Stars 3, Kraken 2 at Climate Pledge Arena
Notable: Seattle’s three-game point streak ended with a regulation loss to Dallas on Wednesday night.
Jared McCann, Seattle’s scoring leader in all four seasons so far, was activated from injured reserve after missing 17 of Seattle’s first 22 games. He was inserted onto the third line with Berkly Catton and Shane Wright.
Just 49 seconds into his first game since Oct. 18, McCann was leveled by a stick to the face from Dallas’ Alexander Petrovic. McCann went down the tunnel, apparently bleeding, because Petrovic was hit with a double minor.
The Kraken winger returned by the end of the long power play he triggered and took several whacks at feeds from the right faceoff circle.
He later earned an assist on Vince Dunn’s goal, which tied the game at 2 less than a minute into the third period.
Another defenseman, Brandon Montour, supplied Seattle’s first goal.
He was against the boards, about even with the goal line. He flipped a bad-angle puck at the net to get the ball rolling, a shot like coach Lane Lambert has repeatedly called for as the Kraken struggle to generate scoring chances. It banked off Dallas goaltender Casey DeSmith and in.
The deflected first Dallas goal was credited to Roope Hintz. The second one was the result of some lax net-front coverage from the Kraken. There was another instance of that, which led to Joey Daccord’s save of the game.
Stars winger Mikko Rantanen was allowed to do just about whatever he wanted, cutting straight across the crease with the puck on his stick. Rantanen finally flipped it backward and tried to put it over Daccord, but Daccord’s glove shot up out of nowhere and snagged it.
Kraken points leader Jaden Schwartz limped off the ice after getting tangled up in the Dallas crease and went down the tunnel during the second period. He was ruled out with a lower-body injury.
The Kraken were 1-4-4 when trailing after the first period and didn’t improve on that mark. Vladislav Kolyachonok scored for Dallas with less than six minutes left in regulation, then a late Kraken power play, plus a timeout, failed to produce the equalizer.
Goal of the game: Kolyachonok’s goal at a make-or-break time is the obvious choice.
On tap: Seattle hosts Pacific Division rival Edmonton on Saturday night. The Oilers are a respectable 10-10-5 overall, but have dropped five of their past seven games.