Kraken 5, Capitals 3: Seattle's third period settles a back-and-forth game in Washington
Jared McCann's go-ahead goal and Ryan Winterton's breakaway lifted Seattle after the teams traded leads in the first period.
The Seattle Kraken beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 at Capital One Arena on Sunday, winning a game that was level three times before the third period tilted it. Jared McCann scored the go-ahead goal with 5:27 left, and Ryan Winterton added a breakaway goal just under three minutes later.
A first period that never settled
Seattle struck first. Washington goaltender Logan Thompson stopped a point shot from Vince Dunn, but the rebound fell to Kaapo Kakko at the bottom of the right circle, and he put it in at 6:06. Washington answered inside six minutes: Dylan Kyrou, acquired from St. Louis in June, took a cross-ice pass from Cole Hutson and scored from the left circle for his first goal as a Capital.
Alex Ovechkin then gave Washington the lead at 16:47. Ryker Evans turned the puck over behind the Seattle net, Ilya Protas found Ovechkin in front, and Ovechkin's wrist shot beat Joey Daccord. It was his first goal of the season, and the NHL reports it was also his goal against a 190th different goaltender, an NHL record, 12 more than Jaromir Jagr's 178. Ovechkin had missed the preseason with a lower-body injury.
Seattle tied it with 11 seconds left in the period when Jordan Eberle knocked in his own rebound at the back post after a Chandler Stephenson shot.
Seattle pulls ahead, then holds on
The only goal of the second period came at 13:24, when Winterton passed to Jared Gaudreau in front and Gaudreau deked around Thompson to make it 3-2. It was Gaudreau's third goal in two games. Washington's Boone Jenner tied it 46 seconds into the third, keeping the puck in at the blue line and knocking in his own rebound.
McCann broke the tie at 14:33, carrying the puck into the zone, getting past defenseman Timothy Liljegren and beating Thompson with a low wrist shot. Winterton sealed it at 17:20 on a breakaway.
The goalies
Washington outshot Seattle 36-27 and put 18 of those shots on net in the third period, but Daccord stopped 33, 17 of them in the third. Thompson made 22 saves on 27 shots. Seattle forward Ben Meyers, who had two assists, credited Daccord afterward, saying he "stood on his head a little bit and we scored five, and that was enough."
Washington coach Spencer Carbery pointed to the decisive goal, saying his team made "a poor mistake at the end there to give up the game-winner." Jenner said the Capitals gave away the puck too often and handed Seattle chances.
What it means
Seattle improved to 4-2-0 and has won two straight to open a five-game road trip. Washington, 3-2-0, had won its previous two games before this loss. For the Capitals, the night held an individual milestone and a team lesson: the Ovechkin record arrived, but the puck-management problems their own players described cost them the game.