The nightmarish road trip for the Blue Jackets is finally coming to a close. Tonight, they'll take on the Kraken in Seattle, before a trip home to Columbus.
The Jackets have lost four straight games, including a very frustrating one in overtime against the Oilers last night. With that defeat, they've fallen to 7-7-1 (15 points), just one point ahead of last place in the Eastern Conference.
With just that one point through their first four stops of the road trip, they will need to win tonight to salvage anything resembling respect during this trip. It has been nothing short of disastrous.
Unfortunately, it's not going to be easy. They had to travel overnight from Edmonton to Seattle, going through customs along the way. This game starts about 22.5 hours after last night's game finished, so finding the energy may be tough. Especially for a team battling illness.
The Kraken are also a much better team than most people expected them to be this season. They are 7-4-4 (18 points), sitting tied for second place in the Pacific Division.
The Opponent
Through 15 games, Seattle has been basically as advertised. Scoring is at a premium for them, with just 39 goals so far - second fewest in the NHL. They are 8th in the NHL in goals against however, with just 42 allowed.
Despite a negative goal differential overall, the Kraken are finding ways to gain points in the standings. They are 2-2-1 in the month of November so far, most recently dropping a 2-1 decision in Dallas on Sunday night.
This is a vastly different team than the one that beat the Jackets last night. The Kraken have no elite offensive talent, and instead rely on a tight-checking, low-event style team game. Putting it nicely: they are boring. They get just enough timely offense to earn points.
Up front, they are led in scoring by Jordan Eberle and Jayden Schwartz, each with 5 goals and 11 points. Forward Matty Beniers (2-7-9), defensemen Vince Dunn (2-7-9) and Brandon Montour (3-6-9 in 11gp) round out the top-5.
The Kraken have a pretty solid veteran defense corps, with Adam Larsson, Ryan Lindgren and Jamie Oleksiak joining Montour and Dunn as a formidable top-5. This is their best position by far. They are big, physical, and very experienced.
In goal it's a different story. Joey Daccord sees the largest volume of ice (11gp), with a .900% save percentage and 2.83 goals against average supporting his 6-2-3 record. He hit the injured reserve list last week however, so the Jackets will face someone different tonight.
Behind him, both Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray have earned two starts, each appearing in three games. We'll have to wait and see which one gets the nod tonight.
Update: looks like it will be Murray. He's 0-2-0 this season with a .902% save percentage and 2.72 goals against average. For his career against the CBJ, he's 9-2-1, stopping .914% of his shots with a 2.59 GAA and one shutout.
Matt Murray is the first goalie off ice at morning skate.
— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) November 11, 2025
The Kraken are also dealing with injuries to top goal scorer Jared McCann, and depth forward Frederick Gaudreau.
The Good Guys
The Blue Jackets enter tonight's game broken and battered. They have just one win in November, and it was their only one at Nationwide Arena so far.
Through the road trip, they are 0-3-1 so far, with 17 goals allowed in four games. This is starting to look a lot more like the 2023-24 club, than the scrappy one we were treated to last year.
I would not be surprised to see some lineup changes, considering the illness running through the group. We probably won't see the lines until the pregame skate.
It's the second half of a back-to-back, so expect Elvis Merzlikins to get the start in goal. It feels like he is going to need to be on his game from the first drop of the puck tonight.
Suffice to say, something magical needs to happen for this team tonight. They have got to get this season turned back in the right direction.
Three Keys to Success
1. Inside edge. The Kraken are going to clog up the middle of the ice with their size, especially on defense. The Jackets will need to work hard to get into the middle of the ice tonight. If they can do that, this is a very beatable team.
2. Timely saves. Elvis Merzlikins again has the undesirable task of playing in the second half of a back-to-back. He is going to need to make some early saves in this one, but also some timely ones as the game goes on and the Jackets wear down.
3. Free Mo. In two games on the top line, Adam Fantilli has 1 goal and 4 points. He's won 14 of 21 faceoffs (67%), gotten 7 shots on goal (17 attempts!), and posted a 64% CORSI rating per MoneyPuck. Keep the man on the top line, and quit sheltering him.
Let Adam lead the way, build around him, he's the future of this team. The Kraken do not have a player that can match up against him.
It's a late start from the Emerald City, with puck drop at 10:00PM Eastern. A loss tonight turns the heat up pretty high on the Blue Jackets. Even though it's early in the season, it's going to get late really quickly if they can't beat the teams they should.
This Seattle Kraken team is one they should beat.