Kraken vs. Capitals: Jared McCann's Late Winner Spoils Alex Ovechkin's First Goal of the Season

Alex Ovechkin got his moment on Sunday night. The Seattle Kraken got the two points, which is the part they will remember on the flight to Philadelphia.

Jared McCann broke a 3-3 tie with 5:27 left in regulation, Ryan Winterton added a breakaway goal for insurance, and the Kraken spoiled Ovechkin's first goal of the season with a 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. Joey Daccord made 33 saves, 17 of them in the third period, and Frederick Gaudreau stayed scorching with a goal and an assist.

A First Period With Everything

Seattle opened the night by killing back-to-back penalties to Ryker Evans and Chandler Stephenson, then struck first at 6:06. Logan Thompson turned aside a Vince Dunn shot from the point, but the puck kicked out to Kaapo Kakko low in the right circle, and Kakko found the sliver between Thompson's left skate and the post.

Washington answered with two goals 5:06 apart. At 11:41, Jordan Kyrou finished a cross-ice feed from Cole Hutson from the bottom of the left circle for his first goal as a Capital since arriving in a June trade with St. Louis. Then came the one the crowd was waiting for. Ilya Protas pounced on an Evans turnover behind the Seattle net and centered it, and Ovechkin snapped it past Daccord at 16:47. Ilya's brother, Aliaksei, picked up the other assist. Per the AP, it was the 930th goal of his NHL career.

NHL.com added the cherry on top: it was Ovechkin's first career goal against Daccord, making Daccord the 190th different goaltender Ovechkin has scored on, an NHL record. That is 12 more than Jaromir Jagr's 178.

"The training camp didn't go right way that I wanted it to, but through the games you're going to find your touches, you're going to find the game rhythm," said Ovechkin, who missed the preseason with a lower-body injury.

Seattle did not let the celebration linger into intermission. Jordan Eberle cashed a rebound at the back post at 19:49, with Stephenson and Bobby McMann assisting, to tie it 2-2.

"It was a big goal at the end of a period where we were obviously losing and we find a way to tie it up," Eberle said.

Back and Forth After the Break

The second period belonged to Gaudreau. At 13:24, Winterton found him in front, and Gaudreau went around Thompson and tucked a backhand in for a 3-2 Kraken lead. NHL.com noted it was his third goal in two games.

Washington needed only 46 seconds of the third to pull even. Boone Jenner kept the puck in at the blue line, crashed the net and knocked in his own rebound, unassisted, for his second goal of the season. From there the Capitals pushed hard, and Daccord had to be at his best.

Turning Point: McCann Finds a Lane

With the game tied and Washington piling up shots, McCann made the play of the night at 14:33. He carried the puck in, shook defenseman Timothy Liljegren and fired low past Thompson. Brandon Montour and Evans, redeeming himself for the earlier turnover, got the assists.

Washington coach Spencer Carbery did not need a replay to diagnose it. "We make a poor mistake at the end there to give up the game-winner, but we're just making too many mistakes, a lot of mistakes with the puck, poor decisions," he said.

Winterton sealed it at 17:20, going in alone on a breakaway and scoring his first goal of the season, set up by Ben Meyers and Gaudreau.

Daccord Holds the Fort, the Depth Delivers

Daccord was the best player on the ice, stopping 33 of 36 shots, and Meyers delivered the line of the night about his goalie.

"Joey stood on his head a little bit and we scored five, and that was enough," Meyers said.

Gaudreau finished with a goal, an assist and seven faceoff wins in 15:51. Meyers had two assists and now has a goal and four assists in his past two games, per NHL.com, while Winterton had a goal and an assist in only 10:45. McCann, with the winner, has four points during a four-game point streak. On the back end, Adam Larsson finished plus-4 in 24:43 and Dunn was plus-3 in 24:12.

For Washington, Thompson made 22 saves on 27 shots. Ryan Leonard's assist on Kyrou's goal was the 50th point of his NHL career, and NHL.com noted he got there in 89 games, the fastest by a Capitals skater since Nicklas Backstrom. Jenner threw six hits and won 12 draws.

"I think, just throughout, we didn't play to our strengths and our game consistently throughout the 60 (minutes)," Jenner said.

Stats That Matter

• 36-27: Shots on goal, Washington vs. Seattle. The Capitals had the volume. Seattle had the goalie.
• 17: Third-period saves for Daccord, per NHL.com.
• 7-1: Takeaways, Seattle vs. Washington.
• 20-14: Giveaways, Washington vs. Seattle. Carbery's complaint in two numbers.
• 0-for-2: Both power plays. All eight goals came at even strength.

What It Means

Seattle improves to 4-2-0 with eight points and 3-1-0 on the road, and has opened a five-game road trip with two wins, Friday's 6-3 victory in Detroit and this one. Seattle coach Lane Lambert liked the effort level.

"I think there was some pretty good commitment all over the place tonight," Lambert said. The road trip continues Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Washington falls to 3-2-0 with six points, ending a two-game winning streak that included Friday's 3-1 win over the Rangers. The Capitals dropped to 2-1-0 at home, and they visit Carolina on Tuesday with their coach demanding cleaner hockey.

"We've just got to get to work on being a smarter team because that was not good," Carbery said.

Sharing the Spotlight

Ovechkin keeps rewriting the record book, and goal No. 930 against goalie No. 190 deserved its moment. But on this night it was Seattle's supporting cast, from Gaudreau to Winterton to McCann, that wrote the ending, like character actors stealing the final scene from the headliner.

"I thought it was just a really good hockey game," Meyers said. In Seattle's dressing room, it was a great one.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.