Wright's three points get Kraken past Ducks
ANAHEIM >> On their final legends night, 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 the hosts 3-1 at Honda Center on Friday.
Leo Carlsson scored the Ducks' solitary goal in spectacular, unassisted fashion. Lukáš Dostál turned away 24 shots. Radko Gudas (upper-body) 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) missed the match.
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 halted 14 Ducks bids.
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 the 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. He 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,
THE SCORE KRAKEN 3, DUCKS 1 Blues at Ducks, Sunday, 5 p.m., BSSC
Seattle center Shane Wright celebrates his goal with the bench in the first period Friday.
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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 struck a second time on a less-than-stellar defensive effort from the Ducks. A soft rimaround 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.