Kraken keep hopes alive

Seattle looked finished when Vegas carried a 3-1 lead into the third period on April 9, then Berkly Catton scored in regulation and again in the shootout to give the Kraken a 4-3 win at Climate Pledge Arena. The comeback snapped Seattle’s six-game losing streak and kept its playoff chase alive for at least one more day. (nhl.com) That win mattered because Seattle entered Saturday, April 11, in 13th place in the Western Conference at 33-34-11, while Calgary was 14th at 32-37-9. One extra point or one dropped point changes who is still breathing in the race with less than a week left in the regular season. (usatoday.com) The National Hockey League playoff format makes late games feel like traffic merging into one lane. Eight teams qualify in each conference, and the last two spots are wild cards, so teams outside the top three in their division are fighting over a tiny strip of space. (nhl.com) In the Western Conference, that strip was crowded enough that Vegas, Utah, Anaheim and Nashville were all part of the picture, with Seattle still trying to hang on underneath them. ESPN’s playoff watch had the Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth sitting on 89 points, with Anaheim on 85 and Seattle further back but not yet eliminated after Thursday night. (espn.com) Vegas felt the loss immediately because it left Seattle with two points and gave the Golden Knights only one for losing in a shootout. In a race this tight, that is the difference between creating daylight and leaving the door open. (espn.com) The Athletic’s playoff scenario tracker described Saturday, April 11, as “Supreme Saturday,” with 15 National Hockey League games and seven days left in the season. That is why one Thursday result kept echoing into the weekend: almost every contender was playing, and almost every scoreboard could move the line. (nytimes.com) Seattle’s part was simple after the comeback: beat Vegas, then try to beat Calgary on Saturday night. The Kraken were still below the cut line, but they had turned an elimination game into a must-watch weekend game. (usatoday.com) Vegas had the opposite problem. The Golden Knights had won four straight under new coach John Tortorella before the Seattle loss, so the blown two-goal lead cost them a chance to tighten their grip on a berth right when the standings were most volatile. (nhl.com) Catton ended up at the center of all of it because he scored the tying push in the third period and the deciding shot in the tiebreaker. One rookie’s stick turned a routine Vegas road win into another 48 hours of scoreboard math across the Western Conference. (espn.com)