The Dallas Stars defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-2 on Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena, marking the Kraken's second regulation loss to Dallas in two weeks. Despite a strong third-period push and a game-tying goal from Vince Dunn, a late deflection goal sealed the win for the Stars. Jared McCann returned from injury, but Jaden Schwartz left with an undisclosed lower body issue.
The Seattle Kraken hosted the Dallas Stars in a closely contested NHL game, firing 28 shots to Dallas's 21 but falling short in a 3-2 loss. The Kraken tied the game twice, first with Brandon Montour's goal in the first period to make it 1-1, and then with Vince Dunn's 39-foot wrist shot just 18 seconds into the third period, evening the score at 2-2.
Dallas struck first through Roope Hintz and Esa Lindell, but the decisive goal came with six minutes left when Vladislav Kolyachonok's 57-foot wrist shot deflected off Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson and banked in off the post past Joey Daccord. Casey DeSmith made key saves for Dallas, who improved to 15-5-4, the second-best record in the NHL. Seattle dropped to 11-6-6 and has now lost eight straight regular-season games to the Stars.
Jared McCann returned after a near-six-week lower body injury absence, contributing energy and an assist on Dunn's goal. He generated two of Seattle's 10 first-period shots during a four-minute power play after being high-sticked. However, the Kraken went 0-for-5 on power plays overall.
Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz exited in the second period with an undisclosed lower body injury and did not return, undergoing postgame evaluation.
"I thought the attempts and the mentality were a little bit better tonight," Dunn said. "It’s just tough when we’re right in the fight and a bounce just doesn’t go our way."
McCann added, "You want to contribute. Missing games is not fun. It weighs on you mentally."
Head coach Lane Lambert praised McCann's return: "I thought he looked good. He hasn’t played for a long time... So, I think he’s going to help us for sure."
The Stars extended their road point streak to 10 with the victory, as noted in related reports.