ANAHEIM — On their final legends night of the season, the Ducks trotted out former captain Ryan Getzlaf to a rousing ovation but the evening ultimately belonged to the NHL’s least storied franchise, the Seattle Kraken, as the third-year organization bested its hosts, 3-1, on Friday night at Honda Center.
Leo Carlsson scored the Ducks’ lone goal in spectacular, unassisted fashion. Lukáš Dostál turned away 24 shots. Radko Gudas (upper-body injury) returned to action and in characteristic fashion as he delivered a booming hip check on Brandon Tanev in the second period. The Ducks were once again without Pavel Mintyukov and Max Jones, while Mason McTavish (lower-body injury) missed the game.
Seattle rookie Shane Wright doubled his career point total with two goals and an assist. Matty Beniers also scored a goal for Seattle and Oliver Bjorkstrand chipped in a pair of assists. Philipp Grubauer had 14 saves as the Kraken swept the four-game season series from the Ducks for the first time.
Even down two with little choice but to open up their game, the Ducks couldn’t muster a possession or shot advantage, much less a goal in third period.
In the second, a competitive opening 20 minutes gave way to tilted ice as Seattle turned in a domineering second period salvaged only by a late individual effort by Carlsson. Natural Stat Trick has both scoring chances and expected goals above 83% for Seattle, which earned 100% of the high-danger chances in the second period.
Carlsson found a puck that had been batted away from Troy Terry floating loose near the offensive blue line. The 19-year-old Swede, playing in his 50th NHL game, made a silky between-the-legs pass to himself to beat Wright before he skated into the inner portion of the right faceoff circle and rifled a wrist shot past Grubauer for an unassisted goal. The 10th career tally for 2023’s No. 2 overall pick arrived with 3:25 showing on the clock.
That sliced into what had become a 3-0 deficit at the 11:40 mark after a top rookie from last season, Calder Trophy winner Beniers, had Wright’s centering pass bank off his skate and past Dostál. Wright’s three-point night was his first career multipoint effort and gave him four points in three games since his recall on March 31.
Seattle had extended its edge to 2-0 just 2:29 into the stanza when Wright – the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft – struck a second time on a less-than-stellar defensive effort from the Ducks. A soft rim-around somehow covered the entire perimeter of the zone, eluding Cam Fowler, and went to Justin Schultz at the right point. His pass behind the net for Jaden Schwarz drew Fowler out of position at the net front, where Wright popped a short-side shot through Dostál completely unmolested.
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The Ducks might have had the first period’s best scoring opportunity but Seattle scored its only goal, thanks to a deflection goal from a promising rookie and a sterling save from one of the franchise’s first free-agent signings.
Wright scored his first goal of the night with 3:52 left in the frame when he curled from left faceoff dot to the right post to deflect home Oliver Bjorkstrand’s shot attempt.
That was a go-ahead goal rather than an equalizer thanks to a desperate glove save by Grubauer after his skate was clipped, sending him to the ice just as Trevor Zegras blasted a one-timer in his direction.
More to come on this story.
Leo
Between the legs to himself and SNIPE #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/nJTlpW3yfn
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) April 6, 2024
