There was opportunity in the air for Kraken goalie Joey Daccord when handed his team’s netminding assignment for a second straight game.

The Kraken have been pretty intentional up to now in splitting assignments between Daccord and Philipp Grubauer, so this Saturday night start represented a chance to stand out in what’s been a fairly even competition up to now. And Daccord certainly didn’t hurt his cause in this 4-1 loss to a Carolina Hurricanes team that unloaded a barrage of shots his way while limiting his team’s chances at the other end of the ice.

Jared McCann finally got the Kraken, outshot 39-19, on the board midway through the final period with his team already down a pair. Eeli Tolvanen and Andre Burakovsky then both had point-blank chances in the ensuing minutes but couldn’t convert ahead of Seth Jarvis, putting things away with a nifty breakaway move on Daccord with just 4:23 to go in regulation. Dmitry Orlov added an empty net goal in the final two minutes with Daccord pulled for an extra attacker.

Andrei Svechnikov had scored a power play goal in the opening five minutes of the game to put the Kraken in catch-up mode from the start. And by the time Jack Drury added another marker with just over three minutes to go in the second period on a net-front tap-in of a Jackson Blake pass, the Kraken were being outshot 26-11 and showing few signs of any offensive competitiveness.

Only Daccord was keeping them close by that point, en route to turning away 35 of 38 shots overall.

The Kraken have struggled to generate offense in the four games Vince Dunn has missed due to an injury expected to keep him out several more weeks. They’ve scored only three total goals in the opening two periods of those four contests, going 1-2-1 that span.

They ended the five-game homestand 2-2-1 and now embark on a road trip of an equal number of contests in which the team’s mettle should be tested frequently.

Neither the Kraken nor the Hurricanes are known for scoring a plethora of goals, though Carolina does like to fire a barrage of shots at opponents from all angles. The Kraken did a fair job of eliminating the dangerous ones early on, but it was a different story in the middle frame.

Carolina began crashing the net more frequently, forcing Daccord into a number of tough saves. Daccord also had help from his defenders, with Ryker Evans sprawling across the crease to deny a likely Carolina goal midway through the second.

Jamie Oleksiak had blocked a shot with his knee earlier on in the frame and was forced to stay on the ice – barely able to stand up on his injured leg – while the Hurricanes maintained possession for another 1:22 and nearly scored a few times before play was finally halted with a puck up into the crowd.

Oleksiak slowly made his way to the bench and had to be helped to the dressing room, unable to put weight on his leg. But to his credit, he was back out helping to kill off a four-minute high-sticking penalty taken by Yanni Gourde later in the same period.

Things looked bleak when McCann was stopped on a clear-cut breakaway chance while shorthanded in the closing seconds of that period. And Daccord’s netminding certainly kept his team alive long enough to have a glimmer of hope once McCann converted in the third, extending his points streak to six consecutive games.