A nagging knee issue kept Kronwall from representing Sweden at the World Cup, as well as off the ice through training camp and the first 11 games of the NHL season.
Kronwall recorded three goals and 23 assists while averaging 22 minutes in 64 games last season.
For the second game in a row, the Vancouver Canucks outshot the opposition, but came out on the losing end after failing to hit the back of the net.
Thursday's loss in Ottawa marked the fourth time the Canucks have been shut out in their past five games. Vancouver fired 27 shots on Mike Condon, who got the shutout in his Senators debut, after recording 42 shots the night before in Montreal, only to be flummoxed at every turn by Carey Price.
The chances are there, says head coach Willie Desjardins, but a sense of desperation may be lacking.
"We have to score. We can't feel okay anymore that we had chances. We have to have more urgency to our game." - Desjardins
As a team, the Canucks are scoring at a success rate of 4.2 percent at five-on-five play and 5.44 percent in all situations, meaning a measure of bad luck is indeed working against them.
Only eight players on the roster have recorded a goal this season, and Desjardins is clearly looking for more from expected contributors.
The next chance to score will come Saturday in Toronto.
On the Fly, theScore's NHL roundtable series, will be published every Friday throughout the season. This week, we look at those producing at a high level, but flying under the radar.
The forgotten superstar
O'Leary: Claude Giroux is no stranger to going unnoticed.
Over the past five seasons combined, the Flyers' captain ranks fifth league-wide in overall points, trailing a who's who of NHL superstars.
This season - so far at least - it's much of the same, as the 28-year-old sits tied for second in scoring with 13 points in 12 games.
Giroux has topped 70 points four times in his career, yet hardly garners much of the notoriety or superstardom that comes with being one of the league's top offensive threats.
His underappreciation is a common trend, even on the international scale. After finally cracking a best-on-best Team Canada roster at the World Cup, Giroux was scratched for all but one game.
If Giroux keeps up his current pace - his career mark of 0.9 points per game suggests that's quite possible - maybe, just maybe, he'll finally be recognized for what he's capable of.
The Hurricane
Wilkins:It's easy to fly under the radar in Raleigh, and former Calder Trophy winner Jeff Skinner has done exactly that.
Earlier this year, Skinner scored a pair of goals and nearly added a third versus the New York Rangers. He then added two more points against the Philadelphia Flyers.
All in all, Skinner has 11 points in eight games. That leads the Hurricanes, as does his five goals. In fact, Skinner sits tied for fourth in NHL scoring, three points behind Artem Anisimov.
It's a nice rebound for Skinner, who'd become somewhat of a forgotten man in recent years. After winning rookie honors in 2010-11 - during which he notched 31 goals and 32 assists in 82 games as an 18-year-old - Skinner's production has never been the same.
That's changed this year, as he's recorded 1.38 points per game. It's more than double last year's per game total, and he's already more than a third of the way to reaching the lowly 31 points he finished with in 2014-15.
Johansson started modestly with four points in six games, but he turned it on after that, exploding for five goals and two assists over the next three contests.
The Swedish winger has never recorded more than 20 goals or 47 points in a season, but those totals should be within reach if he keeps playing alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov, and continues getting time on the Capitals' top power-play unit.
Boston's next big thing
McLaren: Brad Marchand has stolen headlines in Boston, but the Bruins have benefited greatly from David Pastrnak's breakout performance thus far.
The 20-year-old Czech forward has scored six goals and added three assists through eight games, and ranks 13th among all players (with at least five appearances) in points per game (1.13).
Pastrnak - nicknamed "Pasta" - recently missed two games due to suspension, but still sits only one goal back of the NHL lead. He's on pace to far exceed the career-high 15 goals he recorded in 51 games last season, and is becoming an integral part of the Bruins' success.
Not bad for a player drafted 25th overall in 2014.
The Los Angeles Kings are at their best in overtime, a sentiment that rang true again Thursday night.
Nic Dowd claimed the Kings' fourth overtime winner in 11 games, using a crisp shot fake to freeze Marc-Andre Fleury before flipping a backhand into the net to secure the full two points versus the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Los Angeles is still without a win in regulation into November, but remains right in the middle of the Western Conference race with five extra-time victories.
The Ottawa Senators defeated Willie Desjardins' club 1-0 on Thursday night, handing the Canucks their seventh consecutive loss.
It was the fourth time in the last five games and second time in as many nights that Vancouver failed to register a single goal.
The Canucks lost 3-0 to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night, following a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals last Saturday. The scorless drought began with losses to the Senators and the Edmonton Oilers last week.
Hossa tied Bondra with his 503rd career goal to make it 2-0 late in the first period, then surpassed the former Washington Capitals star with his 504th career marker less than a minute into the second period.
Eaves broke a scoreless tie at 6:35 of the second period. St. Louis tied it on Stastny's goal at 11:26, but Dallas took a 2-1 lead 31 seconds later on Klingberg's first of the season.
Pietrangelo scored at 10:27 of the third. He and Stastny each had a goal and an assist.
In the first period, each team had eight shots on goal. Four of St. Louis' shots came in less than 2 minutes, beginning with Carl Gunnarsson's attempt at 12:34.
The Blues killed the only penalty in the first, against Alexander Steen for hooking at 3:31.
In the second period, Dallas scored when Eaves skated in front of the net as Seguin arrived from the right faceoff circle. Eaves deflected the puck off his body and over Allen.
St. Louis scored its first goal when the puck went off Spezza in front to Stastny, who beat Niemi from short range.
Seguin set up Benn for a scoring chance, but Allen stopped his shot. Benn gathered in the puck and passed out to Klingberg at the right faceoff dot. His shot went past Allen into the upper left corner.
NOTES: It was the first regular-season game between the teams since St. Louis beat the Stars 6-1 in the deciding seventh game of a Western Conference semifinal playoff series last season. Play between the Central Division rivals became chippy, with two fights in the second period and coincidental minor penalties for roughing in the third. . The Blues had scored only three goals in their previous four games. St. Louis entered the game ranked 16th in the NHL in shots on goal per game, but 28th in goals per game. Seguin's previous four-assist game was on Oct. 18, 2014, against Philadelphia. He has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the last five games.
UP NEXT:
Blues: St. Louis will return home to face Columbus on Saturday.
Stars: They'll end a two-game homestand Saturday vs. Chicago.
