SUNRISE — Former Florida Panther Jared McCann scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Seattle Kraken held on to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions 2-1 on Saturday night.
The Kraken was propelled by a questionable goaltender interference call against Evan Rodrigues on a late-second-period goal by Mackie Samoskevich, which had seemingly given the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Rodrigues was clearly pushed into the goalie crease and kept there by Josh Mahura, who played for Florida last year, as the puck went into the net, but the officials still pulled the goal off the board.
Kaappo Kakko also had a goal and Joey Daccord stopped 26 shots for the Kraken, who snapped a three-game losing skid and split the two-game season series against the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers.
Eetu Luostarinen scored for Florida, which played without star forward Matthew Tkachuk after he suffered a lower body injury during the 4 Nations Face-Off while representing the United States.
With the game tied at 1, Shane Wright entered Florida’s zone and centered a pass to Adam Larsson, who found McCann on the left wing. McCann flipped a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky at 7:03 to put the Kraken ahead.
Seattle struck early on Kakko’s power-play goal 6:32 into the first period. Kakko took Matty Beniers’ pass by the left circle and then moved near the crease, where he beat Bobrovsky on the short side for his 10th goal of the season.
Luostarinen’s goal on an assist from Anton Lundell midway through the second period tied at 1.
Takeaways
Panthers: The loss snapped a five-game home win streak. Florida also had won nine of 12 before the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Key stat
In addition to Daccord’s 26 saves, the Kraken blocked 15 shots. Former Panthers defenseman Brad Montour, in his first game at Florida since signing with Seattle as a free agent in the offseason, had three blocks.
Up next
The Panthers are at Nashville on Tuesday.
Originally Published: