Jared McCann scores twice, denied hat trick as Seattle Kraken roll past Capitals

Kate Shefte, The Seattle Times on Jan 28, 2026

Published in Hockey

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One of the more absurd moments in Kraken hockey history unfolded Tuesday night. Dozens of perfectly good hats were removed, tossed and ultimately wasted on a goal that didn’t count.

Jared McCann’s second Kraken hat trick, and first at Climate Pledge Arena, was called back as the final ball caps were being plucked off the ice, due to a missed high-sticking call from much earlier. A long review confirmed what the tossers feared — their bald spots were cold for no reason.

Not only that, but the Kraken had a double-minor to kill off. And McCann never did get that third goal.

“Sorry, everyone might wanna get a new hat, eh?” McCann joked to the departing crowd during a postgame interview.

At least the Kraken beat the Capitals, 5-1.

McCann’s first of the night arrived during the final seconds of a power play that carried over from the first period to the second. McCann went to one knee to send a shot into the top corner.

Another Kraken power play followed quickly, but it was broken up by a long stoppage. Logan Thompson’s Capitals goalie mask pitched forward off his head after he absorbed a shot to the chin and a trainer rushed out to check on him. Backup goalie Charlie Lindgren, the older brother of Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren, leaned over the visiting bench, watching it all develop. Thompson stayed in the game.

On his second goal, McCann was hanging out near the right goalpost. He scored his 14th goal in 28 games this season and fourth in four games.

McCann had the Kraken franchise’s second-ever hat trick and one of only four the team has enjoyed. McCann scored three times but supplied only 23.1% of the overall offense in a wild 8-5 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 14, 2023. With that game, Seattle became the first team in the NHL’s then-105 seasons to sweep a road trip of seven or more games.

McCann was probably an inch away from another even before the controversial review. McCann sent another smooth shot squarely into the goalpost — so squarely that it fired toward linemate Jordan Eberle for a put-back and an easy goal. Thompson remained in his butterfly stance on the ice, making peace with the Kraken’s new 3-0 lead.

Then came the recalled goal, and Beniers’ double minor.

“The linesman called the high-sticking penalty, and when a linesman sees a high stick, he can’t blow it down right away,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “So the play went on for quite a while, obviously. And then they reviewed it, and that was the rule, and that’s the way it goes.

“We just had to buckle down and get through it.”

Capitals captain and living legend Alex Ovechkin, 40, scored with Beniers in the penalty box to make it 3-1. It was Ovechkin’s 919th career goal and 330th power-play goal, both of which are ever-evolving NHL records.

Ovechkin has yet to record a game-winning goal against the Kraken (24-19-9). He has one against 28 different franchises.

Washington (25-22-7) is fading in the Eastern Conference standings, meaning Ovechkin might not see the playoffs in what is probably one of his last seasons. He’s in the fifth and final year of a $47.5 million contract but hasn’t disclosed his future plans.

The floodgates then opened for everyone except the player who most deserved it — McCann.

“It happens, right? We got the win, that’s all that matters,” McCann said.

“We’re in a tight division (race.) It’s all good.”

Defenseman Ryker Evans made it 4-1 Kraken with about seven minutes left. He has goals in back-to-back games.

Beniers pushed the score to 5-1 soon after the Kraken penalty kill (4 of 5) finished up its night. Ryan Winterton appeared to score but linemate Jacob Melanson’s skate was against Thompson’s stick blade it and the 6-1 goal was overturned.

Melanson, like Beniers, didn’t end the game on a sour note. He dropped the gloves for the first time in his NHL career with Brandon Duhaime and got the gate with 1:17 to play.

Against all reason, the first period was scoreless. The Capitals blew several wide-open chances and a prime 2-on-1 chance for Seattle’s Chandler Stephenson and Eeli Tolvanen didn’t land.

The strangest sequence of the game should have been in the second period when the Capitals were briefly down two players, though it had nothing to do with penalties. Martin Fehérváry lost a skate blade and flailed on the ice in front of Grubauer before hopping on one foot back to the benches. In the meantime, Ryan Leonard was hobbled by a shot block.

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