ANAHEIM, Calif. — Daniel Sprong created a deficit the Anaheim Ducks couldn’t weasel their way out of, Seattle stopped hemorrhaging power-play goals and the visiting Kraken held on for a fifth straight victory, 5-4 on Sunday night.
Late in the second period, the Kraken penalty kill surrendered a second goal on three attempts, to Mason McTavish off a setup from Trevor Zegras. The Ducks then tied the game at 4 off the stick of Adam Henrique, again on the power play, when the Kraken headed back to the penalty box 21 seconds after getting scored on.
Anaheim starting goaltender John Gibson (14 saves) was tackled by a teammate while trying to prevent Sprong’s go-ahead goal. Ducks defenseman Nathan Beaulieu wound up in the net and Kevin Shattenkirk landed on his goalie as Sprong patiently waited out Gibson and scored over his outstretched glove. Anthony Stolarz took over in net and finished the game.
The Kraken had their own injury woes. A few minutes after the Ducks’ second goal, Morgan Geekie looked to barely clip stationary teammate Adam Larsson, but went down to the ice in a heap. He had to be towed off the ice by two teammates and headed directly down the tunnel. Geekie was ruled out of the rest of the game with an upper-body injury.
The Kraken scored in the first and last minute of the third period. Thirty-three seconds into the game, Matty Beniers swept back a faceoff win and Jordan Eberle dived on the puck while Jared McCann skated around the circle to the goal mouth. From his knees, Eberle found McCann, who scored in one fluid motion. The whole thing took four seconds.
On the second goal six minutes later, Andre Burakovsky had been a little too unselfish earlier in the shift, looking to pass to Jaden Schwartz on a 2-on-1 after the lane closed up instead of shooting it himself. It all worked out when he pushed the puck to wide-open Alex Wennberg, who scored his first since Nov. 3 and ended a six-game stretch without a point.
Between the goals, Max Jones caught a ride on Yanni Gourde’s back, with a shove from Gourde as he hit the ice as payment. Max lost his stick and was shaken up on the play, but Gourde wasn’t penalized.
With the first 10,000 fans in attendance in possession of his bobblehead, Troy Terry got one back for Anaheim on a late first-period power play. Vince Dunn creeped up the middle and squared off with Gibson with 27 seconds left before the first period break. He selected the top left corner and made it 3-1 Kraken.
Carson Soucy tried to clear the defensive zone but the puck got stuck in place. Martin Jones stopped Frank Vatrano’s bid but Derek Grant scored the Ducks’ second goal on the rebound.
Thirty seconds shy of the game’s midway point, Beniers turned around and found Sprong’s rebound waiting for him. He put it back for his seventh goal of the season. Beniers already led NHL rookies in points but closed within one of the rookie goals leader, the Philadelphia Flyers’ Shane Pinto.
