Berkly Catton returned to the Seattle Kraken lineup, but the team was without star defenseman Vince Dunn as they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2.
The Seattle Kraken's season has been addition by subtraction, yet they once again found a way to win.
On Tuesday, they welcomed back Berkly Catton to their lineup, activating him off the injured reserve hours prior to puck drop. Unfortunately, the Kraken were without Vince Dunn, who sustained an upper-body injury in Monday's win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Catton skated in 12:28 of ice time in his return, firing two shots on goal and taking a minor penalty. The 19-year-old nearly scored the first goal of his NHL career in the second period when he danced through the Los Angeles Kings defenders but was robbed by Phoenix Copley on the wraparound attempt.
With Dunn and Brandon Montour out of the lineup, the Kraken turned to Adam Larsson and Ryker Evans to handle the minutes, and they did. Larsson skated in recorded 25:23 of ice time, while Evans notched his own 21:36. The analytics weren't too pretty for the pair of defenders, but they took on the bulk of the tough matchups against a strong Kings team and limited the damage.
Joey Daccord has found his stride recently and was stellar once again on Tuesday, turning away 35 of the 37 shots he faced. The Kraken were outshot in each period, but Daccord kept the Kraken in the game.
In addition to Daccord's excellence, a strong second period kick-started by Jordan Eberle was what secured the two points for the Kraken. The captain got things started with a power play goal, and his marker was followed by tallies from Freddy Gaudreau and Ben Meyers.
The Kraken were successful in holding onto their three-goal second period and now head into the Christmas break on a three-game winstreak.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.