This Tuesday night homecoming had “trap game” written all over it before some hard-nosed work helped the Kraken grind out a fifth consecutive victory.
The visiting Anaheim Ducks are in a pitched battle with four teams for last place overall and that usually spells trouble for a Kraken group with a penchant for squandering points to squads vastly inferior to those they typically beat. Things were a little close for comfort midway through this eventual 5-2 win, but a solid effort by Brandon Tanev on the rush helped lead to Daniel Sprong’s huge insurance goal as the second period ticked down.
Tanev was a disruptive force all night long at Climate Pledge Arena for a Kraken team that jumped on the visitors early but couldn’t quite put them away until Sprong’s goal on a snap shot from the left circle that was fumbled into the net by Ducks goalie John Gibson. Eeli Tolvanen would add a power-play goal eight minutes into the final frame, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Jared McCann to put things away for good.
Maxime Comtois closed out the Anaheim scoring with 1:27 to play, one-timing a pass behind Philipp Grubauer. Jaden Schwartz would add an empty-net tally with 17 seconds to play.
Comtois had enraged fans minutes earlier by bloodying Vince Dunn’s nose with a high check along the boards. Dunn shouted an audible expletive at Comtois and was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, further incensing the fans and the defenseman.
Jamie Oleksiak and McCann also scored earlier on for a Kraken squad that moved within two points of Vegas and Los Angeles for first place in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
Seattle also remained nine points ahead of the Calgary Flames, the team chasing the conference’s final playoff spot.
Oleksiak and McCann had spotted the Kraken a two-goal lead by the midway mark of the opening period before Trevor Zegras halved that margin just 35 seconds into the middle frame with a mind-blowing, highlight-reel strike. Zegras jumped on a puck that hopped over Dunn’s stick, backhanded it between his legs and then completed the deke move by fore-handing it past Philipp Grubauer for the only goal Anaheim scored all night.
But Grubauer would go on to stop 20 of 22 overall for his fourth consecutive victory this month, which is one more win than he recorded in all of February.
This was a game the Kraken needed to win, knowing that a surging Ottawa squad was coming in Thursday followed by back-to-back matchups Saturday and Monday against the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars. But the Ducks also represented the type of foe the Kraken have struggled against all season, starting with their overtime road loss to Anaheim in the season opener.
Just more than two weeks ago, the Kraken were shut out by lowly San Jose — one of the squads battling Anaheim for last place overall and a better lottery shot at juniors prospect Connor Bedard — to kick off what became a three-game losing streak once far better Boston and Toronto squads came to town.
That losing stretch was rectified by the Kraken sweeping their just-ended four-game trip, which included beating a last overall Columbus team. But the need to start piling up victories in similar fashion at home remains prevalent.
The Kraken are 21-9-3 on the road but had been just 15-12-3 at Climate Pledge ahead of vanquishing the Ducks.
They came out flying in this one, with Matty Beniers just missing an opening goal before the three-minute mark. But Jordan Eberle jumped on a loose puck behind the net and fed Oleksiak, who’d cruised up into the slot.
Oleksiak one-timed a shot past Gibson for his fourth goal in the last nine games and a 1-0 lead. The Kraken kept coming hard, and midway through the frame it would be McCann taking an Adam Larsson pass in the left circle and unleashing a pinpoint wrist shot that beat Gibson short side for his team-high 31st goal of the season.
But the Ducks hung around after Zegras and his magical stickwork struck. Sprong, starting for only the eighth time in the last 15 games, would finally give his team needed breathing room with his first goal since Jan. 17 against Edmonton.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol has said he wants to see Sprong play more of a two-way game that focuses on defense and his play away from the puck as much as it does scoring.
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