Matty Beniers ties it, Vince Dunn wins it as Seattle Kraken snap skid in OT

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Dec 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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Matty Beniers forced overtime in the final minute of Wednesday’s game against Los Angeles at Climate Pledge Arena. The Kings took a badly timed penalty and Vince Dunn scored 4-on-3 to end Seattle’s six-game skid with a 3-2 decision.

The Kraken (12-10-6) hadn’t won since before Thanksgiving. They had dropped five straight in regulation, six overall, including a shootout loss against the New York Islanders on Nov. 23.

All five goals Wednesday were special-teams tallies. Beniers’ tying goal came with goaltender Joey Daccord pulled for the extra attacker and 25.3 seconds left on the Jumbotrons.

The Kraken’s league-worst penalty kill (66.2%) is a season-long issue. Coach Lane Lambert said the team was making adjustments on the fly.

“We’re simplifying some of the reads for our forwards, I guess is probably the best way to put it,” Lambert said Wednesday morning.

The penalty kill was solid through two and a half periods against the Kings. The Kraken applied pressure when needed and made consistent clears. They let L.A.’s Quinton Byfield come charging up the middle during the first period, but no harm done.

But Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans was awarded a double minor for high-sticking and it didn’t take long for the Kings to pull ahead with just 5:20 left in regulation. Kevin Fiala made it 2-1 and Seattle had the entire second penalty to kill off, which it managed.

Now power-play issues are flaring up to boot. That unit has been middle-of-the-road this season overall at 17.5%, 22nd in the NHL.

“It’s probably the third game in a row we’ve been hit with a breakaway shorthanded,” Lambert said — more like foretold — referring to Monday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. “It can’t happen. There’s just no excuse for it. It’s got to stop.”

It did not. Alex Laferriere took a short chip from Joel Armia and scored L.A.’s league-leading sixth shorthanded goal of the season on a breakaway midway through the second period.

But the Kraken power play erased its own major mistake. Beniers and Dunn teamed up to snatch an unlikely and needed victory. Daccord made 23 saves.

Maybe it was the special guests at Climate Pledge Arena. Many of the Kraken’s fathers and mentors watched the game from suite level as part of an annual tradition dubbed the “dad trip.” They will fly out with the Kraken on Thursday for a brief trip to Salt Lake City, where Seattle will take on the Utah Mammoth on Friday.

The game started on an amusing note as the Kings’ Warren Foegele lost his stick and tried to make himself useful by blocking Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak’s shot. Oleksiak, who sat out the past two games as a healthy scratch, took Foegele’s skate blade clean off with his wrist shot.

Without a functional skate or a stick and officially more of a hindrance than a help, Foegele frantically crawled from the slot back to the Kings bench. The Kraken had a brief power play, essentially, but took too long to get a shot off.

The next time the Kraken had a lucky break like that, they took advantage. Seattle was on the power play and Byfield went to the bench for a new stick. During a brief window of what was essentially a 5-on-3, Jared McCann fired home his second in six games since missing nearly a month and a half due to injury.

The Kraken’s potential go-ahead goal was then lost between L.A. goaltender Anton Forsberg’s feet. Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson threw out an arm to keep the puck from drifting backward and held onto the goalpost for dear life. The puck still shook loose and crossed the goal line.

Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour tried to manifest a good goal, calling his teammates over to celebrate, but play continued without a public explanation from the officials. The whistle likely blew before the puck crossed.

The crowd roared each time the Kraken had a close call in the third period. Kaapo Kakko to Shane Wright at the back door, McCann stumbling through the slot, Evans with a long look — none of it connected.

Through 27 games, the Kraken were tied with the Calgary Flames for dead last in goals per game with 2.48. The Kraken are the only team in the league without a 20-point scorer, and one of three without a double-digit goal-scorer. Losing Jaden Schwartz, one of their top point producers the past season and a half, for six weeks didn’t help. He’s due back in early to mid-January.

Jordan Eberle had his 10th goal on his stick at least once in each period but whiffed multiple times.

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