Down by a goal in the third period and needing any kind of opportunity to salvage the final game of a challenging stretch, Ryan Donato delivered. The second of his two-goal night rallied the Seattle Kraken to a standings point, settling for a 4-3 shootout loss to the host Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday.
The situation was daunting. The Kraken (8-13-2, 18 points), playing on the back end of four road games in six nights, were missing captain Mark Giordano (COVID-19 protocol), and the rest to lower body injuries - their top two scorers Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz, defenseman Will Borgen, and goaltender Chris Driedger (also placed on injured reserve).
The Kraken responded with the first two-goal effort by Ryan Donato since the 2018-19 season, and a power play goal by defenseman Vince Dunn.
Detroit (12-9-3, 27 points), who went up 1-0 in the second period on a goal by Robby Fabbri, also earned goals from Vladislav Namestnikov and Lucas Raymond, the latter who put Detroit up 3-2 in the third period before the Kraken rallied.
After a scoreless overtime session, Dylan Larkin's second round wrist shot put the Red Wings on the board in the shootout, answered by Joonas Donskoi's "do or die" third round shootout marker. Adam Erne put the Red Wings in the driver's seat in the fourth round, and Alex Wennberg misfired to seal the game.