Oliver Bjorkstrand and Vince Dunn each scored in the opening 17 minutes and the visiting Seattle Kraken extended their points streak to a season-best six games with a 3-2 victory Saturday over the struggling Anaheim Ducks.
Tomas Tatar added a third-period goal for the Kraken and Joey Daccord made 32 saves while improving to 4-1-3 since Dec. 9, when Philipp Grubauer departed with a lower-body injury. Seattle is 4-0-2 during its points streak.
Seattle’s run of points has come after an eight-game losing streak (0-6-2) when they averaged 1.6 goals per game. The Kraken have averaged 3.5 goals during the past six games.
Frank Vatrano and Trevor Zegras scored goals for the Ducks, while Lukas Dostal made 19 saves in his third consecutive start in place of John Gibson. Anaheim has lost consecutive games and has dropped 15 of its last 18.
Zegras (lower body) returned after missing 20 games since Nov. 7. Anaheim defenseman Jamie Drysdale and forward Mason McTavish came back Thursday after both missed extended time. But forward Leo Carlsson sprained his knee Thursday and will miss at least a month.
Seconds after the Ducks failed to score on a short-handed breakaway by Brett Leason, the Kraken took a 1-0 lead when Bjorkstrand scored on the power play off a cross-ice pass from Jared McCann at 13:26 of the opening period. It was Bjorkstrand’s 11th of the season.
Seattle made it 2-0 three minutes later when Dunn scored his fifth after Matty Beniers dragged the puck toward the Ducks goal to keep Dostal occupied before setting up Dunn to score into a wide-open net.
The Ducks ended a five-period scoring drought when Vatrano converted on the power play with a blast from the slot after the Kraken’s Brandon Tanev earned a four-minute double minor for a high stick. Vatrano’s team-leading 15th goal came at 6:18 of the second period.
Tatar’s eventual game winner came at 8:25 of the third period, his third.
Zegras scored a lacrosse-style goal for the Ducks at 14:01 of the third period when he lifted the puck onto the blade of his stick while skating behind the Kraken goal and tucked the score over Daccord’s right shoulder. It was Zegras’ second of the season in his 13th game and his third-career lacrosse-style goal, according to Bally Sports West.
–Field Level Media
