ANAHEIM — For a second straight game, the Ducks held a lead only to see their efforts foiled by a spurt of two goals in less than a minute by their opponent, this time in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Monday night at Honda Center.
They led 2-0 against Buffalo on Friday before falling 3-2 in overtime after giving up a pair of goals in 50 seconds, and they carried a 2-1 lead into Monday’s third period before surrendering two goals in 24 seconds. The Ducks saw their four-game points streak end, while Seattle prevailed for the sixth time in its past eight games.
Trevor Zegras and Frank Vatrano scored a goal apiece for the Ducks, and both were set up by Troy Terry. Lukáš Dostál made 24 saves.
Shane Wright, Andre Burakovsky and Brandon Montour each scored for Seattle. Wright added an assist while Ryker Evans tacked on two helpers. Joey Daccord stopped 20 shots.
There was intermittent noise from the Ducks’ offense, like Vatrano’s short-handed breakaway and Terry’s laser from the slot, both of which ended up missing high or wide, as they were condemned to defeat by Seattle’s surge to begin the third period.
The Kraken reassumed control of the contest with strikes at the 0:46 and 1:10 marks of the final frame.
Wright won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Montour for a slap shot through traffic that gave Dostál less of a chance to see the puck than the trail of smoke behind it, giving the Kraken their second lead of the evening.
They had tied the score awkwardly when Dostál’s attempt to clear a puck in his crease sent it off his teammate Pavel Mintyukov and then Burakovsky for the Swede’s first goal of the campaign.
Late in the second period, Seattle winger Tye Kartye checked Leo Carlsson hard before Carlsson collided with the goal post and hit the ice hard, leaving him on the deck for some time before he headed down the tunnel to be evaluated. The Ducks didn’t end up with so much as a power play out of the ordeal, and they needed help from their penalty killers and the pipes to preserve their 2-1 lead at the second intermission. Daniel Sprong hit a post before the Kraken earned a power play during which Jaden Schwartz also nicked the steel.
The Ducks had taken that lead 6:17 into the period off of a lively sequence that culminated in a seam pass by Terry at the left faceoff dot to Olen Zellweger at the right dot for a shot that created a tap-in goal for Vatrano. It was Vatrano’s third goal of the season after notching a career-best and team-leading 37 last year.
Twenty minutes came and went with little to distinguish two sides that were even on shots on goal, scoring chances and goals as they played to a 1-1 stalemate.
The Ducks brought the game back to even with 4:01 left during a delayed penalty.
Zegras and Terry played the two-man game across all three zones. Terry left the puck for Zegras in the Ducks’ end before he received it back in the neutral zone, weaving through defenders and sending a saucer pass across to Zegras for a wrist shot from close range. It was Zegras’ third goal of the season and his fifth point in five games, distancing him for his previous stretch with just one point in 12 outings.
Though it took 6:22 for the Ducks to record the game’s first shot on goal, Seattle’s very first strike on net was a goal at the 7:12 mark. It capped a Herculean shift by Wright on which he intercepted Jackson LaCombe’s outlet pass, dispossessed Zelwegger on the forecheck, recovered a shot attempt and, ultimately, tipped in Oliver Bjorkstrand’s shot for his second goal of the year.
Wright, the fourth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, had the best game of his young career at Honda Center on April 5 when he scored two goals and set up the third in Seattle’s 3-1 victory. He had been a healthy scratch in the Kraken’s previous three games.
The Ducks will travel to Seattle for on Wednesday for the back end of this home-and-home set.
The Kraken have now won four times at Anaheim and four times at home during an eight-game winning streak against the Ducks that dates to November 2022.
More to come on this story.
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