The Chicago Blackhawks were eliminated from playoff contention with a 3-1 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The Seattle Kraken, who will play host to the Blackhawks on Saturday, might not be far behind.
The Kraken (32-31-11, 75 points) barely are hanging on in the Western Conference’s postseason chase, four points behind the three teams — the San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Los Angeles Kings — that currently are tied for the second and final wild-card berth. Seattle also is a point behind both the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blues, meaning it would have to pass five teams in its final eight regular-season games.
The Kraken sustained a potentially devastating defeat Thursday against the visiting Utah Mammoth. After taking a two-goal lead in the first period, Seattle surrendered six unanswered goals in a 6-2 loss.
“It’s disappointing at this point of the season where we’re at. It’s frustrating,” said Kraken captain Jordan Eberle, who scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season. “You’re trying to fight for your lives, and you’re getting beat and you’re getting run out of your own rink. It’s just disappointing.”
Bobby McCann also scored for Seattle, his eighth goal in 10 games since being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the March 6 NHL trade deadline.
After Utah tied it at 2-2 in the second period, the Kraken appeared to regain the lead on a tip-in by Jacob Melanson, but Utah coach Andre Tourigny challenged the call and a video review determined Melanson had made contact with Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka in the crease, causing the goal to be disallowed.
It was all Utah the rest of the way.
“Right now, we’re hurting ourselves and the runway is running out,” said Kraken coach Lane Lambert, referring to giveaways that led to goals, a pair of four-minute double minors for high-sticking and a penalty-killing unit that allowed three tallies.
The Blackhawks (27-35-14, 68 points) have lost five games in a row (0-4-1).
Nick Lardis scored Chicago’s lone goal on Thursday. Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced, though he had to miss nearly five minutes in the second period while dealing with an equipment issue. The Oilers scored once on backup Arvid Soderblom while Knight was out.
“Grade A’s wise, we had some really good looks,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “Guys alone, eyeball to eyeball with the goalie, and we don’t score. So I wouldn’t say we didn’t have opportunities, I would say we need to shoot more for sure. They had a bigger volume of chances, some of that comes from getting pucks around the net more than we did. So I don’t think it was our best night from an execution standpoint, just simple passes.”
Lardis left the game with four minutes remaining after getting hit by a slap shot from teammate Teuvo Teravainen. Blashill said the team would have to wait and see if the forward would be available Saturday in Seattle.
This will be the third and final regular-season meeting between the teams this regular season. Seattle won the first two, 3-1 at home on Nov. 3 as Joey Daccord made 29 saves, and 3-2 on Nov. 20 in Chicago as Jaden Schwartz scored the last of three unanswered goals in the third period.
