Jordan Eberle tallied twice in the third period as the Seattle Kraken defeated the host Anaheim Ducks 3-1 Monday night.
Frederick Gaudreau also scored for Seattle, which won consecutive games for the first time in a month, and Kaapo Kakko had two assists. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 40 saves as the Kraken won for just the third time in their past 13 games (3-9-1) and moved out of the Pacific Division cellar.
Mikael Granlund scored the lone goal for the division-leading Ducks, who dropped to 2-4-1 in their past seven games. Goalie Lukas Dostal stopped 18 of 20 shots.
The tiebreaking goal came on an odd-man rush at 10:04 of the third. Matty Beniers fed Eberle on the left wing, and Eberle put a shot over Dostal’s shoulder and into the far upper corner of the net from just inside the faceoff dot.
Eberle added an empty-netter at 19:24, his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
The Kraken opened the scoring on the power play at 4:49 of the second period. Ryker Evans’ shot from the left point deflected off a defenseman’s skate, with the puck falling to Kakko deep on the right wing. Kakko had a shot blocked before sending a pass across the top of the crease to Shane Wright. His shot was saved by a sprawling Dostal, but Gaudreau was in front of the net to chip the rebound over the prone goalie.
The Ducks, who outshot Seattle 17-5 in the middle period, tied it at 15:40. Jacob Trouba floated the puck toward the net from the top of the right faceoff circle, and Granlund redirected it past a screened Grubauer.
The Kraken outshot Anaheim 10-7 in a scoreless first period. It was the eighth straight game Seattle failed to find the net in the opening 20 minutes.
Ducks forward Leo Carlsson, the team’s leading scorer with 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists), missed a game for the first time this season with a lower-body injury. Granlund centered the top line in Carlsson’s absence and Jansen Harkins got back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous nine games.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn took a hard hit from Anaheim’s Ross Johnston early in the third period and didn’t return because of an apparent upper-body injury.
Linesperson Ryan Gibbons took a spill in front of the Kraken bench late in the first period, landing on his back, and didn’t return.
The Kraken announced earlier Monday that defenseman Brandon Montour would miss approximately four weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken hand sustained in a fight Dec. 16 against Colorado.
–Field Level Media
