The Maple Leafs and Kraken meet in Seattle after both arrived carrying regulation losses, with Toronto coming off a 5-2 defeat to the Calgary Flames on October 26 and Seattle following a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on October 24. The game matters now because both teams are still in the early part of the season, both are near the same neighborhood in the standings, and both are trying to steady themselves before another result turns into a longer slide.
Toronto entered at 7-5-2 with a 0.571 Points %; Seattle stood at 7-4-1 with a 0.625 Points %. The records are close enough to make this feel like a clean measuring-stick night, but the paths to get there are not. The Leafs reached Seattle after giving up five goals in regulation. The Kraken did the same two nights earlier, and they did it while carrying a profile that has looked less secure beneath the record: a very poor team at five-on-five, an average power play, and an offense that scores at an average pace.
The numbers behind Seattle are what make this matchup harder to read than the standings suggest. The Kraken have also allowed the second worst pace of Expected Goals against, even while their goaltending in all situations has been described as average. That mix helps explain why the club can sit above.500 and still look vulnerable in stretches. Philipp Grubauer had been good, which is why he was listed as the projected starter, while Joey Daccord was also listed in the goalie section after not being good. For a team trying to protect a winning record, that split matters as much as any recent result.
Toronto’s list is more about availability and how quickly pieces are settling back into place. Marchenko remained out with a lower body injury and was listed as week-to-week, while Joshua was recalled from a conditioning loan but was still on LTIR. Blankenburg, Tanev, Tavares and Rifai were all listed with injuries, and Tanev had changed out of his red no-contact practice jersey, a small but meaningful sign that his status was moving in the right direction. Those updates matter because the Leafs are trying to stabilize after the Calgary loss without forcing an already thin situation to absorb another absence.
The practice looks showed how both teams were trying to sort the night out before puck drop. Bobby McMann, Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle were grouped on one line, with Jani Nyman, Chandler Stephenson and Mackie Samoskevich on another. Kaapo Kakko, Berkly Catton and Shane Wright were together, while Ben Meyers, Frederick Gaudreau and Ryan Winterton formed another forward trio. On the back end, Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson were paired, as were Ryker Evans and Brandon Montour, and Joshua Mahura and Cale Fleury. For Toronto, Gavin McKenna, Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic were listed together, with Easton Cowan, Nick Paul and William Nylander on another line. Bo Groulx, Colton Sissons and Vinni Lettieri were grouped, while Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger and Zack MacEwen made up a fourth line. Jake McCabe and Darren Raddysh were paired on defense, with Morgan Rielly and Troy Stecher together and Dakota Mermis and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on another pair, and Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz appeared in the goalie section.
That is why this game is more than two teams comparing records. Seattle’s numbers say it has been good enough to bank points but not clean enough to trust comfortably, and Toronto’s latest injury notes suggest the Leafs are still balancing health against immediate results. The next test is the game itself, and for Grubauer it is a chance to turn a projected start into something more durable for a team that has not yet looked as stable as its record.
