Kraken Gain Shootout Point in Hard-Fought Loss

Kraken forward Jared McCann discussed being right in the middle of a plethora of shots delivered by his team at their Pacific Northwest rivals, though his involved using both his stick and his fists.

Among the 39 shots his team fired at the Vancouver Canucks in Monday night’s 3-2 shootout loss, McCann had three on net, one in the net, and a good half-dozen more of the haymaker and uppercut variety on opposing forward Conor Garland during a spirited first period tilt. That fight helped ratchet up the intensity level in what became an entertaining Climate Pledge Arena contest in which McCann opened the scoring on the power play with one of only two goals his team was able to get by hot netminder Kevin Lankinen.

“You’ve got to give him credit, he played well and made some big saves for them,” said McCann, whose goal was his first since a Dec. 10 game in which he was subsequently injured. “We peppered him and we played well. We did. We had some good opportunities offensively, hemmed them in their zone quite a bit. We should be proud of ourselves tonight.”

Linus Karlsson tied things up for Vancouver after McCann’s goal but Ryan Winterton put the Kraken ahead again with 20 seconds to go in the opening frame. Elias Pettersson then tied it 2-2 for the Canucks on a wrister from the high slot early in the second period to finish off the regulation scoring by both teams.

But it wasn’t from a lack of trying by the home side.

On a day forward Eeli Tolvanen earned NHL Second Star of the Week honors, the Kraken brought the offense in this one. McCann’s goal was the first for the Kraken in an opening period after going 10 games without any since Dec. 6.

The Kraken were on Lankinen from an opening minute breakaway chance by Kaapo Kakko, right on through the final period and overtime as the home team enjoyed a combined 19-3 edge in shots but failed to score. Then, after the first five shootout participants were stopped, Liam Ohgren notched the clincher against goalie Joey Daccord on Vancouver’s final attempt.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak by the Kraken but extended their points streak to five as they remain playoff positioned in terms of points percentage. This year’s edition of their cross-border rivalry started later than usual, on the Kraken’s final game day of the 2025 calendar year but resumes almost right away again on Friday night in British Columbia.

And while the Canucks entered with the NHL’s worst record, they brought some intensity with them that magnified after McCann’s bout with Garland in which both combatants gave as good as they got. Garland had elbowed McCann in the face moments prior and accepted the Kraken’s forward’s subsequent invitation to drop the gloves off an ensuing faceoff.

Karlsson’s tying goal came on the faceoff immediately after the fight, finding himself alone in front of Daccord and burying his chance. But the Kraken regained the lead in the period’s final minute as Jacob Melanson outflanked the Vancouver defense down the left side ahead of throwing a cross-ice pass to Winterton for the net front goal.

“The defenseman backed off of me and I had space to skate,” said Melanson, who picked up his first career NHL point with the assist. “And I mean, Winterton made a great read to use his feet to get open for me and it was nice for it to go in.”

Kraken goalie Daccord also got credit for a secondary assist on the play, meaning three former AHL Coachella Valley Firebirds connected on the goal. Melanson said it would be “a pretty cool memory to have” since he and Winterton both got drafted together in 2021, in the third and fifth rounds respectively, ahead of playing multiple AHL seasons as teammates.

As for the game itself, Melanson, square in the middle of much of the physical play and net front scrums, felt the Kraken did what they could to win.

“He’s a good goalie over there and he was playing hot tonight,” Melanson said of Lankinen. “I mean, we had our chances. If we play games like that consistently, we’re going to come out of it on the right side.”

Kraken head coach Lane Lambert agreed, saying his team “had some real good looks, some real good chances to score” even before the game got to overtime.

“We keep playing that way, we’ll have success more often than not,” he said.

Lambert liked the way Melanson and the fourth line brought energy to the entire Kraken group throughout. And he had no problem with goal-scorer McCann – oft-injured this season – throwing down with Garland to avenge the elbow.

“I think it just shows a lot about the character of Jared McCann,” he said. “And Garland accepted. I thought it was hockey.”

And exciting hockey at times, especially for the Kraken in overtime when they earned a powerplay chance for the final 1:40 of the extra session. They had a couple of premium chances, including a late kick stop by Lankinen off a Vince Dunn snapper from 34 feet out with six seconds to go.

Special teams have been a big part of the Kraken’s resurgence. McCann’s power play marker means they’ve now scored with the man advantage in eight of their last 11 games. They needed just four seconds of power play time off the draw in this one for McCann to slap it home from the top of the right circle with his team holding a 4-on-3 edge in skaters.

The Kraken, as mentioned, nearly came through at 4-on-3 again in overtime, but it was not to be.

“It was good,” McCann said of the overtime power play. “I thought we had some good chances and that goalie made some big saves for them. But all in all, we got a good point out of this and now we move forward.”