Beniers scores twice in Kraken's 4-1 win over Predators

Matty Beniers scored twice during the Seattle Kraken's three-goal first period and Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 shots in a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

The Associated Press
January 2, 2026 at 5:47AM

SEATTLE — Matty Beniers scored twice during the Seattle Kraken's three-goal first period and Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 shots in a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

The win gave the Kraken five victories in their past six games, coming on the heels of a stretch where they lost 10 of 11.

The Kraken took the lead when Beniers scored his first at the 3:48 mark of the first on a shot from near the blue line.

Jamie Oleksiak made it a two-goal game at 10:41, and Beniers added his second goal just 10 seconds later to make it 3-0.

Oleksiak left the game briefly in the third period after taking a puck off the back of his knee, but returned to the ice later.

Roman Josi scored Nashville's goal on a power-play late in the second period, with assists from Luke Evangelista and Ryan O'Reilly.

But Jared McCann scored on a long distance empty-netter with 2:13 left in the game for the final score.

Juuse Saros had 19 saves for the Predators.

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Jordan Eberle, Ryan Winterton, Ryker Evans, Jacob Melanson, Kaapo Kakko, and Ryan Lindgren each had an assist for the Kraken.

Up Next

Nashville: Play at Calgary on Saturday.

Kraken: Play at Vancouver Friday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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SHANE LANTZ

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