned for the very end of the period and quickly gave up the Kraken’s second goal to Mikey Eyssimont. Eyssimont has two goals in the six games since Seattle picked him up at the trade deadline in the swap that sent Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Lightning.

Evans was scratched from the Kraken’s last outing, but returned to the lineup against Winnipeg. He had an assist and a team-high four hits, but was on the ice for two goals against.

Nearly two minutes into overtime, Dylan Samberg ended the game on a setup from Cole Perfetti.

All three contests this season between the league-best Jets and basement-dwelling Kraken were decided by one goal. Both games at Climate Pledge Arena went to overtime. Winnipeg won all three.

Quotable: “Clearly, [we] got a good picture of what he can do and what he can be. It’s not just the shot on the power play that we’ve seen a couple of times. He had some good time in the offensive zone with the puck, getting over, making plays … really good to see from him in another game.” — Kraken coach Dan Bylsma on Nyman

Player of the game: Perfetti (one goal, one assist)

Goal of the game: If style points were awarded, Connor’s would be the best of the night. His ambitious moves tied the game at 2.

On tap: Seattle plays its next four on the road, starting Tuesday at Chicago.

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